House Election Provides Needed Vote for Epstein Files Bill

After a Democrat special election victory in Arizona, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is declaring victory in his push to force the release of additional files on the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrat Adelita Grijalva emerged triumphant in the Arizona’s 7th Congressional District special election to fill the vacancy left by her father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, who died in March.

Grijalva’s victory will likely provide the 218th vote necessary to force a vote on Massie’s bill to compel the federal government to release all of its files on Epstein and his sex abuse, which Massie says implicates powerful individuals.

Massie, alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has spearheaded a discharge petition, a special legislative tool used to circumvent House leadership and force a vote.

The petition currently has the signature of every House Democrat, as well as Republican Reps. Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

Grijalva told CNN that the Epstein files issue was important on the campaign trail.

“We are hearing from voters that they believe the survivors deserve justice, and Congress must fulfill its duty to check the executive branch and hold Trump accountable,” she said in a statement.

The White House has pushed back on the discharge petition, which would force a vote on the bill to release additional files, with top officials saying the administration has already demonstrated a commitment to transparency and protection of victims with the documents it has sent to the House Oversight Committee.

Meanwhile, Massie appears confident about his discharge petition, declaring at an event in Kentucky that “now we’re going to have 218 signatures and we’re going to force a vote on releasing those files” on Wednesday, per a Semafor reporter.

Massie recently told Capitol reporters what to expect, explaining that, if he receives enough votes on the petition to force a vote, it will trigger a clock that will wind down with each day Congress is in session until consideration of the bill is required under House rules.

“On the 23rd there will be a Democrat elected. That will be the 218th vote,” he said. “But we’re not in session on the 23rd. We’re not planned to be in session. If we do come back, according to the calendar, the next week, that starts a seven-day clock—legislative days. The earliest this vote could happen will be Oct. 14, by my calculation, but it could be later than that if Congress cancels those two days at the end of September.”

Of course, the Senate is another question, and there is no certainty that the upper chamber would be interested in taking up Massie’s bill.

“The Senate could choose not to take it up, but I think we’re going to have a good vote on this,” Massie told reporters.

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