House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing fresh criticism from within his own party after Rep. Thomas Massie accused him of slow-walking efforts to force the Justice Department to release its Jeffrey Epstein files. According to Massie, Johnson only scheduled a vote because he was backed into a corner by a successful discharge petition.
“I think he finally learned his lesson. He should have brought this to the floor back in July or September,” Massie told The Washington Post. “He dragged this out. It’s caused nothing but political pain when he could have done the right thing politically, but also morally by bringing this to the floor immediately.”
The renewed push for the DOJ to release its Epstein files began in July, after the agency announced it could not identify any co-conspirators and reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The decision brought backlash from both MAGA supporters and many Democrats, who have long argued that the public deserves transparency.
The DOJ later closed its investigation into Epstein and any potential co-conspirators, which only intensified demands for Congress to step in. Johnson resisted those moves, including the one led by Massie. The Kentucky Republican filed a discharge petition, a procedural tool that bypasses House leadership and forces a floor vote once 218 members sign on.
For months, Johnson declined to schedule a vote on any bill compelling the release of the Epstein records. But when the discharge petition crossed the signature threshold last week, Johnson had no choice. He scheduled a vote for this week, ending a standoff that had been building for months.
Complicating the politics further is the fact that President Donald Trump’s name appears thousands of times in the relatively small portion of Epstein-related documents released recently by the House Oversight Committee. Trump has launched a full-court press to block the vote, but Massie disagrees with the idea that the president is at risk.
Massie insists Trump is opposing the release for reasons unrelated to personal exposure. “I think this is all about the president trying to protect his friends and his donors,” he told the Post.
With the vote now set, Johnson’s handling of the issue is coming under scrutiny from both sides. Massie’s comments suggest he sees the Speaker’s reversal not as leadership but as a forced concession. The question now is whether the upcoming vote will bring clarity—or spark an even bigger political fight.