For a bill that passed with almost no resistance, the political aftershocks inside the GOP have been intense.
The House’s overwhelming 427 to 1 vote to force the release of the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files, followed by a unanimous vote in the Senate, was sold to the public as a rare moment of unity. President Donald Trump ultimately signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act after it became clear that veto proof majorities were already locked in.
But behind the scenes, the vote exposed deep fractures in the GOP. According to several Republicans, the only reason the legislation reached the floor was because of a discharge petition led by Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who teamed up with Democrats to outmaneuver party leadership. Members say Trump’s inner circle quietly warned lawmakers not to sign, framing support for the petition as a direct act of defiance against the president.
When the petition met the necessary threshold, it put pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson. Instead of risking a public confrontation that he would lose, Johnson permitted the vote. At the same time, Trump changed his stance and publicly supported the bill.
That is when the “war” language emerged.
Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican known for trying to balance loyalty to Trump with a more independent streak, said colleagues made the consequences clear. “They made it pretty clear that if you get on the discharge petition, you’ve declared war on the president, in so many words,” he explained, per Politico. Bacon, who defended Johnson’s attempts to keep the party together, has signed multiple discharge petitions himself, including ones tied to Ukraine aid and sanctions on Russia.
The Epstein vote has collided with a broader wave of discontent inside the GOP. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of Trump’s fiercest allies, has split with him publicly after championing the release of the Epstein files. Their fallout grew so heated that she not only landed back on Trump’s enemies list, but announced she will be leaving Congress. She accused Trump of mishandling both the records issue and foreign policy, a break that stunned many in the MAGA orbit.
Her departure appears to be a sign of something larger. Multiple House Republicans have vented privately that they are tired of the White House’s approach and fed up with Johnson’s unwillingness to push back. One senior Republican delivered a scathing assessment, saying, “This entire White House team has treated all members like garbage. All. And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen.” The lawmaker predicted more early resignations, describing morale as the lowest it has been in years.
Trump has tried to present the Epstein bill as proof he has nothing to hide, while GOP strategists worry that the internal battles are beginning to overshadow the party’s message heading into election season. What was intended to be a bipartisan transparency measure has instead peeled back the extent of the Republican Party’s turmoil.
For some members, signing the discharge petition truly did feel like declaring war on Trump. For others, it marked the beginning of a larger revolt, one aimed at reclaiming their independence in a party where dissent is often treated as betrayal.
