‘Time’s up!’ Rebel GOP lawmaker demands Epstein files release after DOJ downplay

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) issued the Trump administration a blunt warning Friday just hours ahead of the Justice Department’s deadline to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

“Times up,” Massie wrote Friday in a social media post on X. “Release the files.”

Massie is the co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bill signed into law last month that requires the DOJ to release all of its files on Epstein – the wealthy financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges – by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, however, already said Friday that his agency would not be able to comply with the new law and would likely hold back hundreds of thousands of documents for at least several weeks.

Massie filed the Epstein Files Transparency Act alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a bill that was initially opposed by House Republican leadership and President Donald Trump. Massie and Khanna utilized a House procedure, however, known as a discharge petition, a tool that can force the House to vote on a particular bill should it receive enough signatures.

Trump personally intervened in Massie and Khanna’s efforts and attempted to sway dissenting Republicans into not supporting the discharge petition. After it became clear that the discharge petition would receive enough signatures, however, Trump reversed course and endorsed the effort, giving House Republican leadership the clearance to support the measure.

Should the DOJ follow through with Blanche’s remarks and fail to release all of its files on Epstein by the end of Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi may face “prosecution,” according to Khanna.