Republicans block vote on release of Epstein files

The results of a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday are sure to upset some of the GOP base.

Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) put forward an amendment from fellow Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) that would have continued the congressional saga of the infamous late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The House Rules Committee is dominated by Republicans, who boast a 9-4 majority over Democrats. However, while the vote was mostly along party lines, the results are likely not what was expected.

‘Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote “yes.”‘

The amendment, if passed, would have sent a vote to the House on whether to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to “preserve and release any records related to Jeffrey Epstein,” Newsweek reported.

However, Republicans voted down the motion, defeating it 7-5 with just one GOP member voting alongside Democrats.

Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) joined the four Democrats who voted to force the House ruling, including Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), who told Republicans before the vote that if there is nothing that needs to be hidden, they should unanimously vote to release the files.

“Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote ‘yes,'” Fernandez said.

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Fernandez later shared a video of the vote to her X account, adding, “Republicans in the House Rules Committee just stopped an amendment that, if passed, would force Congress to vote on whether the Trump Administration should release the Epstein files. What are they hiding?”

Khanna also shared the vote on his X page, thanking Norman for joining his side’s vote.

“People are fed up. They are fed up,” Khanna wrote. “Need to put the American people before party!”

The only Republican absent from the vote was Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Roy did not appear to make a public comment about the vote and has recently focused on the Texas floods and illegal immigration.

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Video went viral that purported to show House Republicans voting unanimously to block “the release of the Epstein files.” Despite the video amassing over 1 million views, it appeared to be unrelated to the House Rules Committee vote.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that video was actually from a “procedural vote.”

“We voted against Democrats having House floor control. It’s a misunderstanding,” Greene told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The House Rules Committee Republicans who voted against forcing the House vote on the Epstein files were: