BURSTHouse GOP leaders on Tuesday morning added to this week’s House schedule a vote on a resolution directing the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to continue its investigation into matters surrounding the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The addition comes as leaders contend with an alternative push to force a vote on a bill that would direct the Trump administration to release more Epstein material.
The resolution calls for the Oversight panel, which has already started a probe into Epstein matters, to “continue its ongoing investigation into the possible mismanagement of the Federal Government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the Federal government to effectively combat them.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), meanwhile, plan to file a discharge petition on their measure to force the Trump administration to release Epstein-related material. That procedural gambit can bypass leadership to bring the measure to the House floor if it reaches 218 signatures, requiring at least a handful of Republicans to support it.
Massie said Tuesday he intends to open the petition to signatures at 2 p.m., when the House returns from recess.
Massie also criticized leadership’s move to add a vote on the Epstein resolution in a post on X: “.@SpeakerJohnson just scheduled this meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files."
Massie and Khanna are set to host several women who accused Epstein and Maxwell of abuse on Capitol Hill in a press conference on Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is also set to meet with the women privately, the Washington Post first reported.
The Oversight panel kicked off an investigation into Epstein measures, prompted in part by a successful Democratic-led motion to subpoena the DOJ for the “Epstein Files.” The department handed over thousands of pages of documents in response to that request in August, but Democrats on the panel said the material was mostly already public.
Due to a Republican-led motion, the panel has also subpoenaed a number of former federal officials, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for testimony in relation to the Epstein matter.
Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) also subpoenaed the Epstein estate for material, with lawmakers including it will hand over the infamous “birthday book” that the Wall Street Journal reported included a message from President Trump.
Over the weekend, Comer requested that the Treasury Department hand over any suspicious activity reports generated by banking transactions related to Epstein and Maxwell.