When the House finished its final vote on Wednesday before a six-week August recess, some lawmakers were furious.
Members are leaving town without acting on legislation to compel the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. In fact, the House closed up shop a day early to avoid having to act on a discharge petition related to Epstein documents.
“It is just sort of trying to let the air out of the balloon on the Epstein issue,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, who’s been leading an effort to force a vote for the release of documents. “That’s why they’re sending us home.”
Massie, alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, is leading a discharge petition that would force a vote on the release of documents by the U.S. attorney general within 30 days of the measure passing.
The bill, however, won’t get a vote, at least not before September now that lawmakers are gone until Sept. 2.
On Wednesday, as Republicans and Democrats departed the Capitol, many told reporters they were disappointed that the House was going out of session to avoid voting on the discharge petition before it ripened.
“I would have liked to see a lot happen,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has been calling for the documents to be released. “It is what it is. I’m not in charge.”
The move came after a band of conservatives made it clear Monday they would not advance any rule out of the Rules Committee over concerns Democrats would force a string of tough Epstein-related votes.
But just moments before the House’s last vote series for the next six weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice told Trump in May that his name was mentioned in the Epstein files.
Massie wasn’t exactly surprised that Trump’s name may be in the Epstein files, but he actually defended the president and said that wasn’t necessarily an indication of wrongdoing.
“There are probably lots of names in there who haven’t done anything criminal, and so there’s a reluctance to release these files because of the embarrassment — just having your name in the news and these files,” Massie said. “And I always presumed that there were at least some of Trump’s friends named in this.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to make as much out of the Epstein situation as possible.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference on Wednesday to blame Republicans for hiding the documents.
“What are they hiding from the American people?” Jeffries said. “What billionaires, what well-connected donors, what elite people are they trying to protect? Why haven’t Republicans released the Epstein files to the American people?”
Two separate committee hearings on Wednesday were also taken over by Democrats calling for votes on Epstein matters. During an Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Democrats planned to offer two amendments while working on an anti-human trafficking bill — but Republicans on the committee pulled the legislation altogether.
At a separate hearing for the Federal Law Enforcement Oversight Subcommittee, Rep. Summer Lee motioned to subpoena documents about the Epstein case, which was approved by an 8-2 vote.
In turn, the committee also approved a motion from Rep. Scott Perry to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales. A separate motion from Rep. Andy Biggs was also approved. That motion would force the release of all communications between President Joe Biden, Biden administration officials and the Department of Justice related to Jeffrey Epstein. And another motion, from Rep. Nancy Mace, to redact the names of victims and any personally identifiable information of victims, was also approved.
When pressed by a reporter on why Democrats are pushing for transparency on Epstein now instead of when President Joe Biden was in office, Rep. Robert Garcia disputed the claim.
“The Epstein files issue is an issue that the MAGA base and Donald Trump ran on. It was their issue,” he told reporters Wednesday. “So it’s incredibly hypocritical for Donald Trump to now reverse a campaign promise. This wasn’t a Joe Biden campaign promise. This is a Donald Trump campaign promise.”
Republican leaders, for their part, are hoping the six-week break from the Capitol will take down the temperature on the Epstein issue, though Speaker Mike Johnson denied on Wednesday that he moved up the recess to avoid additional Epstein drama.
“No one in Congress is blocking Epstein documents,” Johnson said. “No one in Congress is doing that. What we are doing here, Republicans are preventing Democrats from making a mockery of the Rules Committee process because we refuse to engage in their political charade.”
He added that there was “no fear” about taking Epstein-related votes, despite the fact he dismissed the House a day early and avoided taking any of those Epstein-related votes.
Whether the recess will actually cool off the issue remains to be seen.
Massie told reporters he doesn’t think the issue will go away, and actually suggested it could get worse over August as lawmakers hear from constituents. He referenced an effort he helped lead in 2015 to oust then-Speaker John Boehner, when then-Rep. Mark Meadows dropped a motion to vacate the day before the August recess — just in time to make news, but not with enough time for leaders to vote on the resolution and quash it.
“Mark Meadows and I put the motion to vacate John Boehner in the hopper the day before the August recess, specifically because people were going to be going home, talking at town halls, talking at fundraisers and maybe just even going to play golf and going to the beach, and that this is that issue would come up,” Massie said. “I think this issue will not dissipate. I think it will grow over the August recess.”