Massie files Epstein discharge petition

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie filed a discharge petition Tuesday afternoon to force the disclosure of Justice Department investigative files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie filed the petition, which could allow the House to sidestep GOP leaders' efforts to quash his bipartisan effort, shortly after Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the chamber into session. Working with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the Kentucky Republican now needs to persuade 216 additional House members to sign it.

Massie said Tuesday he’s confident he has enough support to reach that threshold and force a floor vote, but he insisted he is not whipping votes. He said other Republicans have told him the White House is pressuring the dozen GOP cosponsors of his measure to stand down.

“There is a pressure campaign from the White House right now on those folks, on those 12,” Massie said. “They've self-identified by being a cosponsor. But I think there are also ones that the White House is not whipping that may be inclined to sign it.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said in an interview she intends to sign the discharge petition, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said she was inclined to sign it. If all 212 Democrats sign the petition plus Massie, Greene and Luna, three more Republican signatures could force a vote.

Democrats are expected to support the measure en masse. Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Committee Democrat, said he signed the petition almost immediately after it was filed.

Rules Committee Democrats, McGovern said, will propose during a Tuesday afternoon panel meeting bringing up legislation that mirrors the Massie-Khanna measure.

Johnson and other lawmakers spoke Tuesday afternoon with some of Epstein's victims in a meeting arranged by the House Oversight Committee. It is the first of several events scheduled on Capitol Hill this week where victims will testify.

One of the Republican cosponsors of the Massie-Khanna measure, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, attended and said as he left that he needed to clarify whether the legislation would fully protect victims' privacy. The victims in the meeting, Burchett said, wanted the government to withhold some information as it reveals further documents in the case.

“We gotta rethink the whole files thing,” he told reporters. “In our rush to do this we have to protect these ladies and these others that were involved.”

Johnson told reporters that he believed the legislation was "inartfully drafted" and doesn’t adequately protect victims. One part, he said, cites the wrong provision in federal statutes.

But Greene said she thought it was important to move forward with both the Oversight probe and the discharge effort. “These are some of the most courageous women I’ve ever met,” she said leaving the victims meeting.

“This shouldn't have been a battle, and unfortunately, it has been one,” she added.

The Massie-Khanna measure allows the Justice Department to withhold or redact files that "contain personally identifiable information of victims or victims’ personal and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Separately, a GOP member of the Rules Committee, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, said he hadn’t read the discharge petition yet and said he would first review an alternative measure put forward by House leaders that would offer symbolic support for the Epstein probe already launched by the Oversight Committee

"We’re all for releasing the information and getting this moving forward,” he said. Asked if he had a view on the Massie-Khanna effort, he added, "Not yet."

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters he expects his committee to soon release additional Epstein documents provided by the Justice Department. A previous tranche of records released by the panel consisted mainly of already disclosed files.

Calen Razor contributed to this report.