Overview
- Newly sworn-in Representative Adelita Grijalva provided the 218th signature, freezing the discharge petition backed by all Democrats and Republicans Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace.
- Speaker Mike Johnson said he will bring the measure to the floor next week, moving faster than the standard discharge-petition waiting period.
- President Trump and White House officials opposed the effort and pressed Republican signers, including a Situation Room meeting with Boebert, but none withdrew.
- House Oversight Democrats released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours” with a victim and “knew about the girls,” which Trump denounced as a hoax.
- The Epstein Files Transparency Act would require the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related records within 30 days with limited redactions, though prospects are uncertain in the Senate and a presidential veto is considered likely.