House Republicans Scramble as Epstein Files Petition Hits Magic Number — Several Announce They’re Now Voting in Favor
CNN’s Manu Raju reported on CNN Wednesday that more Republicans are joining the move to release the Epstein files now that the discharge petition has enough signatures to force a full House vote.
Raju reported that Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Eli Crane (R-AZ) are now “yes votes” on the bill to release the files, but cautioned that it is still extremely unlikely that the bill ever becomes law. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) also said on MSNBC on Wednesday that he would vote to release the Epstein files, although he refused to join the likes of Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in signing the discharge petition. The petition gained the necessary signatures to sign the vote after Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) was finally sworn in on Wednesday evening and signed it.
Trump himself reportedly pressured Boebert to drop her support for the petition as both House Democrats and Republicans released a trove of emails connecting Trump to Epstein. The stunning email dumps showed Epstein boasting that he knew how “dirty Donald” was and claiming he “gave” Trump his girlfriend.
“Well, look, I think the Oversight Committee—I’m going to vote for it if it comes up, because–” Davidson told Raju, who pushed, “You’ll vote for the bill.”
“Yeah, because look, the Oversight Committee has pushed out a lot of disclosures. The administration’s done a lot. If you look in the U.K., they’ve tried to do something towards Prince Andrew. But one of the things that went away during the shutdown is Pam Bondi was supposed to come to the House and answer these questions. And look, I’m not on the Judiciary Committee, but I did want Pam Bondi to come and do some explaining,” he added.
“And so, if Donald Trump actually wanted to exonerate himself, he should release all the Epstein files today, and that’s what we’re asking the White House to do. Remember, we’re getting our documents from the Epstein estate. The Department of Justice has an enormous amount of documents, photos, media, videos, materials that the American public deserves to see,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) to Raju, who then wrapped his report, saying:
But even if it does pass the House, this bill faces a very uncertain prospect, very dubious prospects, in fact. The Senate Republican leaders have shown no interest in taking this bill up. It’s unlikely to get 60 votes there. And, of course, Donald Trump would have to sign it into law, which he has made very clear how opposed he is to this bill. So it becoming law seems very, very unlikely at this point.
Raju added he also spoke to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who co-sponsored the petition. Thomas Massie told me — now that Epstein discharge petition has hit 218 — there’s no way to take your name off it, so the bill will get a vote. Likely first week of December vote. Predicts GOP support will ‘snowball.’ Says goal is to get veto-proof majority.”
Watch above via CNN.
