Jeffrey Epstein files: House petition secures final signature to force vote on releasing docs
Source: CNBC
Published Wed, Nov 12 2025 4:33 PM EST Updated 5 Min Ago
A petition in the House of Representatives to force a vote to release the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday secured the last signature required to trigger that action.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., provided the 218th signature needed to approve the petition shortly after she was sworn in as a House member, after a seven-week delay.
The Trump administration has been under fire for months for reneging on promises to release investigative files related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who killed himself in 2019 after his arrest on child sex trafficking charges. Epstein had been a friend of President Donald Trump for years before they had a falling out in the early 2000s.
House Democrats earlier Wednesday released more than 20,000 documents obtained from Epsteins estate under a subpoena. The documents include emails and text messages in which Epstein talked about Trump.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/12/jeffrey-epstein-files-house-vote-grijalva.html
Article updated.
Previous article -
A petition in the House of Representatives to force a vote to release the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday secured the last signature required to trigger that action.
Rep. Adelita Grilalva, D-Ariz., provided the 218th signature needed to approve the petition shortly after she was sworn in as a House member, after weeks of delay.
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SSJVegeta
(2,012 posts)BumRushDaShow
(163,177 posts)They built their whole reputations on QAnon stuff.
COL Mustard
(7,793 posts)They can't remove their names from it. This may get very interesting very fast.
COL Mustard
(7,793 posts)REP Grijalva...not Rep-Elect. Took them long a damn nough.
Torchlight
(6,117 posts)this is grade-A, fresh off the vine scandal about lies, underage girls, private islands, and a wealthy cabal of degenerates. It's gonna take a lot of money to wipe this stink off vulnerable GOP lackeys while their MAGA constituents continue to demand an undeliverable denouement to Mr trump's campaign prmises.
bronxiteforever
(10,952 posts)
Journeyman
(15,408 posts)Now we're truly going to learn who's been naughty (not nice).
Borogove
(316 posts)moniss
(8,372 posts)reps on the petition vote no when the actual vote comes. I haven't read whether the vote will need more than a majority in the House. I can't imagine that Crumb the 1st and others behind the scenes aren't promising major money to Reps to shoot down the whole thing. Remember the Supreme Court has said there's nothing wrong if a large amount of money shows up in an officials account before or after a vote.
TheRickles
(3,058 posts)But this petition keeps the heat on, and puts all the R's on record as supporting a cover-up. While those 20k newly public documents just add fuel to the fire (the Epstein/Russia link today).
moniss
(8,372 posts)vote and the GQP members who are on the petition maybe voting against it in the end. Politically one or more of them would face major backlash from their MAGA base and that could get them a challenger who is even more whacked than they are. In that case that seat could be an opportunity if the district is only slightly majority MAGA. Either way I would find it hard to believe that huge amounts of money aren't being promised to get things to go the way of Crumb The 1st.
TheRickles
(3,058 posts)reACTIONary
(6,834 posts).... than the two (?).required to get out the discharge petition. I think signing a discharge petition in defiance of leadership is a more severe act of defiance than voting for the measure once it comes up for a vote. So maybe a few more will go for it.
FakeNoose
(39,444 posts)
Gore1FL
(22,737 posts)onenote
(45,841 posts)It may have been changed back, but I haven't been able to find anything saying that it has.
As I understand it, this is the current procedure:
After the 218 signature threshold is reached, an additional seven legislative days must elapse before a Member who signed the petition may notify the House in a floor statement of an intention to offer the discharge motion on the floor. The motion may then be called up by that Member at a time or place, designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two legislative days after the day on which a Member whose signature appears thereon announces to the House an intention to offer the motion. The discharge motion is debatable for twenty minutes, equally divided between the proponents and an opponent and is not subject to a motion to table. If the motion to discharge a bill is adopted, it is in order to move that the House immediately consider the bill itself.
Thus, it will be at least a week before the discharge petition is brought up for a vote. One wild card is that a "legislative day" is not the same as a "calendar day" and I wouldn't put it past Johnson to muck around with the designation of a "legislative day" to delay a vote. In addition, my understanding is that the vote on the underlying bill is subject to ordinary parliamentary procedure, so a "motion to table" would be in order.
And, in the end, even if the bill passes, it has to go to the Senate and get 60 votes to be considered. And unless their is a seismic change in the repub caucus, that unlikely to happen. And in the event the bill does make it through the Senate, it can and almost certainly would be vetoed by Trump. Finding enough repubs that would vote to override that veto is yet another hurdle.
In the end, the likely benefit of the discharge procedure isn't going to be the release of the Epstein files. It's going to be forcing repubs in the House and, hopefully the Senate, to go on record opposing the release of the Epstein files.
onenote
(45,841 posts)My guess is that the speaker can move up the vote.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/politics/epstein-files-house-vote
travelingthrulife
(3,763 posts)Kablooie
(19,011 posts)Hes got to convince enough of them to vote no so that it isnt released.
ForgoTheConsequence
(5,135 posts)calimary
(88,485 posts)Republicans to change their minds and vote the way the donald wants.
Evidently, that effort did not succeed!
H2O Man
(78,253 posts)Uncle Joe
(63,642 posts)Thanks for the thread BumRushDaShow
timms139
(440 posts)is that what Trump doesn't want is that he got caught and turned informant against Epstein for immunity. All worked out by his lawyer friend the prosecutor .He I think is afraid all that info will be released and expose him as a pedo that way .
SirReal69
(2 posts)Sadly, Trump will just veto it.