A Year After Trump Signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Thomas Massie Reads Fourteen Names Into the Congressional Record and Files a Second Discharge Petition — "Perhaps Hearing These Names Will Shame the Department of Justice Into Delivering Justice"
On the House's first night back from the August recess — August 31, 2026 — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) stood on the floor and read fourteen names into the Congressional Record as people he described as Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators: Jes Staley, Leon Black, Les Wexner, David Copperfield, Lapo Elkann, Tom Pritzker, Glenn Dubin, Frédéric Fekkai, Edoardo Teodorani, Jean-Luc Brunel, Daniel Siad, Ramsey Elkholy, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) and Lesley Groff. "Perhaps hearing these names will shame the Department of Justice into delivering justice," he said. The next day he and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) opened a discharge petition on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II — the same maneuver the two used to force the original Epstein Files Transparency Act to a 427-1 House vote in November 2025, over Speaker Mike Johnson's objection. The follow-on bill, H.R. 9694, was introduced in July with Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM). It gives state attorneys general standing to obtain the unredacted federal files they need to prosecute under state law, and makes it easier for survivors and members of Congress to sue the Justice Department over non-compliance. Massie's argument is that a year after the president signed the first act, DOJ is still withholding more than three million files. The petition needs 218 signatures; it had more than three dozen by the afternoon of September 1. Massie says he needs every Democrat plus at least three additional Republicans, and has speculated that Johnson will try to run out the clock by recessing the House until after the midterms. Not every Republican is biting — Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), Massie's home-state colleague and now the state's Senate nominee, said he had already voted for release once and was "not interested in grandstanding."
“Tuesday I tweeted Mike Johnson would recess Congress until after the election in an attempt to stymie our latest Epstein bill. Johnson went on TV adamantly saying that was STUPID and we'd work every day. Today he announced we'll recess on Sept 17… until after the election!”