House Speaker Mike Johnson on Epstein vote (11/18/25)

By Newsmax Wires | Tuesday, 18 November 2025 12:40 PM EST

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he will vote to advance a Democrat-led discharge petition compelling release of the remaining Jeffrey Epstein files — even as he sharply criticized the measure as dangerously flawed and warned that carelessness could “revictimize” survivors and create “new victims.”

Johnson, speaking at his weekly press conference carried live by Newsmax, accused Democrats of staging a “political show vote” and insisted their sudden push for disclosure was never about transparency. He argued they had access to Epstein-related materials for “four long years” under the Biden administration and “never said anything about it.”

“They’re trying to weaponize this for political purposes,” Johnson said, calling efforts to tie President Donald Trump to Epstein’s crimes “deceitful and dishonest.”

Johnson emphasized that the House Oversight Committee — working on a bipartisan basis — has already made public more than 65,000 pages of Epstein-related documents, including flight logs, financial records, calendars, and files from the Epstein estate. He said that work is more extensive and more responsible than what the discharge petition envisions.

” Republicans are working in earnest to deliver transparency … in a responsible manner that does no further harm to innocent people and victims,” he said.

Johnson repeatedly stressed that the petition, as written, lacks crucial privacy protections. He said it fails to give U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sufficient authority to redact victims’ identities — including potentially hundreds of women who have never come forward — and could inadvertently expose child sexual abuse materials because the bill cites the wrong section of federal law.

He also warned it could force release of noncredible allegations already dismissed by investigators, damaging reputations and creating “an entirely new group of victims.” “It risks revictimizing those who were trafficked and exploited,” Johnson said. ” And it could create new victims by releasing information that is false or unverified.”

Johnson said the draft could also compromise future federal investigations by revealing confidential informants, whistleblowers, and even undercover law enforcement officers.

Johnson said Republicans sought to amend and strengthen the bill’s protections, but the petition’s backers refused. “We went to the authors. We asked them to change this, and they said, ‘Jump in the Potomac,'” Johnson said. ” There is no way for us in the House to amend it because the authors will not allow it.”

Even with those objections, Johnson said the petition has crossed the 218-signature threshold and will be brought to the floor. He said he will vote yes — and expects the vote to be “close to unanimous” — to demonstrate Republicans’ commitment to maximum transparency. But he emphasized that the Senate must fix the bill’s flaws.

Johnson said he has already spoken with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who he said shares the concerns and is prepared to revise the measure if it reaches the upper chamber. ” We’ve got to make sure we expose anyone who aided or conspired with Epstein,” Johnson said. ” But we also have to ensure innocent people are protected.”