The House Rules Committee late Thursday night advanced a resolution calling for — but not legally requiring — the DOJ to release of some information related to Jeffrey Epstein, as a number of Republicans express anger at the Trump administration’s handling of the saga.
The panel voted 9-4 along party lines to send the measure to the House floor, with Democrats objecting to the resolution being non-binding.
It is unclear when leadership plans to stage a floor vote on the Epstein measure. House Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) would make that announcement.
Scalise later said he wasn’t sure if there would be a vote next week.
“I haven’t talked to Rules since they got out … so I can’t tell you a time frame on it,” he said.
Asked by The Hill if he would commit to putting the measure on the floor, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stopped short, telling reporters that he would evaluate the situation moving forward.
“We’ll determine what happens with all that. There’s a lot developing,” he said. “The president made his statements this afternoon, he’s asked the attorney general to release the information, I’m certain that she will, and everybody can make their own decisions about that.”
“We will see how all this develops,” he responded when pressed on the matter. “We’re in line with the White House, there’s no daylight between us. We want transparency, and I think that will be delivered for the people.”
The measure reads: “Providing for the public release of certain documents, records, and communications related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.”
It directs the Attorney General to make public “all credible” documents, communications, and metadata related to the investigations into and prosecutions against Epstein and his convicted former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell — providing considerable exceptions for information that could identify or depict victims, violate the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, or is “demonstrably false or unauthenticated.”
The measure is a House resolution, and not a bill — meaning it will not go to the Senate and does not have the legal weight to force the Trump administration to comply.
Pressed on that by Democrats in the committee, Foxx did not directly answer, saying it is a “sound, good-faith resolution” and noting that Democrats, when they offered an Epstein-related measure several days ago, also did so in the form of a resolution rather than a bill.
Rules committee member Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) said if the information was not released, the panel would urge all relevant House committees to initiate an investigation into any obstruction, suppression, or delay in the release of the files.
Ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) dismissed the resolution as a “cover vote” without teeth that the panel’s members advanced because they are taking heat over their vote earlier in the week against a Democratic-led amendment calling for the release of Epstein-related documents.
He offered an amendment that would tee up a more forceful bill from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to require the DOJ to disclose Epstein documents, which Republicans promptly dismissed.
If and when the measure comes to the floor, the procedural rule resolution that typically tees up debate and a final vote on legislation will instead “deem” the measure passed — meaning members would vote only once on the resolution.
As the panel prepared to advance the resolution, President Trump — who for over a week has called the Epstein matter a “hoax” and fumed at his prominent supporters objecting to a DOJ decision to not release any more information on the sex offender — relented by saying on his website Truth Social he would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”
The vote by the panel is the latest development in the Epstein saga, which has infiltrated Capitol Hill and fractured the Republican Party. The GOP is grappling with a push by the MAGA base to release the documents and an effort by Trump to end discussion on the issue.
It also puts to bed a days-long saga that delayed action in the House on a package clawing back federal funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Republicans on the House Rules Committee huddled with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Scalise for nearly two hours on Thursday to discuss a path forward on the thorny matter that is the Epstein controversy.
On Monday, Democrats on the House Rules Committee forced a vote on whether the full chamber should vote on an amendment compelling the release of the Epstein files. That effort failed 4-8 with only one Republican — Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.) — voting in favor. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another Republican on the panel, did not vote on the measure.
Republicans on the panel who voted against the effort have since received blowback for their vote, in-part prompting Thursday night’s vote.
On Tuesday, Democrats made another attempt at forcing a vote on releasing the Epstein documents by urging the chamber to oppose a routine procedural vote which, if it failed, would have triggered a vote on publishing the files. All House Republicans voted together to defeat that effort.
Democrats attempted the same procedural gambit overnight Thursday, which was similarly swatted down by Republicans in a 218-211 vote.
Updated on July 18 at 1:16 a.m.
Source link
