Republican lawmaker Thomas Massie is fundraising off his efforts to compel the Justice Department to release files on the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In a recent email to supporters, first reported by MeidasTouch News, the Republican wrote that “the most powerful people on earth have been working overtime to keep the Epstein files hidden for many years.”
“When I force Congress to go on record on the Epstein files, I have no doubt that they'll bring the world down on my head,” Massie added.
Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna are leading a bipartisan effort to force Congress to vote on a measure compelling the Justice Department to release the remaining Epstein files.
The petition comes after the Justice Department and FBI released a joint memo indicating there will be “no further disclosure” on the investigation into Epstein, who was facing federal sex trafficking charges when he died.
In the same memo, the agencies confirmed Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail cell in August 2019 following years of conspiracy theories around his death. The memo also claimed Epstein did not keep a “client list,” even after Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested the list was on her desk earlier this year.
The administration is facing mounting backlash from both sides of the aisle over the memo.
Trump has defended Bondi and directed her to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein last week. The Justice Department has since filed a request with a federal judge to unseal that testimony. It’s unclear when it will actually be unsealed, however.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced the House’s annual summer break will start on Wednesday as Massie and Khanna continued their efforts. Johnson says he doesn’t “understand” Massie’s motivation for bringing the petition.
“Thomas Massie could have brought his discharge petition anytime over the last four years of the Biden administration,” Johnson said. “He could have done that at any time, and now he’s clamoring as if there’s some sort of timeline on it.”
“I try to follow Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: never speak evil of another Republican," he added. "My gosh, it’s hard to do sometimes around here.”
The House could be forced into a vote after the summer break ends in September. Massie and Khanna need 218 signatures to force the vote in the fall. Massie is optimistic they’ll get them, NBC News reports.
"Over the August recess, I think momentum will build for transparency. I don't think this is going to go away," Massie said. "And I think, when we return in September, we'll get Phase 2 of the Epstein files because we'll get…every Democrat and at least a dozen Republicans who want transparency and justice."
Massie has made an apparent enemy of Trump in recent months.
Trump called Massie a “Third Rate Congressman” and a “LOSER” after he voted against the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill, also known as the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Massie was one of only two Republicans to vote against the legislation, which passed the House along party lines and passed the Senate with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance.
Trump also raged against Massie when he criticized his decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran last month.
“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard. MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is definitely one,” he added.
The Independent has contacted Massie for comment.
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