When the House votes this week on a bill to compel the release of the full Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein, Washington D.C. may witness something exceedingly rare in this Trump era: a sizable bloc of Republican lawmakers openly breaking with President Donald Trump.
During this administration, House Republicans rarely buck Trump. A vote in favor to release the files would represent a significant public rebuke — especially as Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have gone to great lengths to prevent the vote from happening.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the lead Republican co-sponsor of the bill to release the files, told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl that he expects a “deluge” of GOP support on the measure.
Massie framed the dilemma starkly: lawmakers must choose between the political protection of the president and the expectations of their constituents: how would they justify a vote against transparency?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks alongside then-former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Rome, Georgia, on March 9, 2024.
Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images
“I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote,” Massie said. “Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement. But in 2030, he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files. And the president can’t protect you then, this vote — the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
None of the documents previously made public as part of civil lawsuits or Maxwell’s trial contain allegations of wrongdoing by Trump.
Trump called the release of the emails a Democratic “hoax” and added “some stupid” and “foolish” Republicans had fallen for it.
Even if the measure passes the House, it would face a second hurdle in the Senate — and, ultimately, a potential veto from Trump, unless lawmakers can reach the two-thirds threshold required to override one.
The public blowup between Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., this weekend underscores deeper fissures within the president’s MAGA base and offers a glimpse of what a post-Trump version of that movement might look like.
Greene has increasingly positioned herself as a truer steward of “America First” ideology, arguing that the president has lost focus.
Their tensions have simmered for months, as Greene has split with Trump on a broad set of issues. She has publicly criticized him over:
- His emphasis on foreign affairs over domestic concerns;
- The administration’s bailout of Argentina’s economy;
- His stance on H-1B visas;
- Republican leadership’s approach to the government shutdown and lack of a health care agenda.
Asked by CNN on Sunday whether Trump still represents the MAGA movement as he once did, Greene suggested he no longer fully aligns with the priorities that originally animated the base.
“What the American people voted for with MAGA was to put the American people first and stop sending foreign aid and stop being involved in foreign wars,” Greene said, pointing to the high cost of living and skyrocketing health insurance premiums.
“Those are two issues I’ve been very vocal on for months and months now, long before Republicans were shocked when those big losses came on this past Tuesday’s election,” Greene said.
But Greene made one point clear: what triggered the president’s explosive break with her was her push to release the Epstein files.