Gary Franks: Speaker Johnson blocks immediate release of Epstein files – We need a discharge petition

The Trump administration has refused to submit the entire Epstein files as directed via a House committee’s congressional subpoena. The administration basically implied that “you will get it when you get it.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has rejected using the power of Congress to force the immediate release of the files.

The use of a discharge petition is exceedingly rare. But when the people in power refuse to do what the majority of the House wants to do, then it is necessary.

When the people demand transparency long and hard enough, they will eventually win out. One has only to look at an earlier attempt by Congress to block damning information concerning elected officials — the 1991 House Bank Scandal (more on that in a bit).

So Republicans have blocked a discharge petition that would demand the immediate release of the Epstein files. Not only has the Speaker refused to demand that the Department of Justice release the files, but also nearly all the GOP House members are in line with him. Voters should remember those GOP members at the voting booth come November 2026. These politicians have promised transparency prior to being elected in 2024 but have given us merely impediments to the truth. They cannot blame that on anyone else — not on the Democrats, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, or anyone else. It is clear they are not doing the right thing.

During my first year in Congress, we had something like this happen — stonewalling — but it pales in comparison to finding justice for hundreds of little girls subject to sexual predators.

Former House Speaker John Boehner and a handful of other members (mostly from my congressional class of 1990) discovered that the House Bank was like a piggy bank for certain House members. They could write checks from their accounts even though there may not have been enough cash in their accounts to cover the checks. Yes, they bounced checks. For some members, it was a clerical error that happened a couple of times or so, but for many the count was well over 1,000 bounced checks.

As sunlight often does, it shed disinfecting light on members who fought the hardest to keep everything hidden — the ones bouncing all the checks. The guilty fought hard to obfuscate things. Hear that Donald Trump? The innocent ones were for transparency. In this case, in a manner that truly launched my good friend’s (Boehner’s) career, the truth came out. Why? The people demanded that it be revealed. The people demanded transparency, and it happened.

Many members decided not to seek re-election. Their internal polls dictated such a move. Others ran and lost, while a few weathered the storm that followed the bounced checks and were re-elected.

For those Republican congressmen in Democratic states where Trump is pushing for birds in the bush, the president is actually sacrificing them as Democratic governors match the gerrymandering that he is demanding of Republican governors. You’re gone. Thus, there is truly little reason for you to fall on the sword for Trump over the release of the Epstein files.

House Republicans should heed this warning: When the discharge petition does get approved, they will not fare well, being on the wrong side of what they themselves have touted — “transparency.”

Four courageous members of the GOP caucus, who may suffer Trump’s wrath, are standing tall. They signed on to a discharge petition to remove the issue from the GOP leadership and put it into the hands of the people’s representatives — each and every member of Congress. Why would more than 200 other Republicans refuse to support full transparency? The only answer is to protect Trump, which begs the question: From what? What would Trump and the Trump administration have to hide?

Their actions say they are guilty of something bad. Innocent people have nothing to hide.

So now in order to move closer to the truth — which entails the release of the entire Epstein files (with the names of victims redacted) — we must root for two Democrats to get elected to Congress in special elections this month. This would give the pro-transparency wing of Congress the 218 votes needed to advance the discharge petition. Their first duty would be to sign it.

That, however, could cause us to have a true constitutional crisis if Trump and the Trump administration still refuse to turn over all the files immediately (within 30 days). Because if the Justice Department, responsible for enforcing America’s laws, opts to break the law it would truly be a sad day for our country. Jefferson, Monroe, Adams, and Madison would all be rolling over in their graves.

Thanks to the release of information from Epstein’s estate, we have already received some interesting and troubling material.

When Epstein’s “50th birthday book” was revealed it contained a letter that many people believe was written and signed by Trump. But there is no proof. The signature on the letter matches previously displayed signatures of Trump. Trump has vigorously denied writing the rather crude suggestive content of the letter. He also claimed the signature is a fake, while denying any involvement with the drawing which was a rough sketch of a female body.

OK. I want to continue “buying” all of this because I want to believe the president. But there are limits and there is one way to clear it all up now and forever: Release the entire Epstein files now. Stop the stonewalling.

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Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut's 5th District. He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast "We Speak Frankly." garyfranksphilanthropy.org.