U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks as (L-R) House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) listen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The House of Representatives will begin its August recess early to avoid Republicans being forced to vote on Democratic-backed motions related to the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“There’s no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they’re already doing,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Tuesday, as he argued against quick votes on the Epstein files.
“And so this is for political games,” Johnson said about lawmakers’ efforts to force votes on releasing Department of Justice investigative files about the notorious sex offender Epstein, and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Republicans, who control the House majority, cancelled votes expected to take place on Thursday. The House will begin its August recess on Wednesday afternoon, leaving on the table a series of planned legislative votes that were unrelated to Epstein.
“We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims,” Johnson said.
“And if you run roughshod or you do it too quickly, that’s not what happens,” he said. “But I’m convinced that the DOJ is going to do their job, the administration is going to do their job, and we’ll do our job.”
Johnson lashed out at a fellow Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, whom he accused of trying to “bite” members of the GOP caucus by teaming up with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California on a vote to force the DOJ to release the Epstein files.
“I don’t understand Thomas Massie’s motivation. I really don’t,” Johnson fumed. “Thomas Massie could have brought his discharge petition anytime over the last four years of the Biden administration. He could have done that at any time, and now he’s clamoring as if there’s some sort of timeline on it,” Johnson continued.
“It’s interesting to me that he chose the election of President Trump to bring this, to team up with the Democrats and bring this discharge petition,” the speaker said.
The Trump administration, facing a strong backlash over the Department of Justice’s decision to renege on a promise to release the Epstein and Maxwell case files, has taken several steps to mitigate that criticism in recent days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had DOJ lawyers last week ask federal judges to unseal the transcripts of grand jury proceedings related to the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell.
On Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he was speaking with Maxwell’s defense lawyer to see if Maxwell “would be willing to speak with prosecutors” to see if she “has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.”
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for crimes related to her obtaining and grooming girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. Epstein killed himself while in a New York federal jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested on child sex trafficking charges lodged by the DOJ during Trump’s first term in the White House.
Blanche previously served as a criminal defense lawyer for Trump when the president was indicted in four separate cases after ending his first White House term in January 2017.
Trump is a former friend of Epstein, but the two men had a falling out in the mid-2000s.
A spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee told NBC News on Tuesday that the panel will subpoena Maxwell “as expeditiously as possible.”
The commitee can continue doing work during the House’s upcoming recess.
