Trump faces new Epstein headache as Congress returns from recess

Congress returns to session on Tuesday, and with it will come a political headache for Donald Trump in the form of renewed attention on the investigation into the disgraced financier Jeff Epstein and his death, a subject that the president has sought to avoid in recent weeks.

While the president got a month-long break from the Epstein issue when lawmakers left town for the annual August recess – with the House of Representatives wrapping up a day early because of the controversy over Epstein – the calm is likely to end quickly. On Tuesday afternoon, representatives from both parties have planned press conferences and legislative maneuvers intended to put pressure on the Trump administration for more transparency over Epstein, whose suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019 has been the subject of conspiracy theories the president amplified while on the campaign trail.

The Republican congressman Thomas Massie announced he will formally attempt a legislative maneuver known as a discharge petition that could force a vote in the House on legislation mandating the release of investigative files related to Epstein, over the objections of the speaker, Mike Johnson.

The petition needs 218 signatures to succeed and is expected to attract support from most, if not all, Democrats as well as some Republicans, but it is unclear if it will prevail. However, even if the bill passes, it still must be approved by the Senate, and it is unclear if the majority leader, John Thune, will allow it to be considered.

Meanwhile, victims of Epstein are on Capitol Hill to meet with Johnson, a source familiar with the speaker’s schedule told the Guardian. They will also sit down with lawmakers on the House oversight committee, which is investigating the government’s handling of the financier’s case.

The Democratic congresswoman and oversight committee member, Ayanna Pressley, said the encounter “is a step toward the healing, accountability, and transparency survivors deserve”.

“As the oversight committee continues its investigation, I continue to demand the release of the full, unredacted Epstein files with the names of survivors protected,” she added.

On Wednesday, Massie and the Democratic congressman Ro Khanna will hold a press conference with the victims to make the case that investigative files pertaining to Epstein should be made public.

“I pray [Johnson]will listen to the pleas of these victims for justice and quit trying to block a vote on our legislation to release the Epstein files,” Massie, who has broken with Trump on several high-profile issues since his second term began, wrote on X.

Trump campaigned on getting to the bottom of conspiracy theories that have swirled around Epstein since his death, but sparked the fury of some of his supporters after the justice department announced in July that it had determined the financier died by suicide and that the long-rumored list of his clients does not exist. The department also said it would release no further details about the case, sparking a clamor among lawmakers who argued the investigative files pertaining to Epstein should be made public.

The White House has since been looking for ways to assuage the demands for transparency, including by pushing for the release of grand jury transcripts related to Epstein’s indictment, and sending the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, to Florida to spend two days interviewing his jailed accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. But those meetings produced little new information, while a judge has refused to make the grand jury proceedings public.

Democrats view the issue as a rare one with the ability to drive a wedge between the president and his supporters, while Trump has decried it as a distraction.

“The whole thing is a hoax. It’s put out by the Democrats because we’ve had the most successful six months in the history of our country and that’s just a way of trying to divert attention to something that’s total bullshit,” he said in August.

Johnson, a persistent defender of the president and his policies, has struggled to find ways to quell the concerns of Republican lawmakers that fear opposing the release of the files will put them on the wrong side of their constituents.

On Tuesday, Republican leaders proposed a resolution that directs the House oversight committee “to continue its ongoing investigation” into the Epstein matter. Massie blasted it as a “meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files”.

Led by its Republican chair and Trump ally, James Comer, the oversight committee has sent a slew of subpoenas to former top government officials who may have knowledge of how previous administrations, including Trump’s first term, handled the allegations against the financier. Among those who received summons were the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton as well as Bill Clinton, who associated with Epstein in the past.

The committee has also demanded documents from the justice department and Epstein’s estate, and on Sunday asked the treasury for suspicious activity reports related to Epstein.

“The House oversight committee is conducting a thorough review of the federal investigation into the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. We are committed to providing full transparency to the American people,” Comer said in a statement after the resolution was announced.