Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) got the last signature needed for the discharge petition after the government was reopened and a Rep-elect from Arizona who won a special election was sworn in.
This forced Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to put the petition on the floor for a vote.
There was a lot of speculation that the petition would die a quick death in the upper chamber, but as it turns out, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) decided to throw up the white flag and move it right to Donald Trump’s desk.
For several months, Trump has been fighting against the petition's passage, with speculation being that there was something in the files about him or about someone he wanted to protect.
Democrats went on the offensive, cherry-picking emails in the files to make Trump look like a predator.
This resulted in a groundswell of public support for files to be released, and Trump finally caved, voicing his support for the measure's passage.
Trump stated, “We have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”
That was the final vote in the House when the discharge petition hit the floor, with the sole “no” vote coming from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
Higgins explained, "I have been principled ‘NO’ on this bill from the beginning. What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today. It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America.”
He continued, “As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people -- witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc. If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt. Not by my vote.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson had expressed concerns about protecting victims well before the measure passed, so I am not sure what changed his mind about supporting the measure other than Trump’s big flip-flop on the matter.
Many speculated, including myself, that Thune may have tried to play games here, noting that Trump had asked for an investigation into Epstein’s ties to key Democrats. The point is, if there was an open investigation underway, the files could not be released.
Thune, however, decided not to block the petition after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fast-tracked the bill for passage. Now the bill is headed to Trump for his signature.
The GOP Senate leader explained his decision, stating, "I think when a bill comes out of the House 427 to one, and the president said he'd sign it, I'm not sure that amending it is in the cards.”
Now, if the DOJ does open an investigation, it could still block the release of the files, but at this point, I think that would be a mistake for Trump and Republicans. As I have stated many times, at this point, we should release the files and let the chips fall where they may. There has already been one Democrat-aligned casualty (former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers), and I would expect there to be plenty more once this is all made public.
