White House pressuring Republicans not to vote on releasing Epstein files
Top Trump administration officials have met with a key GOP lawmaker about an effort in the US House to force a vote on releasing Justice Department case files related to Jeffrey Epstein, according to multiple sources familiar with the meeting.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the meeting later Wednesday when asked about reporting that administration officials were huddling with GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert.
“Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns?” she told reporters at the press briefing.
In spite of their reputations as Trump acolytes, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene said they will vote to release the Epstein files. (AP)
Leavitt added: “I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room.”
A source familiar confirmed the meeting in the Situation Room included Boebert, who has wanted the Justice Department to release its trove of Epstein files and has signed onto the effort in the House to force the vote compelling their release.
But after the White House meeting, the Colorado Republican is not expected to remove her name from the petition that would force such a vote, another source familiar with the meeting told CNN.
CNN has reached out to Boebert for comment. She wrote on X, “I want to thank White House officials for meeting with me today. Together, we remain committed to ensuring transparency for the American people.”
Separately, President Donald Trump and Rep. Nancy Mace, another Republican who’s signed the petition, have been playing phone tag. The South Carolina Republican previously told CNN’s Manu Raju that rumours that she was planning to remove her name from the petition were untrue.
Both the meeting and Trump’s efforts to talk to Mace underscore the administration’s concerns around the Epstein saga, which roared back Wednesday morning when the House Oversight Committee released more documents it had obtained from Epstein’s estate. (Leavitt said Wednesday the emails from that trove that mention Trump “prove absolutely nothing.”)
Nancy Mace has said she will vote to release the Epstein files. (AP)
Besides Boebert and Mace, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the other Republican who’s signed onto the petition from Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, to force the vote on the release of the files on the House floor. The pair is set to receive the 218th decisive signature from Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday afternoon, allowing the push to force a vote to move forward.
Should anyone remove their name from the petition, Massie and Khanna would no longer have the support needed to move forward.
Boebert had previously told CNN’s Raju in September that she wouldn’t be removing her name and wasn’t getting pressure from the White House.
Under the arcane procedure of a House discharge petition, if 218 members of the House – a majority of all 435 districts – sign on, they can force a floor vote in the chamber on anything — even if leadership opposes it. Such an effort rarely succeeds.
The unreleased Justice Department files, which capture years of investigation into child sex trafficking, could include details the House hasn’t obtained.
Donald Trump’s long relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is under increasing scrutiny. (AP)
Ahead of the White House meeting, one source said it would also include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment, and the White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Bondi was seen leaving the White House on Wednesday.
The controversy around Epstein and his contacts with other powerful people, including Trump, has divided the Republican Party in recent months, with Boebert being among the Republican House members publicly pushing for more transparency around the case.
Trump hasn’t been accused of any crime, and longtime Epstein contact and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell previously told Blanche in an interview this summer that she had seen no wrongdoing, including by Trump.
At least two women who say they are survivors of Epstein’s abuse were expected to attend Grijalva’s swearing-in ceremony Wednesday afternoon, sources with knowledge tell CNN.
Adelita Grijalva won her election with nearly 70 per cent of the vote but wasn’t sworn in for weeks. (AP)
