Congress returns from recess to face the controversy of Epstein files

The congress was not in session in August. But Epstein files were certainly.

Epstein files dominated the congress before summer recess. But when legislators have returned to Capitol Hill in recent days, the first thing that legislators have fought with Epstein files.

Note: If you want something to disappear, are not one of the first activity orders.

The Epstein number was gassed during the summer. And the republicans of the room did not do much to buffer the embers by adjourning the body one day earlier in July – because they had trouble adopting invoices unrelated without diving into a complicated and sticky discussion of the Epstein files. Then, when the room returned, the leaders of the GOP immediately prepared a resolution to officially bless an Epstein investigation by the supervisory committee. The panel published some 32,000 pages of documents related to Epstein.

Only a few hours after his return to session, the president of the Mike Johnson room, R-La., And others met accusers of Epstein.

“ Not to disappear ”: inside the Epstein drama which threw the gop house in chaos

Representative Thomas Massie, R-ky., Expresses itself during a press conference at the exit of Jeffrey Epstein’s files outside the American Capitol on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, in Washington, DC, DC (Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

This explains why the problem does not refuse so early.

“It is a possibility that Jeffrey Epstein is an intelligence asset working for our opponents,” said representative Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., After talking to the Epstein victims of the Capitol. “I think it will be a criminal investigation for sure. I will say that what has been released, obviously, the American people have been wanting it for a long time.”

Before recreation, the representatives Thomas Massie, R-Ky., And Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Combined to potentially bypass Johnson and force the room to vote on the publication of Epstein files. Epstein midfielder quickly infected practically all legislative efforts in the congress, ischio-legs actually hamstring. So Johnson cut everyone a little early.

But the problem rose to recess. Massie and Khanna were back with their parliamentary gambit to review Johnson’s head and force Epstein’s vote.

The legislators on both sides regularly summon press conferences in a place just outside the Capitol called the “house triangle”. Legislators often use this place to present non-members or people specific to the legislation they push for the press conference.

Sometimes members bring a crowd of people with them. A crowd sometimes gathers, depending on the issue.

But I had never witnessed the multitude of people who showed up at the house triangle on Wednesday morning to hear Massie, Khanna and the victims talk about their efforts to open the files. People have spread on the bridges and the place. This forced us the Capitol police to restrict access to the region.

Some victims have told their Epstein stories in painful details.

“When I entered the massage room, Jeffrey Epstein undressed and asked me to do things to her, my eyes sprang with tears. And I never was more afraid of my life,” said Epstein accuser Haley Robson.

“I was even taken on a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and other notable personalities. In these moments, I realized how helpless I was,” said Epstein victim, Chauntae Davies.

The victims of Epstein decided to break the silence in the middle of the bipartite thrust to release the files: “ people will be indignant ”

Anouska de Georgiou, on the right, gathers with other survivors of Jeffrey Epstein during a press conference at the release of Epstein files outside the American Capitol on Wednesday September 3, 2025, in Washington, DC (Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Massie and Khanna deploy what is called a “discharge petition”. It is a gambit rarely successful to review the speaker’s head and force a debate and vote on your question – provided that one can design 218 signatures from the room. If Massie and Khanna Pont together have enough signatories, they could force a vote later this month.

GOP leaders are concerned about this. This is why Johnson hoped to intervene with his own measure to formalize the survey of the Chamber’s supervisory committee on Epstein. But Johnson designed the measurement in a way that the room could approve it – without voting direct on this subject. In this way, the Republicans could emphasize angry voters that they actually took Epstein files seriously – without a real vote to the call documenting their position and perhaps exasperating President Donald Trump. Or, they could say to other voters who would not want them to cross the president of Epstein to say that they have never voted at all. After all, he was buried to an unrelated measure.

Make sense?

But there was another reason behind the unique parliamentary maneuver of the management on Epstein: they wanted to give republicans a blanket to say that the room actually tackled the question of Epstein. This decision could coax fewer members to support the Massie / Khanna effort. This would prevent the room from taking a concrete vote linked to Epstein. But otherwise, the house may need to fight directly with it.

Massie called this “political coverage” to block her plan with Khanna to publish the files.

Johnson shot Massie.

“I would not put much stock in what Thomas Massie says. Chamber Republicans were very consistent about maximum disclosure and maximum transparency,” said Johnson.

Trump has long promised to release the files. But Trump’s position this week was to blame the Democrats.

“This is a democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me of the situation (President John F.) Kennedy a little. We have given them everything again and again. More and more and no one is ever satisfied,” said Trump. “But it is really a democratic hoax because they try to bring people to talk about something that is completely out of words for the success that we had as a nation since I was president.”

Massie suggested that Johnson simply tries to stay on the right side of Trump by walking a political striking rope.

The Chamber’s supervisory committee publishes thousands of Epstein documents

The president of the Mike Johnson room, R-La., On the left, and President Donald Trump serve his hand during a round table Invest America in the dining room in the White House in Washington, DC, on June 9, 2025. (Yuri Gripas / Abaca / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“The speaker fights with (whether it is a question of choosing between supporting Donald Trump’s new position that the files should not be published, or find justice for these victims and survivors. The speaker probably does not appreciate that he will have to choose one,” said Massie. “The speaker’s position depends on him not only on the rubber association, but to strengthen everything that Donald Trump wants, even if Donald Trump is wrong. The speaker is therefore in a difficult situation.”

Materials touched by the surveillance panel included a new video of the so-called “missing minute”. He fills images absent from the New York prison cell in Epstein on the night of his death.

But Massie insists on the release of more equipment.

“What is clear is that they do not relax, just to protect the victims. They expurgated to protect people’s reputation,” said Massie.

A Republican aligned with the president threatened to release those related to Epstein.

“I am not afraid to name names,” said representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., During the press conference. “So, if they want to give me a list, I will enter this Capitol on the house of the house, and I will say each fucking name that has abused these women.”

Khanna was supported by the support of Greene.

“I have never made a press conference with Marjorie Taylor Greene before,” said progressive Khanna. “I don’t think Marjorie Taylor Greene is part of President Trump.”

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We will soon know if the room has the votes to thwart the leaders of the GOP and consider the Massie / Khanna resolution. And entry with Epstein material could even start to have an impact on the capacity of the Chamber to fight again with routine legislation.

And so, the Epstein saga continues. As before the recess of August.