Thomas Massie: One GOP Signature Away From Forcing Epstein Files Vote

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Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) says he’s on the verge of forcing a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, needing just one more Republican signature on his discharge petition to bypass GOP leadership entirely. Massie announced this week that Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) have already signed on, putting him within reach of the threshold required to compel a floor vote regardless of whether Speaker Mike Johnson brings the bill up himself. “I’ve got one hero slot left,” Massie said, framing the search for a final Republican signer as both a legislative and political challenge.

The bill in question, Epstein Files Transparency Act II, would give state attorneys general access to Epstein-related files needed to prosecute perpetrators under state law and make it easier for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse to sue for access to their own records. Massie says the stakes are straightforward. “The Department of Justice continues to unlawfully withhold over 3 million Epstein files,” he said, arguing that the first Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into law last year after Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna forced a vote on it, hasn’t gone far enough.

Details & Background

This is Massie’s second discharge-petition fight over Epstein records in as many years. His original push with Khanna secured the 218th and final signature needed in dramatic fashion, ultimately leading Trump to sign the first Epstein Files Transparency Act. Since then, Massie and Khanna have both criticized former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the DOJ’s initial file release, arguing the department slow-walked and redacted its way around the law’s intent.

Massie has accused House leadership of deliberately running out the clock this time around. He noted Speaker Johnson canceled two House workweeks in September, a scheduling move Massie says is designed to avoid the vote altogether. “Now there are rumors that @SpeakerJohnson will soon recess the House until after the midterm elections to avoid the vote?!” Massie wrote, referencing chatter that leadership could adjourn the chamber early specifically to sidestep the petition. Johnson has previously dismissed Massie’s warnings about calendar manipulation, at one point calling the suggestion “stupid.”

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Massie has been candid about the political risk facing whichever Republican signs on as his fourth and final vote, acknowledging that GOP leadership has punished defectors on this exact issue before. “Anybody who did the first one is not obligated to put their head in the guillotine again,” Massie said, a nod to Republicans who already weathered blowback for backing the original discharge petition and may be reluctant to do so twice.

Massie’s timing adds another layer: he lost his own Republican primary earlier this year to a Trump-endorsed challenger, meaning the Kentucky congressman is pushing this fight as an outgoing member with comparatively little left to lose politically. That dynamic has shaped how he’s approached both this petition and a separate, unrelated impeachment push against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he introduced the same week.

Why This Matters to You

A discharge petition is one of the only tools rank-and-file members have to force a vote over leadership’s objections, and Massie getting to 218 signatures would mean state prosecutors gain direct access to Epstein files that have so far stayed locked inside the DOJ. For Epstein survivors and the state AGs pursuing separate legal action, that access could open new avenues to prosecute remaining co-conspirators under state law.

The fight also says something about where House Republican unity stands heading into the midterms: Massie needing just one GOP colleague willing to buck leadership, and Johnson allegedly trying to run out the legislative clock rather than let the chamber vote, underscores how unsettled this issue remains within the party itself, even after Trump already signed the first version of this law.