November 11, 2025
Now that the House is coming back into session – probably tomorrow — are we finally getting a vote on that discharge petition to release the full Epstein file?
The answer is yes. But it’s not going to happen immediately. And that’s not because of any funny business – it’s because there is a procedure that has to play out which I’m going to explain to you in this video.
First – as you know there is this bipartisan push in the House to release the entire contents of the massive Epstein files – minus the names of the victims of course. But because of the rules of the House – nothing can come to the House floor for a vote without the approval of the Speaker – Mike Johnson. Well – Mike Johnson is opposed to this discharge petition — says there is no need for it because there is already a House committee led by republicans who is looking into the Epstein case. Obviously that is not good enough for lots of members of the House. So in cases like this — there is a procedure for rank-and-file house members to go around the house speaker’s authority and put bills on the floor for a vote whether the speaker approves of it or not. That procedure happens through what’s called a discharge petition. In order to begin that process – the co-sponsors of the discharge petition need to first get 218 signatures from sitting members of the house of representatives that word *sitting* becomes very important. You’ll see why in a second.
In September — Representative Thomas Massie – a Republican from Kentucky and Representative Ro Khanna a Democrat from California co-sponsored a discharge petition to force the entire Epstein file to be released. The effort really picked up steam and collected 217 signatures – which included all the Democrats and four Republicans – obviously Representative Massie – plus Representatives — Mace of South Carolina, Boebert of Colorado and Greene of Georgia. Then – Speaker Johnson sent the entire House on recess on September 19th. And they’ve been on recess ever since. Well – in the meantime the state of Arizona elected a Democrat Adelita Grijalva in a special election. Representative elect Grijalva has already said she will absolutely sign that Epstein discharge petition…making her the 218th name on the list. But – she has not been sworn in – even though she was elected seven weeks ago. And until she is sworn in – she is not considered a sitting member of congress…so she cannot sign the discharge petition…yet.
Now – once the House comes back into session likely tomorrow – to vote on Senate deal to reopen the government – Speaker Johnson has promised he will swear Grijalva in. Once she is a sitting member of congress – she will sign the discharge petition.
Ok – so when that happens what comes next?
Well – as long as none of those Republicans pull their names from the list – which they could still do — once Grijalva signs on and there are 218 signatures – the discharge petition has reached the magic number. When that happens then those signatures are frozen into the record and are put on the House calendar. Then there is a waiting period of seven legislative days. Now that’s a key number. It’s not seven calendar days…it’s seven legislative days meaning days that the house is actually in session.
After those seven legislative days either Representative Massie or Khanna will go to the House floor and give a speech letting the House Speaker know that they want a vote on the discharge petition. Then – according to the House rules within another two legislative days “at a time or place, designated by the speaker” the motion will be called up on the floor.
Then there will be several debates and several procedural votes. In theory – in the end — this will pass the House because 218 members have already signed on to the discharge petition so you would assume – they will vote the same way. Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not stand in the way of this discharge petition going up for a vote if it reaches the magic 218 number.
But – here’s the key part of this that everyone seems to be missing — even if this passes in the House – that doesn’t mean we are going to immediately see these Epstein files. Why? Because it would then still have to get 60 votes in the Senate and President Trump would have to sign it into law. And it is extremely unclear if either of those things will happen.
Read more about the discharge petition process here.
See if your House Representative signed the Epstein discharge petition here.
