Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva’s swearing in on Wednesday is expected to provide the final vote needed to pass a bill forcing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
Grijalva, a Democrat, will take the oath at 4 p.m. — just before the House votes to reopen the government after a nearly seven-week shutdown.
Minutes later, she is expected to sign on as the 218th — and decisive — name on a rare discharge petition that would wrest control of the Epstein issue away from House leadership and the Justice Department, Axios reported.
The petition, led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and progressive Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., would force a vote on a bill requiring the DOJ to turn over its Epstein case files, including long-hidden details about the late sex trafficker’s powerful associates, Politico reported.
Under House rules, once the 218th signature is added, a seven-legislative-day “ripening” period begins, after which Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has two legislative days to bring the measure to the floor, CNN reported.
That sets up an early-December showdown that Washington insiders in both parties have tried for months to avoid.
Johnson delayed Grijalva’s swearing-in for 50 days — the longest such lag in more than a decade — drawing loud complaints from Democrats who accused him of running interference for the White House to block the petition.
It was only after the Democrats’ government shutdown ended that Johnson scheduled Grijalva’s ceremony.
Massie says the votes are there, and conservatives see the effort as a key test of whether Congress is serious about transparency after years of talk about “two tiers of justice.”
Johnson has argued the petition is unnecessary, insisting the House Oversight Committee is already obtaining “thousands of pages” from DOJ through a subpoena.
But that probe has been slow rolled, with the department pausing cooperation during the shutdown and handing over documents on its own timeline.
For many conservatives, that’s exactly why a tougher, binding mandate is needed.
Even if the bill passes the House, it faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where GOP leaders have previously shrugged off the need for legislation and blocked a similar push by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
But a strong bipartisan vote in the House would dramatically raise the political cost of continued stonewalling, especially for Republicans who campaign on cleaning up the DOJ and expose elite predators.
At its core, the Epstein fight is no longer just about one criminal; it’s about whether the political class in both parties will rip the bandage off a scandal that reaches into the highest levels of finance, media, and government.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
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