Speaker Mike Johnson said that the House will hold a vote next week on a bill forcing the Department of Justice to release the full, unclassified Jeffrey Epstein files—despite his own long-standing opposition to the discharge petition that triggered the vote.
“It’s a totally pointless exercise,” Mike Johnson said on Wednesday (November 12). “It is completely moot now. We might as well just do it. I mean they have 218 signatures, that’s fine. We’ll do it.”
House GOP leaders have not specified when the vote will take place.
What the Epstein Files Transparency Act would do
The legislation—The Epstein Files Transparency Act—requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release all unclassified DOJ records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The bill mandates the DOJ to publish a searchable, downloadable archive of:
-Records on Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
-Names of individuals tied to Epstein’s criminal activities
-Details of civil settlements, immunity deals, plea agreements, or non-prosecution agreements
-Internal DOJ communications on decisions to charge or not charge Epstein or associates
-Information regarding Epstein’s federal incarceration and death
Required redactions
The AG may withhold or redact documents containing:
-Personally identifiable information of victims
-Victims’ medical or personal files
-Child sexual abuse material
-Information jeopardizing an active federal investigation (temporarily and narrowly tailored)
How the House vote could play out
Option 1: Vote Under a Rule (Simple majority needed)
If Republican leadership brings the bill under a rule:
-It needs 217 votes to pass (out of 433 members).
-It must first clear the House Rules Committee.
-Debate on the rule, then debate on the bill, followed by a final vote.
-Earliest possible vote: Tuesday.
With bipartisan backing and 218 discharge-petition signatures already secured, passage under this method is highly likely.
Option 2: Suspension of the Rules (Two-thirds majority needed)
Under suspension, the bill would require 289 votes.
All 214 Democrats + 4 GOP petition signers would still leave a gap of ~70 Republican votes needed.
GOP leadership currently expects 40–50 Republicans to support it—far short of the threshold.
If Speaker Johnson chooses this route, the vote could happen Monday night when the House returns.
What happens If the House passes the Bill?
If the bill clears the House, it moves to the Senate.
Senate fate uncertain
Majority Leader John Thune is not obligated to take it up. While he says he supports transparency, he has not committed to scheduling a vote.
If Congress sends the Bill to President
Even if the Senate passes it, President Donald Trump is expected to veto the bill.
Congress would then need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override the veto—an extremely high bar.
