Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he will permit a floor vote on the bipartisan bill demanding the full release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files once the House resumes sessions after the government shutdown. Johnson stated that if the discharge petition reaches 218 signatures, it will proceed to the floor. However, he has not yet seated Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, citing the need for Senate approval on funding legislation. Johnson has privately expressed similar intentions to fellow Republicans, but has also previously worked to block such votes by adjourning the House and shutting down the Rules Committee.
Johnson’s comments follow lengthy remarks at a press conference where he praised the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s work on the Epstein case. So far, he said, the panel has released 43,000 pages of documents, issued many deposition subpoenas and received suspicious activity reports from the Treasury Department’s financial records.
Among the files now public are Epstein’s personal phone logs, financial ledgers and daily calendars.
“The bipartisan House Oversight Committee is already accomplishing what the discharge petition, that gambit, sought and much more,” Johnson said, at the press conference, adding that all “credible information” would be released to the public as part of the panel’s monthslong probe into the matter, while taking precautions to protect Epstein’s accusers.
“I’ve met with some of the Epstein victims,” Johnson said. “We’re working around the clock to ensure that justice is served and also as part of the oversight to figure out why justice has been delayed for so long.”
Still, Johnson lamented,