The House discharge petition to release the Epstein files has passed 218 signatures. That number opens a path to force a floor vote after a short waiting period on the legislative calendar.
The final signature landed as Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into the House. She won a special election recently to succeed her late father, longtime Rep. Raúl Grijalva, and represents a deep-blue Arizona district.
Adelita Grijalva ended her first floor remarks with a promise.
Adelita Grijalva said, “justice cannot wait another day.”
Before her oath, Speaker Mike Johnson held off on seating her amid a standoff over Senate action on government funding during the shutdown. He argued the House’s extended recess made an immediate swearing-in unworkable. Several Democrats accused him of slow-walking the process to delay the petition’s progress.
The resolution at issue is the “Epstein Files Transparency Act.” It was introduced by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California in mid-summer. Massie filed the discharge petition in early September to move it out of the House Rules Committee.
As of now, only four Republicans have signed the petition: Massie, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The rest of the signatures come from Democrats, totaling more than two hundred.
Crossing 218 starts a formal sequence. After seven legislative days, any signer can rise and ask for floor consideration. The Speaker then must schedule time for debate and a vote within the set window.
Speaker Johnson previously said he would not stand in the way if the petition reached the threshold. That statement came weeks before the petition cleared the mark, and it now hangs over next steps.
The proposal orders the Attorney General to release all unclassified Department of Justice records tied to Jeffrey Epstein. That includes materials from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. The files must be posted in a searchable, downloadable format 30 days after the law takes effect.
There are guardrails. The measure allows withholding or redactions for child sexual abuse material and descriptions of rape, physical abuse, or death. It protects the personally identifying information of alleged victims.
It also shields material that could compromise ongoing federal investigations or prosecutions. National defense and foreign policy exceptions apply, as with other transparency laws.
House investigators already possess a large batch of DOJ material on Epstein. The Oversight Committee received tens of thousands of pages late in the summer and posted thousands of subpoenaed records shortly after.
Supporters of the petition say the process ensures a vote even without leadership support. They point to the seven-day clock and the Speaker’s duty to place it on the schedule once a signer makes the formal request.
Skeptics focus on the vote math. A majority still must back the resolution on the floor. With only a handful of Republicans on the petition, whip counts will matter when debate begins.
The timeline now turns on the definition of “legislative days.” They are not the same as calendar days. Recesses, pro forma sessions, and the published schedule will determine when the motion can be made.
If the resolution passes, the release would begin one month after enactment. Agencies would have to sort and post the records quickly and apply the permitted redactions. The public would be able to search and download the files.
The petition cleared its biggest procedural hurdle. The seven-day timer is next. Then comes debate, amendments if allowed, and a final vote that could open a vast set of records to daylight.
