September 6, 2025
Remember that discharge petition that would force the Dept of Justice to release the entire Epstein and Maxwell files to the public minus – of course the victims’ names? You remember –it’s being sponsored by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna? Right? They were the ones who brought all those victims together publicly for the first time on the steps of the capital this week in that heartbreaking and emotional press conference?
I just want to give you an end of week update on where that discharge petition stands because I’ve been watching it this week.
As I have been reporting in order for a discharge petition to override the Speaker of the House and get to the House floor for a vote –218 members of Congress need to sign it. As of today – Friday September 5th – the discharge petition has 215 signatures. That’s definitely up from yesterday – but it’s not 218. And of course, lawmakers left for the weekend last night.
So far – only four Republicans have signed on to this discharge petition – the rest are Democrats. Those four Republicans are of course Representative Massie – this is his petition – and then Representatives Mace of South Carolina, Boebert of Colorado and Greene of Georgia. The theory is – if all Democrats sign on – which they’ve pledged to do – Massie and Khanna would only need six total republicans to also sign it. Right now they have four. That means they just need two more.
But so far that hasn’t happened. These four Republicans signed on almost immediately and then it’s been crickets ever since. No other Republican has dared to sign it — and that’s because the White House, President Trump and Speaker Johnson are all opposed to this discharge petition. They don’t want these Epstein – maxwell files out of the tight control of the Department of Justice and the Oversight Committee. Now – earlier this week the House did approve a resolution that endorses the Oversight Committee’s review of the Epstein-Maxwell files. But that resolution does not say those files must be fully released.
Massie and Khanna say they are confident that they will get to 218 signatures – but the reality is – discharge petitions very rarely work especially when the majority party’s leadership is pushing so hard against it.
Read the list of lawmakers who have signed the petition here.
