The so-called “discharge petition” must reach 218 signatures for it to force the speaker to call a vote on it. After the petition reaches that threshold, the member can call a vote after seven legislative days. Beginning Tuesday, members can now add their signatures to the petition. Most, if not all, Democrats are expected to sign onto the petition, meaning only six Republicans would need to cross party lines to add their names.

Massie told reporters ahead of filing the discharge petition he’s “pretty confident” he’ll reach the 218 signatures, but isn’t sure on a timeline. He said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) was the second signer after him, noting the White House is whipping against it.

“I really think it would be better politically for Republicans to just bring this to the floor and vote on it,” Massie said of his bill. “Make it a unanimous vote, and then it doesn’t look like we’re trying to hide anything.”

Because, he said, “the more they push back, and the more billionaires spend running ads against me in Kentucky, yes, the more suspicious I get.”

During the August recess, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had hoped that signing the “big, beautiful bill” into law would distract from the infighting over Epstein. But the discharge petition reflects divisions in the GOP conference, as Johnson holds a razor-thin majority, allowing him little room for error on handling the contentious issue. 

Massie has 12 members of his party who have signed onto his bill with Khanna, giving them more than enough signatures to force a vote on their bipartisan bill if said Republicans hop on the discharge petition.

The Kentucky congressman said he expects many Republicans to join because transparency on the issue is a priority for a majority of Americans.

“They go home, they read the binder, they’re like, ‘We already had all this. This is all still already on the internet.’ And then they get more upset because someone insulted their intelligence by giving them things they already knew,” Massie said.

House GOP leaders have blasted discharge petitions as “tools of the minority,” but a handful of Republicans have used this procedure within the last couple of years to try to bring bills that leadership does not approve of to the floor for a vote.

As Republican leadership braced for the discharge petition on Tuesday, they added a bill to the floor this week that would direct the House Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation” into Epstein, their latest effort to appease the members of their caucus on the issue. 

The resolution is largely symbolic, as the committee can continue the investigation without a House vote. But it gives Republicans a chance to go on record on the House floor and show their constituents that they voted to continue the probe into Epstein.

Massie blasted the “meaningless” resolution in a post to X ahead of launching the discharge petition.

“[Speaker Mike Johnson] just scheduled this meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files,” Massie wrote.

Johnson, who has not made it a secret that he has a strained relationship with Massie, fired shots at the congressman on Tuesday, telling reporters, “I would describe virtually everything Thomas Massie says as related to this issue as meaningless.”

Massie brushed off Johnson’s remarks when asked for a reaction by reporters. He said he thinks the “danger” with leadership’s resolution is that when “people find out it’s a nothing burger, they’re going to be even more mad.”

“And guess what? If we aren’t to 218 by then, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to get to 218 at that point,” the congressman added.

Massie also doesn’t think Johnson will try and kill the discharge petition in an unrelated rule, a move leadership did recently to try and prevent Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) from forcing a vote on proxy voting for new parents.

The House Rules Committee faced a similar issue of political cover ahead of the August recess. The committee’s meeting was indefinitely halted and eventually canceled because Rules Republicans did not want to have to take a potentially politically damaging vote against Democratic and Republican-sponsored amendments to release the files. 

To move forward on the issue, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) issued ten subpoenas, including ones for former President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton, to further dive into the details.

But Massie said that the Oversight Committee’s investigation is only zeroed-in on the investigators, not “finding co-conspirators” or people involved in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring.

“It’s not focused on that at all, and I suspect it will lead to zero criminal referrals,” Massie said.

He also blasted the Justice Department for its handling of the files, accusing the transfer of documents to the Oversight Committee as “highly curated, not redacted.”

Democrats have remained united on the issue of the Epstein files as it has gained traction in recent months. The party has called for a full release of the files from the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, but did not call for the same release just last year when former President Joe Biden was in office. 

HOUSE RETURNS TO PACKED SCHEDULE, LONG TO-DO LIST, AND EPSTEIN DRAMA

Meanwhile, victims of Epstein will be on Capitol Hill this week, meeting with members in both press conferences and closed-door meetings. 

Johnson and the House Oversight Committee will meet with victims on Tuesday, the Washington Examiner confirmed. Massie and Khanna scheduled a press conference for Wednesday alongside the victims to provide updates on the discharge petition.