Maine’s two senators will have big decisions to make on a bill spearheaded by a House Republican to require the Justice Department release all of its Jeffrey Epstein case files.
The effort to force the disclosure of more investigative records tied to the convicted sex offender who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while the 66-year-old was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges took a big step forward Wednesday after U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Arizona, was sworn in more than seven weeks after she won a special election.
Grijalva provided the required 218th signature on a discharge petition that will force a House floor vote on legislation backed by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, along with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, to compel President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to release all files in its investigation into Epstein, whose relationship and time spent with Trump was mentioned several times in more emails a House oversight panel released Wednesday.
Neither of Maine’s senators have committed to Massie’s approach, although they have supported other efforts to release files on Epstein. Maine’s two Democratic representatives, U.S. Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree, signed the discharge petition. Trump may veto it if it gets to the White House, but the legislation has exposed fractures between Trump and his base.
The past emails included Epstein telling his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, that Trump was the “dog that hasn’t barked” and that Trump “knew about the girls,” among other exchanges.
Trump dismissed the latest disclosures as a “hoax” led by Democrats, while Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly met Wednesday with a few of the House Republicans who signed onto the discharge petition. He has denied knowing about Epstein’s solicitation of teenage girls.
The discharge petition was a run around House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, who had refused to seat Grijalva in what he explained as a timing issue but critics decried as a move to stall an Epstein vote. Johnson said Wednesday he will now put the bill to a vote next week.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined all but two other Republican senators in September to defeat a Democratic effort to insert language forcing the release of Epstein files into an annual defense appropriations bill. She had instead preferred language that the Senate Appropriations Committee she chairs had inserted into a separate funding bill in July.
That language asked Bondi to retain and compile any records or evidence tied to the Epstein investigation and eventually submit a report back to senators on the findings. In a statement, Collins said she supports releasing files “with the appropriate redactions needed to ensure survivors are protected.”
“Now that the government has reopened, I hope to bring that bipartisan bill to the floor soon,” she said.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, supported the release of the Epstein files in September, spokesperson Matthew Felling reiterated Thursday. Felling noted Senate Republicans succeeded in tabling a motion to release the files and that King voted against tabling the matter.
Gov. Janet Mills and Sullivan oyster farmer Graham Platner, the top Democratic contenders vying for the chance to face Collins next year, have each said they support the release of the Epstein files.
In July, the FBI and Justice Department said they have no evidence Epstein had kept a “client list,” had blackmailed well-known people or had been murdered in prison. That contradicted conspiracies pushed in previous years by Patel and other Trump allies.
Though only four House Republicans signed the discharge petition, many more are reportedly expected to vote in favor of the bill that has roiled the GOP for months. Trump warned Republicans to not “fall into that trap” and has urged his allies to oust Massie in a primary.