House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said that he would not stand in the way of allowing a vote on a bill to force the Justice Department to release its Jeffrey Epstein files.
Still, the speaker called the bill “totally superfluous.”
He previously adjourned the House early for the August recess and halted the process to bring the bill to the floor.
House Democrats and a couple of Republicans are pushing the measure forward that would compel the government to hand over the investigatory files on Epstein, a millionaire financier who died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on federal charges that he sex trafficked underage girls.
Epstein was linked a several wealthy and politically powerful men, including President Trump and former President Bill Clinton, though no evidence emerged of wrongdoing by Epstein’s friends.
An Epstein files discharge petition has been signed by both Republicans and Democrats. It needs 218 signatures to force a vote on a bill directing the Department of Justice to release its files related to Mr. Epstein. It’s currently at 217.
Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, won a special election to replace her late father, Raúl Grijalva, in September and said she would be the 218th signature.
But she hasn’t been sworn in while the House is in recess during the government shutdown.
Democrats have demanded that Mr. Johnson swear Ms. Grijalva in immediately, but the speaker said he will only do so when the House is back in session.
Critics argue that House members have been sworn in during recess before. Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, canceled votes on Sept. 29 and 30, before Ms. Grijalva’s election and the government shutdown.
Mr. Johnson has said the delay has nothing to do with any Epstein materials. He said that he is following the “Pelosi precedent,” referencing three Republicans who had won special elections and waited until the House returned to session before being sworn into office by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.
On Tuesday, Mr. Johnson also praised the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s investigation of the Epstein matter.
Mr. Johnson said the investigation — which has continued during the government shutdown — has provided “maximum transparency.”
The committee has released information, including a transcript made public last week of an interview with former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, the prosecutor who oversaw Epstein’s 2008 plea deal for soliciting an underage prostitute.
“The bipartisan House Oversight Committee is already accomplishing what the discharge petition, that gambit, sought, and much more,” Mr. Johnson said.