Massie: ‘100 or more’ House Republicans could vote to release Epstein files

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday there could be “a landslide of Republicans” voting to force the Justice Department to release all of Jeffrey Epstein’s files.

“There could be 100 or more. I hope to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote,” Massie told ABC News’ “This Week” co-host Jonathan Karl. Massie was one of four Republicans who challenged President Donald Trump and joined Democrats in signing the discharge petition that forced the vote this week.

The vote comes after the House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 documents, including emails and text messages from Epstein, many of which mention Trump. The president responded by calling the files a “hoax” and pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into several prominent Democrats for their connections to Epstein.

“I have another concern about these investigations that you’ve announced. If there are ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents cannot be released. So this could be a big smokescreen, these investigations to open up a bunch of them, as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of Epstein’s 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 “heartbreaking and totally surprising.”

“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 danger right now, is that for the first time in our history, the Department of Justice is operating to try to punish and imprison anyone who criticizes Donald Trump,” Murphy said.

Here are more highlights from Massie and Murphy’s interviews:

About the prospects in the Senate

Massie: I just hope [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune will do the right thing. Look, our own president tried to push this bill through unanimous consent last week, 15 minutes after I got the 218th vote because he was trying to save people from a vote. If he is willing to pass it unanimously, then the Senate leader should be too. Just mention it. But the pressure will still be there if we get a big vote in the House.

On the importance of the Epstein scandal

Murphy: It’s true that Donald Trump is trying to cover up, I think, a lot of really powerful and wealthy people, but, frankly, he’s not that selfless. You wouldn’t be going to all this effort to try to stop the release of these files if you weren’t seriously involved in them. This is probably the biggest corruption scandal in the country’s history.