Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) definitively answered on Monday that the House will not hold a vote on the release of the Epstein files before lawmakers leave for summer recess by the end of the week.
“My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing. If further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we’ll look at that,” Johnson told reporters. “But I don’t think we’re at that point right now because we agree with the president.”
The House speaker’s statement comes as the Trump administration continues to face scrutiny over its handling of documents concerning late financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
House Republicans are considering a resolution demanding that the Trump administration release more files on Epstein and his illicit activities. The House Rules Committee advanced the resolution last week. The measure, however, doesn’t legally require the public release of the files.
When asked if a vote on the resolution would proceed before the August recess, Johnson simply answered, “No.”
The House will start its five-week recess this Friday. Lawmakers will return to Capitol Hill after Labor Day.
Separate from the resolution, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) led a bipartisan petition to force the release of the Epstein files within 30 days. Massie called on Johnson to hold a vote on the binding legislation this week before recess starts.
“We should not punt this until after the five-week recess, nor should we wait for my discharge petition to ripen and collect the required signatures to force the vote,” he said. The petition needs a simple majority of 218 signatures in the House.
Despite the issue’s divisiveness, Johnson says there is “no daylight” between House Republicans and the White House on demanding complete transparency regarding the Epstein files.
While he was initially dismissive of the news media’s focus on the Epstein files this month, President Donald Trump has since called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to release any credible evidence on Epstein. Shortly thereafter, the Justice Department asked federal judges to unseal transcripts of the grand jury testimony from the prosecutions of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
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Currently imprisoned for her role in sexually abusing minors, Maxwell reportedly offered herself for congressional testimony on her ties to Epstein. Several lawmakers and figures, including Epstein’s former defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, have welcomed the idea.
“She knows everything. She is the Rosetta Stone. She knows everything,” Dershowitz told Fox News on Sunday. “She arranged every single trip with everybody. She knows everything, and if she were just given use immunity, she could be compelled to testify.”
