House GOP put on notice to expect a Tuesday Epstein files reckoning

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) is betting the house on the House of Representatives being forced to vote on a measure that would unseal all files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Calls for the release of more files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier alleged to have operated a human trafficking ring and a blackmail operation on powerful figures, have exploded since the Justice Department’s memo last week that shut down further investigation into the matter.

“All of this has to be out,” Landsman said Saturday on MSNBC. “There were these incredibly powerful men who did incredibly disgusting, awful (and) illegal things, and we have to stop protecting them.”

Landsman is one of several House members that have signed onto what’s known as a discharge petition, a legislative tool that can force a vote on a particular measure, which in this case would force a vote on releasing all files related to Epstein. Requiring 218 signatures to be adopted, the petition was introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), and reportedly has led to House Republicans eager to leave Washington.

When asked about the prospects of the petition, Landsman said he had little doubt that every Democratic House member would sign onto the measure by the end of Monday, the day the House reconvenes.

“The discharge petition will be in the well starting Monday, it was not there when we left (Friday),” he said. “I suspect every (House Democrat) will sign it, I suspect that this resolution will get 218 signatures by the end of the day. It may take a second day, but I doubt it. I bet by the end of Monday, or when you wake up Tuesday morning, you'll have 218 signatures.”

Republicans have twice voted against legislative measures to release files related to Epstein, caught between a rock and a hard place in trying to appease the MAGA base, for whom theories around Epstein thrive, and President Donald Trump, who has called theories around Epstein a Democratic-manufactured “hoax.”

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