House Republican leaders are nearing a “breaking point” under mounting pressure to force the Justice Department to release files on Jeffrey Epstein, journalist Philip Elliott argued in a column published in Time.
“So far, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has proven remarkably adept at keeping his raucous tribe of rebels from throwing the House into chaos, a skill that last week once again thwarted efforts by a group of Republican firebrands to undermine the will of President Donald Trump,” Elliott wrote. “But the Speaker’s talent of necessity may find a breaking point as soon as the end of this month.”
Johnson has been steadfast in his efforts to quash dissent among his own ranks as it relates to disclosing files on Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges and who is alleged to have run a blackmail operation targeting powerful figures.
Johnson adjourned the House early back in July to stonewall an effort to force a vote on compelling the DOJ to release its files on Epstein, though he called the allegation an “outright lie.” After the House reconvened this month, he again pushed back against efforts led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to disclose files on Epstein, and even blurted out that Trump was an “FBI informant” tasked with taking Epstein down.
Massie’s efforts to force files on Epstein to be released come in the form of what’s known as a discharge petition, a legislative tool to force a vote on a particular matter, which in this case is a bill that would compel the DOJ to release all files it holds on the disgraced financier. It needs 218 signatures, and with four House Republicans having already signed on, and presumably all 212 Democrats joining in, that leaves the petition just two signatures short. And, with several special elections scheduled for this month, that mounting pressure may catch up to Johnson and GOP leadership, Elliott argued, and within a matter of weeks.
“There are four vacancies in the House and three are all-but-certain to break in Democrats’ favor,” Elliott wrote.
“If Democrats can hold the late Rep. Gerry Connolly’s district in Virginia and the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s district in Arizona, that’s the ballgame. Both special elections are this month. A third reliably Blue district, held until recently by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas, is up for a vote in November.”
Even if the discharge petition were to be successful, however, the measure would still face roadblocks in the Senate. As Elliott noted, however, “that the measure remains a live ball is a sign that Trumpism is facing a fraught moment.”
