Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reportedly said Friday that the House will “probably” vote on a measure related to releasing more information about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, though he downplayed the urgency of such legislation given the material already being turned over by the Department of Justice.
“We have our own resolutions to do all this, but it’s sort of not necessary at the point because the administration is already doing this — they’re turning it over,” Johnson said in an interview on CNN’s News Central. “There probably will be a vote of some sense, but we’ve got to get everybody collected again and build consensus around that.”
The Speaker noted that Congress has already received tens of thousands of pages of records from federal officials, including details from meetings with Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein died by suicide in a federal prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was later convicted of conspiring with Epstein in his abuse of young women.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) have announced plans to bring Epstein and Maxwell’s survivors to the Capitol next week to build support for a bipartisan resolution that would compel the release of all documents collectively known as the “Epstein files.”
But Johnson suggested that step was redundant. “It’s not even necessary,” he said. “The process is playing out as it should.”
Johnson emphasized that the American people deserve the truth and will soon have it. “Very soon the American people will have that information, and they should have had it all along,” he said.
The issue derailed the House last month, when disputes over Epstein-related resolutions prompted an abrupt and early August recess. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) seized on the move, calling Johnson’s decision to end the session “shameful.”
“To block transparency in this manner is not only an abdication of duty — it is a profound insult to the victims who have carried the burden of this trauma for decades,” Pelosi wrote in a July 22 social media post.
Johnson dismissed such criticism, insisting that his position has been consistent and rooted in transparency. “We’re for maximum transparency,” he said. “With the Epstein files, I’ve been saying this for years — we’ve been intellectually consistent from day one, and over this break, over the last couple weeks in August, the Department of Justice and the administration have been fully compliant with Congress’ subpoenas, and they’ve submitted over 34,000 Epstein documents already.”
The Speaker also cast doubt on whether Maxwell, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence, should be treated as a credible source of testimony for Congress. “Can she be counted on to tell the truth? Is she a credible witness?” Johnson asked reporters on July 23. “I mean, this is a person who’s been sentenced to many, many years in prison for terrible, unspeakable, conspiratorial acts, acts against innocent young people.”
By insisting on a deliberate approach, Johnson framed the debate not as a partisan fight, but as a matter of ensuring accuracy and accountability in a case that has already captured enormous public interest. “We’ve been intellectually consistent from day one,” he reiterated.
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