After a delay of nearly two months as Speaker Mike Johnson kept the House out of Washington, a revolt over the Epstein files reached critical mass on Wednesday.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., wasted no time after being sworn into office, immediately backing an effort to shake loose documents related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
She provided the crucial 218th signature on a discharge petition, a procedural tool that allows rank-and-file House members to lodge their support for a piece of legislation, circumvent leadership and force a vote. Filed by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the Epstein petition had been sitting on 217 signatures.
In her maiden speech, Grijalva shouted out two Epstein survivors who she said were in the gallery. She called out Johnson for “unilaterally” delaying her swearing in. And she said it was time to fight back against Trump. “That is why I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. Justice cannot wait another day,” Grijalva said.
Massie joined her at the front of the chamber as she added her signature.
Now that a majority of the House has signed on, the clock starts on a waiting period of seven legislative days, followed by other procedural steps to bring the underlying legislation to the floor — though Johnson suggested Wednesday he might choose to speed things up and bring it to the floor sooner. Supporters say their proposal, which would direct the Department of Justice to publicly release documents in its possession related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, is a bid for transparency.
It reignites a debate that has raged for much of this year. After suggesting during his reelection campaign that he was open to declassifying some Epstein documents, President Donald Trump has changed course, describing the controversy around them as a “hoax.” Support for the discharge petition would be viewed as a “hostile act,” the White House had said, and the president and his allies have targeted Massie, an idiosyncratic lawmaker with an independent streak who often acts as a foil to Republican House leaders.
Meanwhile, most Americans support releasing all the Epstein documents with victims’ names removed, according to an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. An Epstein vote could put many congressional Republicans in a tough position, forced to go on the record on a topic they had hoped to avoid.
On Wednesday, the controversy reached a fever pitch, as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released another trove of redacted documents as part of its own investigation. Democrats on the panel used their social media accounts to highlight emails from Epstein that reference Trump, including one that reads in part, “of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the emails did not prove that Trump was guilty of any wrongdoing.
“What President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep,” Leavitt said.
Grijalva took office Wednesday seven weeks after w