Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) drew a flood of fact-checks after claiming she “voted to release the Epstein files,” a line critics called dishonest.
Hinson, Iowa’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, posted the claim Tuesday alongside a 30-second campaign ad.
While she eventually voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, she did so only after refusing to sign the petition that forced a vote on it, The Gazette reported in August.
“I voted to release the Epstein files and have spent years working across the aisle to protect survivors of sexual abuse,” Hinson wrote. “Men like Epstein, who hurt children, they’ll have to answer to God. But men who lie about it to win an election, they’ll have to answer to you.”
“Ashley Hinson fought to block the release of the Epstein files,” read a Community Note that X users attached to the post, citing a 2025 Gazette report.
That report said Hinson opposed a July 2025 push by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to force a House vote on releasing the files.
“I think Thomas Massie is approaching this in the wrong way,” Hinson told reporters at the time, adding that he was doing it “in a way that we give the floor to Democrats.”
“Hinson did not sign the discharge petition that would have forced a vote on releasing the Epstein files much earlier,” wrote Laura Belin, a reporter for the progressive site Bleeding Heartland.
A discharge petition lets House members force a vote once a majority signs it. Massie’s petition sat one signature short for two months until Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) signed in November 2025.
“For 63 days, the bipartisan discharge petition that ultimately led to the release of the Epstein files was a single signature short,” wrote Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, a Democrat. “Ashley Hinson could have signed. She had every opportunity to buck her party leadership and sign the petition. She did not.”
The House passed the bill 427-1 in November 2025 after President Donald Trump dropped his opposition.
“A discharge petition is a Democrat floor procedure. That’s all that is,” Hinson told a caller at an August telephone town hall, according to the same report.
“Ashley Hinson voted to release the Epstein files ONLY after Donald Trump gave Republicans the OK. Before that, she opposed efforts to release them,” wrote Lauren French, who works for the Democratic group Senate Majority PAC.
“She mysteriously missed multiple committee votes to release the files but voted on other committee business the same day. Releasing this ad with a track record like hers is a sign of deep desperation,” wrote Cheyenne Hunt, an attorney and former Democratic congressional candidate.
Massie has since filed a second petition for a bill that would let survivors and state officials sue the Justice Department for failing to follow the first law.
“Ashley Hinson did not sign the discharge petition to release the Epstein files. She has not signed the discharge petition for the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0,” wrote Aaron Parnas, a progressive commentator. “This post is unbelievably dishonest.”
“The litmus test was who helped force the vote,” wrote Raphaël Schreiber, Massie’s legislative director. “Ashley Hinson did nothing because she was ordered to do nothing. She can make amends by signing the Discharge for EFTAII. We still need 2 more signatures.”
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