White House reacts to Epstein emails
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called new information today on Epstein emails regarding President Donald Trump a “manufactured hoax.”
WASHINGTON – A bill concerning the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein is set to spark a future debate in the U.S. House.
A discharge petition regarding the release of the files gained its 218th signature on Wednesday, the threshold needed to force a U.S. House vote on the matter, according to The Hill. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) signed on immediately after being sworn in on Wednesday.
“It’s about time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,” Rep. Grijalva said in her first speech on the House floor, where she also acknowledged the two Epstein survivors in attendance. “Justice cannot wait another day.”
The Epstein petition calls for a bill that would order U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to release unclassified Department of Justice documents related to the federal government’s case against Epstein; the petition is led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
‘Numerous references’ to the president
Dig deeper:
Grijalva’s signature came just hours after House Democrats released emails which seem to indicate President Donald Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation than he’s previously let on. These emails specifically accuse the president of spending “hours” at Epstein’s house with one of his sex trafficking victims.
In an exchange between Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, he stated that “of course” Trump “knew about the girls.”
The other side:
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the emails didn’t prove anything about the president’s knowledge of the operation.
“What President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile, and he was a creep,” she said.
House Republicans released 23,000 pages from the Jeffrey Epstein estate on Wednesday as well; these files were obtained earlier this year via subpoena by the House Oversight Committee, according to The New York Times. These files also include “numerous references” to the president, The Times says.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a ceremonial swearing-in for Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., left, who won the special election on Sept. 23 to replace her late father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesd
A long shot bill
What’s next:
The soonest the House could vote on the bill would be in December, and even if it passes, the Republican-controlled Senate would also need to pass it before it would head to Trump’s desk for a signature.
The president signing on would be a long shot.
In a Truth Social post, the president said that Democrats “are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the shutdown.”
Plus, prior to the vote on Wednesday, the president and other administration officials reached out to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), three of the four Republicans that joined House Democrats in signing the discharge petition, according to The Times and several other outlets.
As noted by The Hill, any one of these lawmakers removing their names would have prevented the petition from moving forward.
Big picture view:
Notably, House leadership has the ability to “turn off the procedural mechanism” within a discharge petition that allows U.S. House members to force a vote, as noted by The Hill. They may do just that in this case, as Republican leaders continue to oppose the bill to release the unclassified Epstein files.
Meanwhile, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that about three-quarters of Americans support the release of all the Epstein files.
The Source: Information above was sourced from The Hill, The New York Times, Truth Social, NPR/PBS News/Marist and previous FOX 5 DC reporting. Rep. Adelita Grijalva’s first speech on the House floor and comments from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt were also referenced.
