WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has resisted a bipartisan push to publish investigatory files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, claiming it would be reckless to release uncorroborated material.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are promoting a “discharge petition” to force the House to vote on a resolution requiring the Department of Justice to hand over the Epstein files.
Johnson, who sent lawmakers home early for their August recess to escape the Epstein drama, claimed the resolution would improperly disclose the identities of Epstein’s victims and otherwise unleash bogus information.
“The Massie and Khanna discharge petition would require the release, they would require the DOJ and FBI to release information that they know is false, that is based on lies and rumors and was not even credible enough to be entered into the court proceedings,” Johnson said on “Meet the Press” Sunday. “And that would be a dangerous thing.”
It sounds like a principled objection, but just two years ago Republicans took the opposite position when they clamored for the Justice Department to release information that officials warned was based on unvetted rumors and potential lies. In 2023, Republicans led by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a subpoena for a document containing an FBI informant’s unverified claim a Ukrainian businessman said he’d previously paid a $5 million bribe to Joe Biden.
The Justice Department said the “mere existence of such a document would establish little beyond the fact that a confidential human source provided information” and that “the FBI regularly receives information from sources with significant potential biases, motivations, and knowledge, including drug traffickers, members of organized crime, or even terrorists.”
The DOJ also warned publicizing the form could endanger its informants, saying they needed to remain anonymous “not only because of safety concerns but also to avoid chilling their candor or willingness to continue reporting to the FBI.”
Republicans ignored the objections and threatened criminal contempt proceedings against then-FBI Director Christopher Wray if he refused to comply with the subpoena.
“The FBI is not above the law,” Johnson wrote on X at the time.
Republicans wound up obtaining the document, known as an FD-1023 form, and posting it online. It was a key piece of evidence in their nascent impeachment inquiry against then-President Biden, whom they accused of having engaged in a “bribery scheme” through his son’s overseas business dealings.
As a result of lawmakers’ interest in the document, the FBI further investigated the informant’s bribery claim, discovered that he’d made it up to hurt Biden politically, and charged him with crimes for his lies. The impeachment inquiry eventually petered out.
The Epstein saga, meanwhile, has continued to escalate, with the president facing daily questions about his relationship with his former friend as reporters discover new photos and letters that appear to document their prior rapport. On Monday, Trump said their relationship soured because Epstein had “hired help” away from Trump’s Florida golf club — not because Epstein had been a “creep” as the White House previously claimed.
Massie has said he has enough Republican and Democratic support for his discharge petition to succeed, meaning the House could vote on the Epstein bill in September when lawmakers return from their summer vacation. The legislation, if it passed both the House and Senate and were not vetoed by the president, would require the Justice Department to make public all of its investigative files related to Epstein, with redactions to protect the identities of victims.
The House could get its hands on Epstein material another way, however. Last week, a handful of Republicans on the House Oversight subcommittee joined with Democrats during a subcommittee meeting to approve motions directing Comer, the committee’s chair, to issue subpoenas for Epstein materials from the Justice Department. A committee spokesperson told HuffPost on Monday the subpoenas would be issued “in the near future.”
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in prison in 2019. Trump and his allies have claimed for years the government had more information about Epstein and his “clients” among the wealthy and powerful. The Justice Department said this month, however, that there’s no incriminating client list, no evidence of an elite blackmail scheme and no cause for further disclosures. The statement has set off a furor among some of Trump’s supporters.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Justice Department officials told the president earlier this year his name repeatedly appears in the Epstein materials. (The mentions aren’t necessarily an indication of wrongdoing.)
Johnson, for his part, has said he’s confounded by Massie’s insistence on forcing the Epstein vote and complained about the sudden interest in the matter.
“Thomas Massie could have brought his discharge petition any time over the last four and a half years,” Johnson said last week.