Johnson announces he will back vote to release Epstein files, but says it does not adequately protect victims
Today, Mike Johnson said he would support the vote to release the full trove of justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’m going to vote to move this forward. I think it could be close to a unanimous vote, because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show your maximum transparency,” he said. “I sincerely hope my Democrat colleagues will show the same level of urgency and enthusiasm when it comes to tackling the real issues facing we got to get to.”
However, one of Mike Johnson’s frequent criticisms of the discharge petition is that, he says, it fails to protect victims and redact child abuse materials. The House speaker added he spoke to the Senate’s leader, John Thune, and he’s “very confident” that the upper chamber “will take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House, to amend this discharge position, and to make sure these protections are there.”
Earlier, Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican co-leading the discharge petition to compel a vote on the House floor, said this is a “red herring”, and “survivors have always been in favor of this legislation”. Massie said that Johnson is “trying to save face after opposing this [petition]”.
An amendment in the Senate would mean the bill pinballs back to the House, delaying its possible passage.
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She notes that the two men chatted while walking along the row of presidential portraits on the colonnade at the White House, which Trump recently unveiled as the “Presidential Walk of Fame”.
Johnson announces he will back vote to release Epstein files, but says it does not adequately protect victims
Today, Mike Johnson said he would support the vote to release the full trove of justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’m going to vote to move this forward. I think it could be close to a unanimous vote, because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show your maximum transparency,” he said. “I sincerely hope my Democrat colleagues will show the same level of urgency and enthusiasm when it comes to tackling the real issues facing we got to get to.”
However, one of Mike Johnson’s frequent criticisms of the discharge petition is that, he says, it fails to protect victims and redact child abuse materials. The House speaker added he spoke to the Senate’s leader, John Thune, and he’s “very confident” that the upper chamber “will take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House, to amend this discharge position, and to make sure these protections are there.”
Earlier, Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican co-leading the discharge petition to compel a vote on the House floor, said this is a “red herring”, and “survivors have always been in favor of this legislation”. Massie said that Johnson is “trying to save face after opposing this [petition]”.
An amendment in the Senate would mean the bill pinballs back to the House, delaying its possible passage.
Move to release Epstein files is ‘political show vote’, says speaker Johnson
House speaker Mike Johnson said that the move to release the justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein is a “political show vote”.
Earlier, we noted that Johnson said he would back the bill, according to Axios.
“Democrats are trying to use the Epstein matter as a political weapon to distract from the own party’s failures, and in a desperate attempt to try to somehow tie President Trump to the scandal,” Johnson said at a press conference today.
The House speaker has maintained that the oversight committee’s ongoing investigation into Epstein is yielding sufficient results. “They’re already producing far more than the discharge petition anticipates,” he said, citing the roughly 65,000 documents produced, which include records from the disgraced financier’s estate.
Trump to welcome Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman to White House shortly
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My colleague, Lucy Campbell, will be covering the latest developments. This will be the first trip by Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, to the US since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which triggered global outrage. It will also be his first trip during Trump’s second term in office.
US intelligence concluded that MBS approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
During a day of White House diplomacy, MBS will hold talks with Trump in the Oval Office, have lunch in the Cabinet Room and attend a formal black-tie dinner in the evening.
Trump hopes to cash in on a $600bn Saudi investment pledge made during his visit to the kingdom in May. A senior White House official told Reuters that US-Saudi deals on technology, manufacturing, defence and more are expected.
You can follow along below.
‘American people won’t tolerate any other bullshit,’ says Marjorie Taylor Greene
Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, noted today that the fissure within the GOP over the Epstein files has been “one of the most destructive things to Maga”.
“The only thing that will speak to the powerful, courageous women behind me is when action is actually taken to release these files,” she added. “The American people won’t tolerate any other bullshit.”
A reminder that Greene is in the midst of her own battle with Donald Trump, to whom she was an ardent loyalist. The president has branded her a “traitor” after she signed the discharge petition to compel a House vote on the release of the justice department’s records on Epstein.
House speaker Johnson to back bill to release Epstein files – report
Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is set to back the vote to release the full trove of justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein, according to Axios. They cite a source in the room during Tuesday’s GOP conference meeting.
The speaker has said he wants further protection for victims, which would require an amendment in the Senate, and for the House to vote on it again. Although the bill, as it stands, redacts names of victims and examples of child abuse within the files.
“The important thing about the Senate is that they need not to muck this bill up,” Republican congressman Thomas Massie said.
‘These survivors are not political tools for you to use,’ says Virginia Giuffre’s brother
Sky Roberts, the brother of one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, Virginia Giuffre, implored lawmakers to “stop talking and act”.
Giuffre died by suicide in April, after years of speaking out about the abuse she endured. “My sister is not a political tool for you to use. These survivors are not political tools for you to use. These are real stories, real trauma,” Roberts said today. “We will not let Virginia’s fight be in vain together. We will not let the predators win together.”
Speaking now is one of Epstein’s survivors, Danielle Bensky. She notes that she was recruited in 2004, when the late sex offender “trapped her in a year-long cycle of abuse” after threatening to “withhold care” for her mother who was living with a brain tumor.
“I am calling for the American people. You have homework. Call your congressional leaders. Call your senators. Please support this bill. Let’s get it all released,” she said.
Taking the podium today, Marjorie Taylor Greene jokes that she never expected to be standing alongside these particular colleagues, fighting for the same cause. “I woke up this morning and I turned to my weather app to check the temperature, and it was 32 degrees, and my first thought was, hell has froze over,” she said.
“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight, and they did it by banding together and never giving up,” Greene added.
She also made reference to her fallout with the president over this issue. “I’ve never owed him anything, but I fought for him, for the policies and for America first, and he called me a ‘traitor’ for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition,” the lawmaker from Georgia said.
Speaking today, progressive Democrat Ro Khanna thanks his colleagues, Republicans Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene. He particularly notes the pushback that the latter faced.
“There was so much pressure against her,” Khanna said. “But she stood with the survivors.”
He added: “I expect an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives, and I don’t want the DC swamp playing any games. They need to pass this in the Senate. They should not amend it. President Trump has said he would sign the Epstein Transparency Act.”
Epstein survivors to speak on Capitol Hill as House prepares to vote on complete release of justice department files
Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse are set to speak outside the US Capitol shortly. They’re joining the congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Republican representative Thomas Massie – who co-led the bipartisan effort to force a House floor vote for the complete release of justice department files on Epstein.
Also speaking today is congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who has been one of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress. In recent days, she’s found herself on the receiving end of the president’s wrath while pushing for the release of the files.
