{"id":6343,"date":"2026-09-17T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/?p=6343"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:04:08","slug":"thomas-massie-one-gop-signature-away-from-forcing-epstein-files-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/?p=6343","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Massie: One GOP Signature Away From Forcing Epstein Files Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky says his latest effort to force another House vote involving Jeffrey Epstein records is one Republican supporter away from the GOP backing he believes is necessary \u2014 provided all House Democrats ultimately sign the discharge petition as expected. Massie, along with Republican Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, has already signed the petition supporting the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got one hero slot left,\u201d Massie told Axios while discussing his effort to recruit another Republican. Democratic leaders are encouraging their members to sign, although not every House Democrat had done so when the latest reports were published. A discharge petition requires 218 total signatures before it can bypass House leadership and trigger the process for bringing legislation to the floor.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ellipsis\" id=\"ellipsis-1260318836\">...<\/span><span class=\"rmwp-button-wrap\" id=\"rmwp-button-wrap-1260318836\" style=\"display: none;\"><button name=\"read more\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"rmwpButtonAction( '1260318836', 'READ MORE', 'READ LESS' )\">READ MORE<\/button><\/span><div class=\"rmwp-toggle \" id=\"rmwp-toggle-1260318836\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\nThe proposed Epstein Files Transparency Act II, H.R. 9694, would strengthen enforcement of the transparency law Congress enacted last year. It would allow Epstein survivors, state attorneys general, other state prosecutors and members of Congress to sue the attorney general over records they contend are being unlawfully withheld or redacted. It would also provide survivors access to unredacted records concerning themselves and give state and local prosecutors access to records needed for investigations or prosecutions.<\/p>\n<p>President Trump signed the original Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on November 19, 2025. The Justice Department says it has released nearly 3.5 million pages under that law and maintains that material not released falls into permitted categories. Massie and other sponsors dispute that DOJ has fully complied and argue that additional enforcement mechanisms are necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Timing has become another obstacle. Speaker Mike Johnson ended the House\u2019s September legislative work early, with lawmakers not scheduled to return for votes until after the November midterms. Massie has accused leadership of manipulating the calendar to hinder his Epstein effort; Johnson and Republican leaders dispute that characterization and say the recess allows members to campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Massie, who lost his Republican primary earlier this year, is therefore pursuing the transparency measure during his final months in Congress. Even if supporters eventually secure 218 signatures, the House calendar means any resulting floor fight is now likely to occur after Election Day rather than before it.                                 <\/div><div class='rmwp-toggle-end'><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky says his latest effort to force another House vote involving Jeffrey Epstein records is one Republican supporter away from the GOP backing he believes is necessary \u2014 provided all House Democrats ultimately sign the discharge petition as expected. Massie, along with Republican Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6345,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions\/6345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}