A total of 106 lawmakers have backed a new effort to compel the Trump administration to release its remaining withheld files relating to Jeffrey Epstein, but with few legislative days remaining, “time is running out,” warned the anti-human-trafficking nonprofit Freedom United.
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Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), the original sponsors of last year’s Epstein Files Transparency Act, filed a successor to their successful bill in July, a bill designed to force the Trump administration to release its remaining Epstein-related files. On Sept. 1, Massie filed a discharge petition that, with 218 signatures, would force a vote on the new bill.
As of Saturday, 106 lawmakers had signed the petition, but with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) having cancelled the last two legislative weeks of September, supporters of the measure will be forced to race against the clock.
“Massie’s petition currently has 106 signatures but needs 218 to force a vote,” reads an analysis from Freedom United published in the Daily Kos on Saturday. “With House leaders having cancelled two weeks of September’s legislative schedule, leaving just four working days before September 17, there is now only a narrow window to secure the remaining signatures.”
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If passed, Massie and Khanna’s new bill would force the Justice Department (DOJ) to cooperate with state-led probes into Epstein’s activity. The New Mexico Democratic attorney general, Raúl Torrez, sued the DOJ last month and accused the agency of stonewalling his own state’s probe into Epstein’s activity.
Massie and Khanna’s bill would also prohibit the DOJ from asserting certain privilege exemptions to releasing files, a tactic the agency has repeatedly employed.
Last month, attorney Oleg Nekritin told The Guardian that the new bill could be a “gamechanger” if passed given its specific provisions that would also subject DOJ and FBI officials to severe criminal penalties for continuing to withhold certain files.
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