Thomas Massie shared some damning words about the actions of his colleague, House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The Kentucky representative accused Johnson of having caused political and moral “pain” in his efforts to evade a vote on the releasing of the Epstein files.
Massie—who alongside Democrat Ro Khanna led the discharge petition to see the files released by the Justice Department—suggested that Johnson had caused months of delays purposefully, and to his own detriment.
“I think he finally learned his lesson. He should have brought this to the floor back in July or September. He drug this out,” Massie told the Washington Post.
“It’s caused nothing but political pain when he could have done the right thing politically, but also morally by bringing this to the floor immediately.”
Similarly, his across-the-aisle colleague Khanna hinted that the Republicans may have harmed their status with voters due to Johnson dragging his feet over the files.
“The base really wants it. A lot of MAGA wants it out, a lot of their base wants it out,” he said.
The odds of the files being released are now higher than ever after Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in Wednesday, providing the final signature needed to push the petition to the floor vote—a vote that Johnson says will occur this week.
On X Friday, Massie blamed Johnson for “months of fighting and disparaging” the petition prior to Grijalva’s essential push.
The congressman added that Johnson and Donald Trump—who has taken to calling the Jeffrey Epstein scandal a “hoax”—could still redeem themselves by motivating a vote in support of the release.
“Next week could be big for survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.We are forcing a recorded vote in the House on releasing the Epstein files. @realDonaldTrump & @SpeakerJohnson can still be on the right side by encouraging a YEA vote,” he wrote.
Johnson hit back at the criticism in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
“Remember, the Biden DOJ had every one of these files in their possession for four years, and neither Hakeem Jeffries or Ro Khanna or Thomas Massie or any of them ever said a word about it,” he said. “They’re doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has something to do with it. He does not.”
Alongside blasting Johnson’s actions to the Washington Post, Massie also implicated Trump in the slow movement of his petition on the floor.
While maintaining Trump’s innocence in the Epstein scandal, he judged: “I think this is all about the president trying to protect his friends and his donors.”
The White House told the Daily Beast: “By releasing tens of thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have.”
“The Democrat Party did nothing about Epstein for years; they are only pretending to care about these victims now as they attempt to score political points against President Trump,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson added.
