Four Republicans defy Trump to sign Epstein discharge petition
Reps. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene become the only Republicans to sign the discharge petition, joining all 214 Democrats. The White House calls it 'a very hostile act.'
On September 2, 2025 — the first day Congress returned from summer recess — four Republican House members signed Thomas Massie’s discharge petition to force a floor vote on the Epstein Transparency Act. They were the only Republicans to do so, joining all 214 House Democrats. The next day, Massie and Khanna hosted 10 Epstein survivors at a Capitol Hill press conference — some speaking publicly for the first time — in an event credited with solidifying support for the petition.
Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Massie filed the petition and was its driving force. After the bill passed, he described what the effort had required: “We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win.” He also revealed the pressure campaign: “GOP leaders were in full panic. They actually threatened cosigners — politically, not physically.”
Nancy Mace (R-SC)
Mace, a survivor of sexual violence who was raped at age 16, called the issue “deeply personal.” She left a meeting with Epstein survivors in tears. Despite intense White House pressure to remove her name, she held firm — messaging Trump directly to explain her position and posting publicly: “I will defend every last attack on President Trump to the death. But I will NEVER abandon other survivors. I don’t care what it costs me.”
When asked by reporters if she was worried about retaliation, Mace responded: “I was 16 years old when a grown man raped me. After that, there’s not much a politician can do to scare me.”
Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
Boebert signed without public fanfare, but her resolve was tested on November 12 — the day the petition was set to reach 218 signatures. In a last-ditch effort, she was brought into a White House Situation Room meeting with AG Pam Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel. She refused to withdraw her signature.
The fact that the administration convened a Situation Room briefing — a setting typically reserved for national security crises — to pressure a single congresswoman about a domestic transparency bill was later cited as evidence of how desperate the White House had become.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)
Greene’s decision to sign was arguably the most shocking. She had been one of Trump’s fiercest congressional allies, building her entire political identity around MAGA loyalty. In July, she had posted on X: “I will never protect pedophiles or the elites and their circles. Period.”
Her refusal to back down after signing would lead to one of the most dramatic political breaks of the Trump era — Trump un-endorsed her, called her a “traitor,” and Greene eventually resigned from Congress, declaring “MAGA was a lie.”
White House Response
The administration responded aggressively. The White House distributed a formal statement to media calling Republican support for the petition “a very hostile act to the administration.” Trump personally lobbied Boebert and Mace to withdraw. Multiple Republican members reported receiving warnings from leadership about committee assignments and primary challenges.
The 218th Signature
The petition stalled at 217 for weeks as GOP leadership extended the House recess from September through mid-November — widely seen as a deliberate stall to prevent the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who had won a special election. Arizona’s Attorney General sued Speaker Johnson on October 21 to force her swearing-in. On November 12, Grijalva was sworn in and immediately signed as the 218th name, triggering the floor vote.