Bipartisan House effort to force release of more Epstein files gets final signature with Grijalva

The House on Wednesday afternoon swore in Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who immediately signed a discharge petition that gave Democrats the number necessary to push for action on releasing files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Grijalva's addition gave House Democrats the 218 signatures that was necessary to force the vote. Several House Republicans have also signed the petition, including Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert and South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace.

The measure is cosponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

The petition itself will not force the release of the files, but is merely a vote that will force lawmakers to go on the record with their position on the release. A discharge petition forces a bill or resolution to be brought directly to the House floor for consideration, even if it's previously been held up in the committee process.

The petition also comes after House Oversight Republicans released 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein's estate, hours after Democrats on the committee released emails from Epstein that mention President Trump. 

The emails were between Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death, and the author Michael Wolff. None of the emails were sent to or received from Trump and were mostly from before he became president. Trump has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.