US Speaker cuts short House session to avoid vote on releasing Epstein file

By Annie Karni and Michael Gold

 

Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced he was cutting short the week’s legislative business and sending the House home early for the summer on Wednesday to avoid having to hold votes on releasing files related to the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 

He made the move to deny Democrats the chance to try to force procedural votes on measures that would call on the Justice Department to make the information public. It reflected how deep divisions among Republicans on the matter have now paralyzed the House, as Republicans seek to avoid a politically perilous vote on a matter that is confounding President Trump and roiling their MAGA base. 

“We’re done being lectured on transparency,” Johnson said at a news conference, where the typically unflappable speaker appeared frustrated. 

He complained about “endless efforts to politicize the Epstein investigation” and added: “We’re not going to play political games with this,” as he wrapped up his final news conference before September. 

Republicans had planned votes this week on an immigration measure, a permitting bill and a rollback of some Biden-era regulations. But the House Rules Committee, the powerful panel controlled by the speaker that determines which legislation reaches the floor, has been upended by the Epstein issue, with Democrats repeatedly demanding votes on it. 

Democrats on the committee vowed to force such a vote again this week as part of a routine measure to allow debate on unrelated legislation. But Republicans did not want to go on the record on the matter, for fear of retribution from angry supporters who are demanding the release of Epstein files. 

The result is that the House cannot move ahead on any substantive legislation. Republicans now plan to wrap up votes Tuesday and early Wednesday on some noncontroversial bills and call their recess by midafternoon on Wednesday.  

After initially saying the material should come out, Johnson on Monday vowed that he would not schedule a vote this summer on whether to release the Epstein files, saying that Trump needed “space” to determine how to proceed. On Tuesday, he claimed that House Republicans were united on the issue. But they appeared to be far from it. 

“Crimes have been committed,” said Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia. “If there’s no justice and no accountability, people are going to get sick of it. That’s where people largely are.” 

Representative Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina and a member of the Rules panel, criticized his leaders for “stalling” on the matter. “The American people deserve action, not excuses,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday. “Let’s vote on it before August recess and get it DONE!!” 

And Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, said he still planned to circumvent House Republican leaders and force a vote on releasing the Epstein files in September, with the help of Democrats, using a maneuver known as a discharge petition. 

“He just told us in there to stick their heads in the sand about this Epstein thing,” Massie said after a Republican conference meeting, noting that Johnson had offered members no clear explanation of why a vote on the matter needed to be delayed. 

“Some here are much more frustrating than others,” Johnson said, referring to Massie. “I don’t know how his mind works, I don’t know what he’s thinking. He could have brought his discharge petition any time. Now he’s clamoring as if there’s any sort of timeline.” He ended with some Southern pique: “Bless his heart.” 

On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee also voted to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime partner of Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction, for a deposition. Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican who has pushed for more transparency in the Epstein case, introduced the motion to subpoena Maxwell, and several Republican members supported it. 

Greene also expressed skepticism about Maxwell’s testimony, noting that she was likely “bartering for something,” like a presidential pardon.