The key facts

  • Thomas Massie's discharge petition has reached the threshold of 218 signatures for a House vote
  • The bill would allow state attorneys general, district attorneys, members of Congress and Epstein victims to sue the Attorney General for withholding or redacting materials
  • According to Massie, the Justice Department is holding more than 3 million files despite the first law signed on November 19, 2025

Petition reaches required threshold

Republican congressman from Kentucky Thomas Massie announced on Wednesday that his discharge petition on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II bill has gathered 218 signatures — the number needed to force a vote in the House of Representatives. 'This morning we reached the required 218 signatures,' he wrote on the X platform. Massie added that he is working with Democrats Pramila Jayapal, Teresa Leger Fernandez and Ro Khanna to 'bring the measure to a vote soon'.

What the bill provides for

The bill, introduced by Massie on July 15 together with Khanna and Leger Fernandez, would allow state attorneys general, district attorneys, members of Congress and Epstein victims to sue the U.S. Attorney General for withholding, redacting, delaying or refusing to publish materials related to the Epstein case. The document would also give victims access to full, unredacted materials about themselves, including reports of FBI interviews, and would require the Justice Department to provide state and local prosecutors with the unredacted records they need, including secure access to classified materials. In the Senate, the version is being pushed by Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ben Ray Lujan.

Background: implementation of the first law

According to Massie, the reason for the new bill was that, after the first Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed on November 19, 2025, the Justice Department, in his words, 'flagrantly and consistently ignores' the disclosure requirements. In a July 15 statement, he claimed the department is 'unlawfully holding more than 3 million Epstein files' that should be published, and is applying extensive redactions to the documents it does release. These claims belong to the congressman; no independent verification of them is available in published sources. The collection of signatures does not in itself mean the law is adopted: the next step should be a vote in the House of Representatives, the timing of which Massie described only as 'soon'.