WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers traveled to Capitol Hill this week to implore President Donald Trump and Congress to release all of the government’s files related to the investigation into the late financier and convicted sex offender.
Despite that pressure campaign, it’s unclear whether more documents will be made public or if the names of others who took part in Epstein’s crimes will come to light.
Lawmakers pushing for the release of the records say they’re on track to collect enough signatures to force a vote by the end of the month that would require the Justice Department to release the files. But the so-called discharge petition would still need to pass the Senate, which remains a big question mark.
Behind the scenes, the White House has been trying to kill the petition, targeting the trio of GOP women who have signed on, as well as the other Republicans who might join them, members said. “President Trump has been very clear on this for a while, including again this morning: This is being pushed by Democrats to distract from his wins,” one Trump adviser told NBC News on Friday (though many of the calls for releasing the Epstein files have come from within the president’s own party).
“Everyone here is on the same page with that, and anyone who continues to focus on this, regardless of party, will not be received well,” the adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking, warned.
GOP leaders on the Hill say the rogue discharge effort is misguided and could run the risk of identifying Epstein victims who don’t want to go public. They say the House Oversight Committee is already investigating the matter.
One way around the impasse: The accusers themselves told reporters they are compiling a list of Epstein’s accomplices that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she might read on the House floor.
“Unless we learn from this history, monsters like Epstein will rise again,” one of the Epstein accusers, Chauntae Davies, said at a news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. “There are files, government files, that hold the truth about Epstein, who he knew, who owed him, who protected him, and why he was allowed to operate for so long without consequence.”
“Why was Maxwell the only one held accountable when so many others played a role? Why does the government hide this information from the public?” she continued, referring to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Here’s where things stand with the Epstein matter after an emotionally charged week in Washington.
Will the House vote to release the Epstein files?
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the bipartisan duo leading the discharge petition push, are projecting confidence that they can secure the 218 signatures needed to force a vote to release all of the Justice Department’s files in the Epstein case.
“I’ve always said it’ll take until the end of the month, and I am confident,” Khanna told NBC News.
They are close to their goal but not quite there. So far, Massie and Khanna have 215 signatures on the petition. Only one Democrat has not signed — Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who has not been in D.C. this week after the death of his mother but will sign it, according to Khanna.
The three other Republicans who have signed on are all conservative women: Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Khanna called the three women “very courageous.” But he acknowledged they need two more Republicans to get to 218 and said he and Massie are “in talks” with about 13 other Republicans, whom they are not naming.
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who attended much of the news conference with Epstein’s victims this week, said she’s still on the fence and trying to get more information.
The “discharge petition became so polarized and political, it’s probably not going to pass through the Senate anyway,” Spartz said, adding: “But I think we need to be open-minded and actually find resolution.”
By month’s end, however, more Republican signatures may not actually be needed. Special elections will soon be held to fill vacant seats formerly held by Democrats. The special election to fill the seat of the late Rep. Gerry Connolly in Virginia is slated for Tuesday, while the special election to fill the seat of the late Rep. Raul Grijalva in Arizona will take place Sept. 23. Democrats are almost certain to win in those deep-blue districts.
Once new members are sworn in and if they sign the petition, the magic number of 218 could be reached. That is, of course, if none of the three Republican women who signed on backs out.
The discharge petition does not expire until the end of the 119th Congress, in January 2027.
Will Trump bow to pressure?
The Epstein files saga has divided Republicans both on Capitol Hill and in the MAGA base for months. A frustrated Trump said he’s satisfied with the Justice Department’s handling of the matter and is ready to move on.
In a lengthy Truth Social post Friday, Trump accused Democrats of socializing with Epstein when he was alive (Trump did the same) and slammed the fight over the files as “another Democrat HOAX, just like Russia, Russia, Russia” to distract from Trump’s success.
“The Department of Justice has done its job, they have given everything requested of them. It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing.”
White House officials have been applying pressure to Republicans in Congress who have either signed the discharge petition or who listed their name as a co-sponsor of the underlying Massie resolution requiring the DOJ to release them. Publicizing those names may have been a misstep by Massie and Khanna; it gave the White House a road map of whom exactly to target. Eleven Republicans co-sponsored the legislation, but only three of them signed the petition.
One White House official said Republicans who join the effort are engaged in a “hostile act” against Trump.
“I got a lot of pushback. I got phone call after phone call last night. They didn’t want me to sign the discharge petition,” Greene said Wednesday on conservative Eric Bolling’s streaming show, “Real America’s Voice.”
She said Trump’s staffers are advising him poorly on the Epstein issue and shot back that the true hostile act was when Epstein raped women.
“I told the president this morning, I want to see him bring these women into the Oval Office. And I want him to be the hero and champion of this issue, and I want him to fight for these women because I know him to be a fighter,” Greene added. “When he fights for something, for an issue, and he fights for people, especially innocent victims of Jeffrey Epstein, then he beats everybody.”
Will the names of Epstein’s accomplices be revealed?
Nearly 50 minutes into Wednesday’s news conference came a stunning development: Podcaster and former model Lisa Phillips said she and other Epstein accusers would compile their own list of Epstein’s associates.
“Congress must choose: Will you continue to protect predators or will you finally protect survivors? Phillips asked. “Together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know, who were regularly in the Epstein world. … Stay tuned for more details.”
Greene said she would read that list on the House floor if the accusers want that.
“I’m not afraid to name names,” Greene said. “And so if they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor and I’ll say every damn name that abused these women. I can do that for them, and I’d be proud to do it.”
Massie later said he would be willing to join Greene in that effort, citing the speech-and-debate clause of the Constitution, which protects members of Congress from civil suits and criminal prosecution for actions performed in their legislative capacity.
“So, that’s one way to get a list out there if the survivors want to compile it,” Massie said. “I don’t know the timeline. The timeline would depend on how long it would take them to compile a list, and if they wanted us to do it or not.”
Will Congress get more documents?
Earlier this week, the Oversight Committee released 33,295 pages of records it had subpoenaed from the Justice Department related to the Epstein case. Many of the documents released were public filings that had previously been available.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said that only 3% of the files were new. A spokesperson for the Republicans on the committee defended the release, saying that DOJ “is providing documents on a rolling basis.”
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., called this an “initial batch” of records, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., saying there are more records to come.
“This is the beginning and not the end,” Johnson said.
Oversight staffers will meet next week with lawyers for Epstein’s estate in New York City, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The bipartisan group of staff will get to review unredacted documents as part of the committee’s investigation into Epstein, the sources said. The committee subpoenaed the estate for materials in its possession, including the “reported leather-bound book compiled by Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell for Mr. Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday” in 2003, which The Wall Street Journal reported includes a crude card from Trump. Trump has denied writing the card and has sued the Journal.
CNN was first to report the planned meeting next week.
Comer said the estate will start turning over materials to the committee on Sept. 8. Those documents are expected to have redactions, though the staff traveling to New York City will be able to view unredacted versions, according to one of the sources.
