Mike Johnson sends reps home early to avoid getting caught up in "political games" over Epstein records

House Speaker Mike Johnson, announced Tuesday he would call an early end to this week's legislative work and even send the lower chamber home before the summer recess in order to avoid having to vote on the release of records related to financial mogul and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "We’re done being lectured on transparency," Johnson told a news conference, in which he complained about the "endless efforts to politicize the Epstein investigation", later adding, "We’re not going to play political games with this."

Johnson's decision comes shortly after Democrats on the House Rules Committee distracted the week's agenda over the Epstein issue and even vowed to force a vote as part of a routine move to allow a debate on it. Republicans would thus end votes for some bills unrelated to the Epstein case by Wednesday and declare recess for that day in mid-afternoon.

Republican Division

While Johnson went so far as to assure that the Epstein-related material should be released, the Republican leader promised Monday that he would not schedule any votes this summer on whether to release the files, asserting that the president Donald Trump needed "space" to be able to decide what actions to take next. During his press conference on Tuesday, Johnson assured that Republicans in the House of Representatives were completely united on the issue. However, statements from several representatives seemed to contradict his words.

The most notorious case is that of Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who asserted, "Crimes have been committed. If there’s no justice and no accountability, people are going to get sick of it. That’s where people largely are." For his part, South Carolina Rep. and Rules Committee member Ralph Norman criticized on his social networks his leaders for "stalling" on the issue and added that "The American people deserve action, not excuses. Let’s vote on it before August recess and get it DONE!!"

Similarly, Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie stated that he still planned to force a vote on the release of Epstein-related records regardless of what House Republican leaders said. In response to such words, Johnson commented, "Some here are much more frustrating than others. I don’t know how his mind works, I don’t know what he’s thinking. He could have brought his discharge petition any time. Now he’s clamoring as if there’s any sort of timeline."