Thomas Massie says he will force vote on releasing Epstein files

Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a discharge petition Tuesday to force a vote in the House on the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Massie joined Democrat California Rep. Ro Khanna in submitting a resolution known as the ‘Epstein Files Transparency Act.’ To bring the resolution to a vote, Massie’s discharge petition needs a simple majority — 218 members — to move forward.

“We all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files, who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes. Americans were promised justice and transparency. We’re introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the US House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files,” Massie wrote on X.

The bipartisan resolution calls for all documents related to Epstein to be released no later than 20 days after the “date of enactment” of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Attorney General Pam Bondi would also be directed to publish a “searchable and downloadable format of all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” held by the DOJ, FBI, and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices.

The resolution says, “No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of any of the following: embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

Since February, Bondi has been vocal about the administration pushing for transparency on cases such as Epstein’s and the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. Appearing on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Feb. 26, Bondi said the public would soon see “a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, [and] a lot of information.”

The following day, Feb. 27, a group of conservative influencers was seen outside the White House holding binders titled “Epstein Files: Phase One.” Influencers later said the information had been placed under a brief embargo, only for the public to discover that the binders contained little to no new intelligence on the case.

Backlash against the administration and how it handled the files quickly mounted, especially after President Donald Trump had vowed full transparency on the matter.

By March, Bondi appeared again on Fox’s Hannity, telling the host that after the briefing, a “source” had informed her there was additional “evidence” being held in the Southern District of New York.

Bondi said she had ordered FBI Director Kash Patel to provide a “detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld,” vowing once again to release the remaining files.

By July, the DOJ quietly released a memo — first obtained by Axios — saying that the FBI and DOJ found no evidence that Epstein maintained a “client list” and no indication of foul play in his death.

As part of their findings, the FBI released over 10 hours of “raw and enhanced” footage from outside Epstein’s cell at the New York Metropolitan Correctional Center. But questions quickly circulated about a missing minute of footage just before midnight.

On July 8, Bondi told a reporter the gap was due to the correctional center’s cameras resetting each night. On Friday, WIRED released a review of the footage’s metadata, saying the video “was likely edited.”

In 2023, Congress unanimously passed the COVID-19 Origin Act, requiring all information related to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19 to be declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Intelligence that undermined the prominent theory that the virus originated naturally in a Wuhan wet market, however, was buried, despite lawmakers’ pushing for transparency.

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