The Daily Populous Monday November 17th, 2025 night edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by NewSlinger

The Republican congressman pushed for a vote in the House to release the files.

Massie: '100 or more' House Republicans could vote to release Epstein files

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday there could be "a deluge of Republicans" who vote in favor of forcing the Department of Justice to release all the Jeffrey Epstein files.

"There could be 100 or more. I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote," Massie told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. Massie was one of four Republicans who defied President Donald Trump and joined Democrats in signing the discharge petition which forced the vote this week.

The vote comes after the House Oversight Committee released over 20,000 documents, including email and text messages from Epstein, many of which mention Trump. The president has responded by calling the files a "hoax" and he pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into several prominent Democrats over their connections to Epstein.

"I have another concern about these investigations that he's announced. If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can't be released. So this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations to open a bunch of them to--as a last ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files," Massie said.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., appears on ABC News' "This Week" on Nov. 16, 2025. ABC News

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy also discussed the Epstein files on "This Week," calling Trump’s call for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Democrats "both heartbreaking and totally unsurprising."

"The Department of Justice has just become a protection racket for Donald Trump and a witch hunt operation against his political opponents. This is why our democracy is in such peril right now, is that for the first time in our history, the Department of Justice operates in order to try to punish and lock up anybody that criticizes Donald Trump," Murphy said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., appears on ABC News' "This Week" on Nov. 16, 2025. ABC News

Trump claimed earlier this year that he ended his association with Epstein in the early 2000s after discovering that Epstein was allegedly poaching employees from Mar-a-Lago. Trump has not been accused of any crimes related to the Epstein case.

Here are more highlights from Massie and Murphy's interviews:

twirlingmypubes on November 16th, 2025 at 15:33 UTC »

When a republican starts forming articles of impeachment, I may start to believe they are beginning to push back

HaroldGreenBandana on November 16th, 2025 at 15:33 UTC »

And if Trump ever leaves power, 100 or more House Republicans will claim they were against Trump all along.

thrawtes on November 16th, 2025 at 15:33 UTC »

If it's going to pass then there's little downside to throwing in with the majority. You get all of the positive PR of not being on the wrong side of that vote but you know the files won't be released because it'll be stopped in the Senate or even just by Trump himself.

The real question is if Trump vetoes how many of these same house Republicans would actually vote to overrule a veto. That would actually be taking a side with some consequence.