Massie Claims He’ll Soon Have Enough Votes for Epstein Files Petition

Rep. Thomas Massie does not have enough votes yet to force the consideration of his bill to release the files on the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but says he’s confident he will very soon, thanks to upcoming special elections to fill current vacancies.

“We will have the 218 votes needed for the Epstein discharge petition by the end of this month,” the renegade Kentucky Republican wrote on the social media platform X on Sunday.

Massie has sparked a spirited debate in the House in recent weeks with his bill, The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would force the federal government to release almost all of its files on Epstein.

To advance the bill in defiance of House leadership, he has filed a discharge petition alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. That’s a special legislative tool requiring 218 votes that would force the consideration of the bill.

From left: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

So far, Massie is two votes shy of being able to pass the petition, having the support of every Democrat, along with those of Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina. 

But with upcoming special elections to replace the late Democrat Reps. Gerry Connolly of Virginia and Raul Grijalva of Texas, Massie thinks he’ll likely have the necessary signatures in hand this month.

“We’ll get to 218,” he told reporters Tuesday. “In fact, we have one more person coming in November, so we need two signatures and three will be here soon enough.”

Khanna has similarly stated confidently that they will have the votes by the end of September.

In November, Texas’ heavily Democrat 18th Congressional District will hold a special election to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner.

“It’s almost, like, merciful for the Speaker,” said Massie. “If he’s not going to end this himself by supporting the discharge petition or the underlying legislation, at least the Democrats will bring some finality to it for him, and we’ll have this vote, as much as he hates to take it.”

Massie and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., have repeatedly sparred in recent days.

Over the weekend, Johnson put Massie on blast for “his antics and the way he openly attacks me online almost every hour of every day for sport.”

Johnson has portrayed Massie’s petition as unnecessary, given other Republican efforts to release information on Epstein—as well as rife with flaws.

“The discharge is poorly written,” said Johnson. “It does not adequately protect innocent victims, and that is a very important thing. It doesn’t protect whistleblowers, or confidential informants, or undercover law enforcement agents, which are critical to protect in sex-trafficking investigations, obviously. It has lots of problems.”

When The Daily Signal asked Massie to address Johnson’s claims that his bill inadequately protects undercover agents, the Kentuckian outright dismissed the argument.

“Is that his new line? I mean, is Trump one of those undercover agents? That was his story this weekend,” said Massie, adding:

 “Virtually nothing he says is believable now. He’s just motivated to try and keep these documents from coming out. When one of his reasons falls by the wayside, he makes up another reason. He’s on the wrong side of history, he’s on the wrong side of the Republican base, and he’s frankly jeopardizing a lot of political capital by avoiding this issue.”

The speaker’s office did not provide further comment on Massie’s accusations, but forwarded an NBC interview in which Johnson clarified his characterization of Trump as an “FBI informant” and defended his handling of the Epstein controversy.

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