Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Sunday said that the current controversy over convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is “going to hurt Republicans in the midterms.”
“This is going to hurt Republicans in the midterms, the voters will be apathetic if we don’t hold the rich and powerful accountable,” Massie told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” in an interview alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
“I think when we get back, we can get the signatures required to force this to the floor. Speaker Mike Johnson should do the right thing and just bring it to the floor and not require us to force it. And he’ll have a choice once we get those 218 signatures,” he added, talking about the House’s current recess and his resolution with Khanna on files related to Epstein.
President Trump and his administration have recently been facing pressure from both sides of the aisle over Epstein’s case, with the saga throwing Congress into chaos.
The House broke on Wednesday for its weeks-long August recess, shutting down one day earlier than initially planned, as the chamber was stuck in a logjam over the Epstein controversy.
Massie and Khanna’s bill is one of two measures linked to the Epstein files, with 34 co-sponsors, 11 of them Republican. Some of the GOP names backing the bill include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in an interview that aired Thursday that files related to Epstein are “not a hoax.”
“It’s not a hoax, of course not,” Johnson said in an interview with CBS News’s Major Garrett on “The Takeout.”
“I mean, there are real victims here, but that’s part of a delicate — the balance that’s being done here is, I tried to explain in my press conference this week, man, we want full disclosure. If I had … these things in my possession, I would have put them out a long time ago, but I would also have been very careful to protect the innocent,” the Speaker added.
The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.
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