After months of delays and the hemming and hawing of all parties involved, Republican resistance to releasing the Epstein files collapsed into dust on Tuesday.
Donald Trump, facing an outright rebellion among his base, caved to pressure and reversed course on Sunday. In a post to Truth Social, Trump called on Republicans to back down and vote “yes” on a resolution compelling the federal government to release the files, which Trump as president, does not need Congress’s permission to do.
Immediately, the GOP flipped a switch and every one of the chamber’s Republican members who’d spent weeks refusing to sign on to the bipartisan discharge petition headed up by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna were on board. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana conservative Republican, was the only “nay” vote in the entire chamber.
Trump may end up the biggest loser in this, especially given the breadth of documents and emails already public about the 2019 investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile and child sex trafficker. Many mention Trump himself, including a number of emails released last week wherein Epstein writes that he had dirt on the president and claimed that Trump “knew about the girls”. Trump and the White House furiously denied this and have called the speculation about Trump’s knowledge of the sex trafficking ring a “Democrat hoax”.
But for now, the biggest loser is undoubtedly Johnson, who was just saved by Trump from a massive rebellion in his own chamber. Four Republican members already had broken ranks to sign on to the discharge petition; dozens more were expected by congressional reporters on Tuesday’s vote, even if Trump hadn’t given them outright permission.
The speaker of the House spent more than a month swerving the vote. He kept the chamber in recess through the entire month of October and avoided swearing in Rep. Adelita Grijalva, the 218th signature on the discharge petition, in an attempt to stave it off. Johnson frequently criticized the legislation he voted for on Tuesday, calling it a “shiny object” and decrying it as “sad” that Republicans were signing on to the petition.
“We’re working around the clock to ensure that justice is served and also as part of the oversight to figure out why justice has been delayed for so long,” Johnson said in October, as he kept the House out of session.
Recently lauded as one of the most effective Republican speakers and infinitely more so than his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson now appears to be on the ropes once again.
Tuesday’s vote kicks the issue out of his chamber. The resolution flew through the Senate with unanimous consent, dealing one final blow to the Speaker, who’d requested that the GOP-held chamber make amendments to the bill.
But Johnson’s own problem isn’t going anywhere. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the four Republicans on the discharge petition, remains his most vocal critic in the chamber from the right and this latest episode allowed Greene to find her voice not just against Johnson but Trump as well, vaulting her to new heights of notoriety. She and others, including the chamber’s Democrats, remain focused on pressuring the GOP to put forward a plan for averting a massive health care premium spike set to hit at the end of the year.
Conservative Republicans, including Trump, want to scrap the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) altogether and provide Americans with subsidies directly to purchase health care plans. Democrats and some centrist Republicans want to extend subsidies for Obamacare exchange plans passed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Johnson, well aware of what happened the last time his party tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, is stuck in the middle. He’s also keenly aware of another reality: any health care plan the GOP concocts in the remainder of 2025 or next year will be a near-impossible sell to every member of his caucus simultaneously, which means that making a deal with Democrats is the most likely option to get a bill through that addresses those impending premium spikes.
America is quickly approaching another election year, and Johnson remains the most likely to lose control of his chamber in the midterms next fall. Averting that fate and finding the political strength to push through a fix for jumping health care premiums may hinge entirely on his ability to rein in wayward Republicans who’re now feeling the wrath of a spurned Donald Trump and have more reason than ever before to back away.
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