GOP Rep. Thomas Massie pushed ahead Tuesday together with his effort to force a full House vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein case files – reigniting a problem that has at instances gridlocked Capitol Hill as lawmakers return to Washington.
“People want these files released. I mean, look, it’s not the biggest issue in the country. It’s taxes, jobs, the economy, those are always the big issues. But you really can’t solve any of that if this place is corrupt,” Massie stated.
Massie’s choice to transfer ahead together with his bipartisan invoice to force the Justice Department to launch the files breathes new life into a problem that has triggered complications for the Trump administration and threatens to put Hill Republicans on the spot over the politically contentious situation.
Just hours after coming back from their summer time recess, GOP lawmakers are actually below intense stress from their base to decide on whether or not to assist the Kentucky Republican’s decision, or danger accusations that they’re towards transparency across the case.
Massie formally launched his decision Tuesday afternoon, kicking off a frenzied week through which he and his Democratic cosponsor, Rep. Ro Khanna, will try to get the 218 signatures wanted to circumvent management and force a vote on the House flooring.
Massie expressed confidence that he and Khanna might get six Republicans to be a part of all 212 House Democrats in supporting their petition, regardless of what he stated have been makes an attempt by the White House to halt the trouble.
“There’s a major pressure campaign from the White House right now, and also from the speaker, but I think there are enough Republicans who are listening to their constituents and care about these victims that we’ll get the 218 signatures we need,” he stated.
“Nobody’s tried to get me to stop doing it. I have texted with Mike Johnson as recently as yesterday,” Massie later advised reporters, refusing to disclose what Johnson had stated to him.
NCS has reached out to the White House on the trouble.
Massie stated he’s not frightened a few political stress marketing campaign underway by President Donald Trump and his allies, who’ve vowed to mount a main towards him, telling NCS: “I’ve already poked the hornet’s nest here. And you know, once you’re, once you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound, we’re going to get these files released,” he stated.
Underscoring the rising stress on House Republicans to act on the Epstein matter, management on Tuesday added a symbolic vote to the chamber’s calendar that may name on the House Oversight Committee to proceed its investigation into the Epstein files.
Massie criticized the transfer, which got here earlier than he had the chance Tuesday to file his discharge petition and start accumulating signatures, as not “wide enough.”
“It’s basically telling [House Oversight Chairman] James Comer to keep doing what he’s doing, and I appreciate what James Comer is doing, but this vote is unnecessary, and it’s to provide political cover to those Republicans who may not be sponsoring or signing the effort that Ro Khanna and I put forward,” he stated of Johnson’s decision.
The speaker dismissed Massie’s criticism, telling reporters later within the afternoon that he “would not put much stock in what Thomas Massie says.”
“The House Republicans have been very consistent about maximum disclosure, maximum transparency for the Epstein files, but we have to do it in a way that would protect the innocent victims of these horrific crimes,” he stated, later including, “What people want to do with this for political purposes, to me, is really just shameful.”
In response, Massie pointed to a Wednesday press convention he and Khanna will maintain with plenty of Epstein victims who he stated are pleading for the files to be launched.
“He can’t say that he’s protecting the victims, and I’m not,” he stated.