House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday emphasized Congress\u2019s recent legislative victories, noting that it is returning to regular order. He also disputed suggestions that President Donald Trump is involved in the Epstein files and revealed that the GOP-controlled House is likely to pass a measure this week to release many of the files tied to Epstein.<\/p>\n
Johnson acknowledged it might \u201cseem like a low bar,\u201d but said Congress is returning \u201cto the way it\u2019s supposed to work\u201d to better \u201csteward\u201d taxpayers\u2019 dollars. He expressed pride in having three bills signed into law recently and praised House Republicans for their work during the shutdown.<\/p>\n
Johnson criticized Democrats for voting 16 times to keep the government closed, calling it an attempt to target the public. He firmly stated that the accusations linking Trump to the Epstein files are unfounded, emphasizing that Trump has nothing to do with the matter and is frustrated by the political focus on it.<\/p>\n
The Speaker described the Democrats\u2019 focus on the Epstein files as a political strategy. He noted that when he offered a discharge petition on the House floor to release more information, Democrats objected. Johnson said the Oversight Committee is already releasing more information than the petition anticipated, making the discharge petition largely symbolic.<\/p>\n
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie predicted that \u201c100 or more\u201d House Republicans could vote to release the files this week. Massie, along with Democrat Ro Khanna, led a successful discharge petition to compel the administration to divulge additional information regarding Epstein. Johnson confirmed the House is likely to vote on the bill this week.<\/p>\n
Massie expressed hope for a veto-proof majority of two-thirds of both parties to support the initiative. He urged Republican colleagues to consider the long-term record of the vote, arguing that failing to release the files would damage their legacy, as the vote\u2019s impact would outlast Donald Trump\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday emphasized Congress\u2019s recent legislative victories, noting that it is returning to regular order. He also disputed suggestions that President Donald Trump… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n