As explosive emails emerged Wednesday from late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, CNN reports that top officials in President Donald Trump's administration were setting a meeting to discuss a petition in the House of Representatives that would force a vote on releasing Justice Department case files as soon as the government reopens.
That meeting was to include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has wanted the DOJ to release the files and has signed onto the House's effort to force the vote compelling their release.
While CNN can't confirm whether or not the meeting has taken place, they note that "intention of a meeting underscores the Trump administration’s concerns around the Epstein saga, which roared back Wednesday morning when the House Oversight Committee released more documents it had obtained from Epstein’s estate."
Boebert has been particularly vocal about releasing those files, saying, "Every associate of Jeffrey Epstein deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. There should be no safe haven for them."
Boebert was one of only four House Republicans, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), to sign the bipartisan discharge petition in September 2025 to force a floor vote on a resolution that would require the full release of all unredacted Justice Department files related to Epstein.
This put her at odds with Trump, who had downplayed the issue and asked his allies to "move on."
Rumors emerged Tuesday night that Mace may have been planning to remove her name from the petition, setting it back to 217 after Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva's swearing in scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni reports on X that "Trump himself called Boebert, regarding her signing onto the Epstein petition and spoke to her yesterday, I am told. Trump playing phone tag with [Nancy] Mace. So far, they are not planning to remove their names from the petition."