House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday there "probably will be a vote of some sense" on a resolution requiring the Trump administration to release files concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Johnson added, though, that a resolution was "not even necessary" because the Department of Justice and the Trump administration have been fully compliant.
Lawmakers will return next week from their August recess and resume tackling several lingering issues, with the Epstein documents among them.
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Epstein's estate on Monday as it tries to determine who was connected to the disgraced financier and whether prosecutors mishandled his case.
During an appearance Friday on "CNN News Central," Johnson was asked whether the House would vote on a "discharge petition" resolution introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
The resolution would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files within 30 days.
Johnson said a resolution was not needed because the DOJ and administration "have been fully compliant with Congress' subpoenas" during the summer break.
"The process is playing out as it should," Johnson told CNN's John Berman. "Very soon the American people will have that information, and they should have had it all along."
Berman asked Johnson if the speaker's words meant a floor vote on the Massie-Khanna resolution will not happen.
"There may be a floor vote of one measure or another," Johnson said. "We have our own resolutions to do all this, but it’s sort of not necessary at the point because the administration’s already doing this, they’re turning it over."
Asked whether he could guarantee a vote on a discharge position resolution will happen, Johnson said: "There probably will be a vote of some sense, but we’ve got to get everybody collected again and build consensus around that."
Johnson said he supports transparency with the Epstein case.
"We're for maximum, maximum transparency," he said. "With the Epstein files, I’ve been saying this for years — we've been intellectually consistent from day one, and over this break, over the last couple weeks in August, the Department of Justice and the administration have been fully compliant with Congress’ subpoenas, and they've submitted over 34,000 Epstein documents already.
"Our House Oversight Committee is doing their due diligence so that we can release it all, but they’re going through carefully to make sure that the victims of these horrific sex crimes, let’s be frank about it, are not exposed. They’ve already been through harm."
The Justice Department on Aug. 22 released transcripts of interviews done with Epstein's imprisoned former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell repeatedly denied to the Justice Department witnessing any sexually inappropriate interactions with President Donald Trump,
Newsmax wires contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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