House Republicans are cautiously supportive of a bipartisan bill aimed at forcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all its files on Jeffrey Epstein’s case after President Donald Trump gave the bill his stamp of approval on Sunday night.
GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital Monday evening said they would vote for the bill and were optimistic their colleagues would as well — though many of them said they still had concerns about how it was written.
It comes after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had been against the bill but pushing parallel transparency efforts in Epstein’s case, said he hoped it would undergo material changes when it reached the Senate to give more protection for innocent people whose names may appear in the files against their wishes.
‘I have real concerns about the discharge language in the House draft,’ Johnson said. ‘But I do have some comfort that, I think if and when it’s processed in the Senate, that they’ll be able to correct some of those concerns, if we have the protection of victims and whistleblowers and all the rest.’
The legislation is coming to the House floor on Tuesday afternoon via a mechanism called a discharge petition led by Rep Ro. Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. The latter has found himself at odds with both Johnson and Trump on several key issues this year.
A discharge petition allows a bill to get a House-wide vote against leaders’ wishes, provided the petition gets support from most lawmakers in the chamber — which in this case, it did last week.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a Trump ally who is running for governor in Florida, said he would vote for the bill but shared Johnson’s concerns.
‘Number one, Congress has never released criminal files ever in the history of Congress. Two, there are victims, and I know we’re supposed to be trying to do what we can to sanitize their names or cover their names or redact their names, but you know, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be foolproof,’ Donalds said.
‘You could have victims that don’t want to be released, be identified, and then they have to go relive this again. What about those women? What if those women have kids now? What if those women have husbands now and they don’t want to go through this? So I think there’s a reason why political bodies don’t release criminal files.’
Donalds said he would vote to release the files, however, to move past this chapter and help victims get closure.
‘It’s become such a huge distraction here on Capitol Hill. And I do want to see justice for those victims, if they were abused,’ he said.
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Fla., said, ‘I’m gonna vote in favor of it, but it’s not perfect, and there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed.’
‘Transparency is key. My district needs transparency. The president has nothing to hide, but things that need to be fixed, have to be fixed in the Senate,’ Pfluger, who pledged to support the bill before Trump’s blessing, said.
Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., said she had similar concerns ‘from the start.’
‘Once it goes to the Senate, if the Senate believes they need to have broader or, you know, bigger protections, then I think that’ll be up to the Senate to decide, but I’m ready to vote this out of the House and send it over to the Senate and get moving on it,’ Houchin said.
A member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., questioned whether such a move by Congress could get in the way of the DOJ’s active probes into Epstein.
‘I have concerns as well. I mean, you have the Department of Justice investigations taking place. Are we inadvertently interfering?’ he posed.
Ogles said, however, that he believed most House Republicans like himself would back the bill.
‘With the president coming out in support of it, I think that sends a clear message that he’s not afraid of what’s in it, the Democrats should be,’ he said.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., similarly said he believed Trump’s support alleviated some difficulties for Republicans.
‘I think it releases any angst they might have when we’re voting for it,’ McCormick said. ‘I think most people will vote for it, I don’t think it’s going to be a controversial bill at all.’
Houchin told Fox News Digital, ‘I think he moved the needle tremendously, just to say, you know, let’s have a vote on it and let’s stop talking about it.’
But Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., disagreed that Trump’s support had a significant effect on shifting the tide.
‘I mean, maybe a little bit, but I think people were largely there anyway,’ Fry said. ‘We talked about this on the campaign trail, The guy was a total dirtbag, did unspeakable atrocities on women in our country, and the public wants closure…this has been the most transparent Congress and administration on this subject in the country’s history.’
Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night, ‘House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax.’
It appeared to lead to Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who notably said he would oppose the measure on Friday, changing his mind as of Monday night. He told reporters ‘everybody’ would vote in favor of the bill and pointed out, ‘Donald Trump made a decision.’
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who was leading the Johnson-backed probe into Epstein, appeared similarly resigned on Monday.
‘At this point, I just think the best thing to do — there’s so much media frenzy and curiosity about this, and you know, the survivors act like they want everything to come out. I want everything to come out….any other villains in this, we’ll try to figure out what we can,’ he said.
And Massie told reporters that same evening that he would be open but cautious about any changes to his bill in the Senate.
‘If the Senate wants to improve this bill without limiting the disclosure, that would be fine by me. But if they try to monkey it up, I think those senators are gonna get in front of a freight train and be in a lot of trouble with their supporters,’ he warned.
Massie told Fox News Digital of Johnson’s concerns, ‘He needs to be for it or against it. I think he’s going to vote for it, so he must think there’s more good than bad.’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not yet said what he would do if the bill passed the House on Tuesday.
