Here's how the House battle over the Epstein files will play out [View all]

The monthslong bipartisan effort to sidestep Speaker Mike Johnson and force the release of all Justice Department files on the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is kicking into high gear this week, setting up a December floor battle that President Donald Trump has sought to avoid.

The cascade of action was jump-started Wednesday morning when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released fresh emails where Epstein told a journalist that Trump "knew about the girls" that Epstein was trafficking. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, but the explosive new revelations stand to turbocharge public interest in releasing the DOJ files.

The process of doing so will begin around 4 p.m., when Johnson swears in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva right before the House votes to end the government shutdown — ending a 50-day wait following the Arizona Democrat’s election. Shortly afterward, Grijalva says she will affix the 218th and final signature to the discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to force a vote on the full release of DOJ’s Epstein files.

That in itself will be the culmination of months of drama that blew up into a full crisis for Johnson this summer, with a GOP mutiny grinding the floor to a halt and forcing leaders to send the House home early for August recess. The uproar over a possible Epstein cover-up faded but never disappeared entirely.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-epstein-files-fight-is-finally-coming-to-the-house-floor/ar-AA1QhiiR