House Republicans have for a second time this week blocked a resolution that would force Attorney General Bondi to release the so-called Epstein files, even as the outcry from President Trump’s most ardent supporters has not abated. Another measure to force the documents’ release could come up for a vote in the coming weeks. 

Earlier in the week, Democrats on the House Rules Committee introduced an amendment that would have made the files public within a matter of weeks. Of the committee’s 13 members, four Democrats and one Republican voted for the amendment, while seven Republicans voted no. One GOP lawmaker missed the vote. 

On Thursday, the top Democrat on the committee, Congressman Jim McGovern, tried to bring up a new amendment. That measure would have been attached to the DOGE-inspired rescissions bill to claw back $9 billion in funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting. 

The amendment was, in reality, a bipartisan resolution from a Republican, Congressman Thomas Massie, and a Democrat, Congressman Ro Khanna. Their resolution explicitly states that all information related to victims and ongoing prosecutions may not be released. Depictions of child pornography and anything related to national security and foreign policy must also be kept under wraps. 

When Mr. McGovern tried to introduce the Massie–Khanna resolution as an amendment several times, it failed along party lines. In total, four Democrats voted for the amendment when it came up, while the committee’s nine Republicans voted against it. 

The vote to keep the Epstein files out of public view came just hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Trump himself had written a letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, which was before Epstein’s first arrest. 

The now-president reportedly wrote a kind of poem to Epstein for his birthday, telling Epstein that he hoped “every day” would “be another wonderful secret.” Mr. Trump denies that he wrote the letter, and is now saying he will sue the Journal. 

As the Democrats were trying to attach the Massie–Khanna amendment to the rescissions bill, Mr. McGovern — a former chairman of the Rules Committee — lamented that Republicans were essentially putting on a show trial. 

“This is the worst process I have ever seen in my life,” Mr. McGovern said. “This is a smokescreen. It is a glorified press release.”

He said that in response to a separate provision introduced by the Republican majority. With Speaker Johnson’s blessing, the chairwoman of the Rules Committee, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, introduced a non-binding resolution that would simply request — rather than require — that the Epstein files be released. 

Mr. Massie wrote on X that the Rules Committee was playing games. “Congress thinks you’re stupid,” Mr. Massie said. “The rules committee passed a NON-BINDING Epstein resolution, hoping folks will accept it as real. It forces the release of NOTHING.”

A member of the Rules Committee who voted against the Massie–Khanna amendment says that pushing for a non-binding resolution is the best Republicans can get out of the White House. Congressman Chip Roy, who serves on the panel, said Thursday night that he would accept a congressional demand for “transparency” rather than a bill — like the Massie–Khanna measure — that Mr. Trump would never sign. 

“A bill passed by the House is not ‘binding’ if it has zero chance of being signed by the President even if passed by both houses,” Mr. Roy wrote on X after voting against the enforceable measure. “Meanwhile — a strong Congressional statement of transparency asked of an administration similarly seeking transparency is what Americans seek.”