House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the bipartisan discharge petition to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is “superfluous” and “should be stopped,” as House Republican leaders and the White House fight back on the measure.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) launched a congressional petition on Tuesday to force a vote to release the full Epstein files.
“It should be stopped because it’s superfluous now. It’s not necessary,” Johnson said Thursday on Punchbowl News’s Fly Out Day. “The developments over August, as we knew would happen, made that effectively a moot point.”
Johnson added that House Republicans this week voted to endorse and affirm the House Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation” into Epstein and his former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
By having the Oversight Committee lead the charge, Johnson argued that the investigation will do “everything the discharge petition wants and more.”
“The vote was very important because we endorsed the oversight committee; this is a truly and totally bipartisan effort to dig into the facts and release all the documents to the American public, but it’s got to be done in a responsible manner,” Johnson said.
The Oversight Committee released 33,000 files relating to Epstein on Tuesday night, just hours after Massie filed the discharge petition.
Johnson said Massie’s petition does not “adequately” protect the victims.
“My problem with the discharge petition is that it does not do that. It does not adequately protect the innocent victims,” he said. “I’m a lawyer. This is what I do. I used to litigate these cases. They have haphazardly drawn up the discharge petition.”
Johnson argued that the petition’s lack of protections for whistleblowers, confidential informants, and undercover law enforcement agents, who are essential for a sex trafficking investigation, is a “dangerous prospect.”
Earlier this week, Epstein survivors held a press conference on Capitol Hill with Massie and Khanna, calling on lawmakers to vote to release all the files.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also attended the press conference. She said she was “honored” to sign the petition and that the “truth needs to come out.”
The Epstein survivors revealed at the press conference that they are working to compile a private list of Epstein’s known associates.
Greene, one of four Republicans who signed the petition with all House Democrats, said she would be “proud” to read the list on the House floor if the survivors asked her to.
Johnson commended the women at the press conference for their bravery in speaking out, but said the petition does not protect the victims who do not want to be known.
“While we had a number of women, bravely, heroically stand in front of the cameras and tell their stories, there are as many, potentially a thousand victims of these Epstein evils…they do not want their names and identities known, ”Johnson said. “It’s not just the unmasking that would be allowed, (the petition) doesn’t even affirm or require DOJ and its personnel to cover those folks, so we have to do that.”
SIX TAKEAWAYS FROM EPSTEIN SURVIVORS SPEAKING OUT ON CAPITOL HILL
On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the Oversight Committee met with Epstein survivors in a closed-door meeting for 2 1/2 hours.
“You have bulldogs on both sides of the aisles in that room,” Johnson said about the lawmakers at the meeting. “They’re all dialed in, and you’ve heard them. They’re motivated, so the truth is coming out, and that’s what should happen.”
