Congress

Massie implores GOP colleagues to help force vote to release Epstein files

Published

1 year ago

September 3, 2025

Rep. Thomas Massie is publicly pleading with his Republican colleagues to break rank with House GOP leaders and join his crusade to force a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

At a Wednesday press conference outside the Capitol alongside some of the late convicted sex offender’s accusers, Massie said he needed just two more members on his side of the aisle to sign onto the discharge petition that will allow him to bypass leadership and get his bill on the floor.

All Democrats are expected to put their names on the petition, meaning a total of six Republican signatures is necessary to reach the 218-member threshold.

“We demand real accountability,” said Massie, a Kentucky Republican. “I encourage my colleagues … there’s over 200 Republicans who have not signed this discharge petition. We only need two of them to sign it.”

Massie’s effort at one point seemed all but guaranteed to succeed, but it’s taken a hit amid pressure from the Trump administration to stand down — and as Republican leaders point to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s success so far in compelling the release of Epstein-related documents through a separate subpoena.

“This is the most comprehensive investigation into Epstein and Maxwell to date,” House Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Wednesday morning at a GOP leadership press conference, regarding his panel’s probe.

He also said that Epstein’s estate would begin turning over materials on Sept. 8 in compliance with another subpoena that would, among other materials, compel the release of a “birthday book” that reportedly includes a letter from President Donald Trump to Epstein.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called Massie’s measure “inartfully drafted” and said he believed the Oversight investigation will uncover new and relevant information as the Justice Department turns over more of the files in its possession.

But Massie countered that the Oversight Committee route is essentially “allowing the DOJ to curate all of the information that the DOJ is giving them.”

He noted that the first batch of materials unloaded Tuesday night included an overwhelming number of redactions and consisted almost exclusively of information that has already been made public. The Oversight Committee also sat on the materials for more than a week before releasing them publicly, allowing staff on both sides of the aisle to comb through documents to ensure that victims’ identities were protected and other criminal matters were not compromised.

Massie’s bill, in contrast, would provide fewer opportunities for the Trump administration and White House allies on Capitol Hill to slow-walk the process of making the Epstein files public.

Whereas the Justice Department is handing over materials piecemeal, Massie’s measure would require the DOJ to turn over nearly all of the information in its possession around Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell — who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for her part in the sex trafficking scheme — within 30 days.

The bill would allow the DOJ to redact information that could compromise a victim’s identity or depict abuse, but it would have to formally justify its redactions to Congress.

“No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary,” the legislation states.

The Epstein saga has, in part, been complicated by President Donald Trump’s ties to the disgraced financier. Trump has maintained that he had a falling out with Epstein, who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 after new sex crimes charges.

Some attendees at the Wednesday press conference held signs that appeared to mock Trump, showing a photo of him and first lady Melania Trump beside Epstein and Maxwell or alleging that the President is on the so-called Epstein list. The Justice Department has said it did not find evidence of the sort of incriminating list.

“The Washington establishment is asking the American public to believe something that is not believable,” Massie said. “They’re asking you to believe that two individuals created hundreds of victims, and they acted alone, and that the DOJ has no idea of who else might’ve been involved.”

Epstein’s victims joined Massie, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to call for the full release of the files. Responding to Trump’s comments that the Epstein matter was a “hoax,” Haley Robson, one of the women who has accused Epstein of sexual abuse, invited Trump to meet with her in person to hear about her experience. She noted she was a registered Republican.

“Please humanize us,” Robson said. “I would like Donald J. Trump and every person in America and around the world to humanize us. To see us for who we are, and to hear us for what we have to say. There is no hoax. The abuse was real.”

Chauntae Davies, another accuser, said that Epstein would brag about his close friendship with Trump and “had an 8 by 10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them.” Davies also said she joined a trip to Africa with Epstein, former President Bill Clinton and others.

Brittany Henderson — an attorney who has worked for some of Epstein’s accusers — suggested at the Wednesday press event it was possible to withhold the identities of some victims without making wholesale redactions designed to shield those who should be held accountable.

“Protect these women while we seek transparency,” Henderson said.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

12 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.