White House's ominous threat to GOP lawmakers backing Epstein probe seen as an 'admission'

The White House issued an ominous threat Tuesday to GOP lawmakers considering backing a measure to release files on Jeffrey Epstein, according to NOTUS reporter Daniella Diaz.

On Tuesday, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee released 33,000 files on Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and is alleged to have led a blackmail operation targeting powerful figures. The release, however, was met with disappointment from critics across the political spectrum, many of whom noted that a vast majority of the files were either redacted or already made public.

Another probe into Epstein is running parallel to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation: led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), the two lawmakers have introduced a discharge petition that would force a vote on a measure compelling the Justice Department to release all files it holds on Epstein.

For Republicans considering backing this effort, however, the White House warned that doing so would be viewed as a “very hostile act” to the Trump administration.

“Helping Thomas Massie and liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the oversight committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration,” said a White House official, according to Diaz.

President Donald Trump has feuded with Massie in the past over his persistence on Epstein, calling him the “worst Republican congressman,” and said he was actively “looking for someone good to run against this guy.” Massie, however, has remained undeterred, and on Wednesday, fired back against the White House’s threats.

“They’re threatening anyone who helps bring true transparency and justice for the survivors,” Massie wrote Wednesday in a social media post on X. “This is a tacit admission the Oversight Committee data release is woefully incomplete.”

Massie said that his discharge petition, which requires 218 signatures, had already amassed 134 signatures within two hours after being filed on Wednesday, including from three House Republicans: Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), and Nancy Mace (R-SC), who was seen having a “full-blown panic attack” Tuesday after meeting with victims of Epstein.