When it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and disclosing Justice Department files, arguably no congressional Republican has gone further than Rep. Thomas Massie. In fact, the Kentucky Republican took the unusual step of helping spearhead a discharge petition that would force a House vote that would direct the DOJ to be transparent on Epstein-related materials.
Just as importantly, Massie is taking aim at his own party’s leadership over its handling of the controversy.
“Whose he gonna pick?” the congressman told Punchbowl News, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Is he going to stand with the pedophiles and underage sex traffickers? Or is he gonna pick the American people and justice for the victims? This is the ultimate decision the speaker needs to make. And it’s irrespective of what the president wants.”
It was against this backdrop that Johnson effectively answered Massie’s rhetorical question. The New York Times reported:
Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that he would not hold a House vote this summer on whether the Justice Department should release files related to the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, retreating from his demand last week that the material must come out.
Six days earlier, the Louisiana Republican appeared on a prominent far-right podcast and said, in reference to the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation, “We should put everything out there and let the people decide. I agree with the sentiment that we need to — we need to put it out there.”
But as this week got underway, the GOP leader’s interest in “putting it out there” evaporated. Johnson added, in reference to possible congressional action, “I don’t think we’re at that point yet, because we agree with the president.”
The House speaker didn’t elaborate as to who was included in the word “we.”
Barring another unexpected reversal, Johnson’s new position suggests the House won’t touch the issue until September, at the earliest, in light of the chamber’s upcoming summer break.
And in case the House speaker’s retreat didn’t add enough drama to the broader mess, developments in the House Rules Committee made matters worse. Politico reported:
House Republicans will scrap several votes this week as internal party drama over Jeffrey Epstein derails a key committee that handles legislation on its way to the floor. The House Rules Committee came to a standstill Monday night as GOP leaders struggled to contain rank-and-file Republicans and their Democratic allies clamoring for a floor vote to compel the publication of materials related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
In case this isn’t obvious, the House Rules Committee has a boring name but an important role: Most legislation has to go through the panel before reaching the floor. With this in mind, Republicans had lined up action on some bills this week, which meant a Rules Committee meeting that would clear the way for votes.
Committee Democrats planned to use the opportunity to force another vote on Epstein transparency, which prompted GOP leaders to scrap this week’s legislative work altogether. After GOP officials abandoned their Rules Committee gathering, the House speaker announced Tuesday morning that he was sending members home, starting the chamber’s five-week summer break ahead of schedule. Johnson specifically told reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference that he was doing so in order to disrupt Democratic efforts related to releasing the Epstein files. In other words, Republicans were so desperate to avoid a vote on Democratic amendments related to the Epstein files that the party’s leadership decided they would rather do nothing, effectively leaving the chamber temporarily frozen. There’s a simple lesson in Political Strategy 101: Divide your enemies. It’s a lesson House Democrats appear to have learned quite well. This post has been updated with additional developments.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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