Massie: '100 or more' House Republicans could vote to release Epstein files
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday there could be "a deluge of Republicans" who vote in favor of forcing the Department of Justice to release all the Jeffrey Epstein files.
"There could be 100 or more. I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote," Massie told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. Massie was one of four Republicans who defied President Donald Trump and joined Democrats in signing the discharge petition which forced the vote this week.
The vote comes after the House Oversight Committee released over 20,000 documents, including email and text messages from Epstein, many of which mention Trump. The president has responded by calling the files a "hoax" and he pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into several prominent Democrats over their connections to Epstein.
"I have another concern about these investigations that he's announced. If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can't be released. So this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations to open a bunch of them to--as a last ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files," Massie said.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy also discussed the Epstein files on "This Week," calling Trump’s call for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Democrats "both heartbreaking and totally unsurprising."
"The Department of Justice has just become a protection racket for Donald Trump and a witch hunt operation against his political opponents. This is why our democracy is in such peril right now, is that for the first time in our history, the Department of Justice operates in order to try to punish and lock up anybody that criticizes Donald Trump," Murphy said.
Trump claimed earlier this year that he ended his association with Epstein in the early 2000s after discovering that Epstein was allegedly poaching employees from Mar-a-Lago. Trump has not been accused of any crimes related to the Epstein case.
Here are more highlights from Massie and Murphy's interviews:
On why Trump is pushing back on releasing the files
Massie: I've never said that these files will implicate Donald Trump. And I really don't think that they will. I think he's trying to protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign, friends in his social circle. And that's my operating theory on why he's trying so hard to keep these files closed.
Massie's message to House Republicans on their vote
Massie: I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote, Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement. But in 2030, he's not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't vote to release these files. And the president can't protect you then, this vote -- the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency.
On the outlook in the Senate
Massie: I just hope [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune will do the right thing. Look, our own speaker tried to push this bill by unanimous consent last week within 15 minutes of me getting the 218th vote because he was trying to save people from a vote. If he's ready to pass it by unanimous consent, then the Senate leader should be as well. Just bring it up. But the pressure is going to be there if we get a big vote in the House.
On the significance of the Epstein scandal
Murphy: It's true that Donald Trump is trying to cover up for, I think, a host of really powerful and rich people, but he's frankly not that selfless. He wouldn't be going through all of this effort to try to stop the release of these files if he wasn't seriously implicated in those files. This is most likely the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the country.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday the release of the emails "prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong."
