President Donald Trump's administration is growing increasingly nervous about a looming vote pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, and White House officials are now working alongside Republican congressional leadership to prevent it.
CNN's Annie Grayer, Sarah Ferris and Manu Raju reported Wednesday that GOP leaders are working behind the scenes to stop the bipartisan discharge petition dubbed the "Epstein Files Transparency Act" being circulated by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) from passing in the House of Representatives. After Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) win in a Tuesday special election, she's expected to be the 218th member of the House to sign it once she's formally sworn in, which would automatically bring the legislation to the floor against the wishes of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
As of Wednesday, all 213 Democrats and four Republicans have signed the petition, which would compel the Department of Justice to release all of its remaining evidence from the two federal investigations into Epstein. In addition to Massie, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) also added their names. So far, all three of Massie's Republican co-sponsors have held fast in their support for the discharge petition, with Boebert telling CNN earlier this month that she had no plans to remove her name — though with the caveat that she had not yet been pressured to do so.
Johnson has said his opposition to the petition is due to it not having adequate protection for victims identities. He has proposed alternate legislation that he said both provides transparency and redacts personal identifying information of Epstein's victims. Massie, however, has countered that Johnson's measure is virtually identical to his, but that he "took the teeth" out of the legislation to render it "meaningless."
Whether any of the Republican cosponsors withdraw their support of Massie's bill remains to be seen, though CNN noted that discharge petitions are typically unsuccessful, as many members of Congress are wary of the implications of upsetting leadership. But Republican voters have long demanded full transparency around the Epstein files, making it difficult for Republicans to oppose efforts to release evidence pertaining to the convicted sex trafficker without angering their base.
According to the New York Times, the DOJ is still sitting on roughly 100,000 unreleased pages of Epstein-related materials. And ABC News reported this summer that evidence the FBI categorized suggests that major revelations about Epstein's co-conspirators and associates have yet to be unearthed. This reportedly includes a logbook of visitors to Epstein's "Little Saint James" island — which housed his private compound — and a "document with names," which could be the rumored "client list" that Attorney General Pam Bondi has said does not exist.
"According to that index, the remaining materials include 40 computers and electronic devices, 26 storage drives, more than 70 CDs and six recording devices. The devices hold more than 300 gigabytes of data," ABC reported in July. "The evidence also includes approximately 60 pieces of physical evidence, including photographs, travel logs, employee lists, more than $17,000 in cash, five massage tables, blueprints of Epstein's island and Manhattan home, four busts of female body parts, a pair of women's cowboy boots and one stuffed dog, according to the list."