House Republicans, under pressure from Democrats and their own angry constituents, agreed on Thursday night to lay the groundwork for a potential vote calling on the Justice Department to release material from its investigation of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, breaking with President Trump’s demand that supporters accept his administration’s handling of the case and move on.
The measure, a nonbinding resolution, has not been scheduled for a vote. It is unclear whether Republicans will ever bring it up, or whether it could muster the support to pass in the face of a deep G.O.P. divide over the Trump administration’s handling of the case of Mr. Epstein, who died by suicide in federal custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
But Republicans on the powerful House Rules Committee voted to advance it after Democrats threatened to force additional votes on the Epstein disclosures, which could have put G.O.P. lawmakers in a tough spot with constituents who are clamoring for more information. The dispute was holding up final passage of legislation to claw back $9 billion in congressionally approved spending, which had been scheduled for a vote on Thursday evening.
Even as the panel approved the Epstein measure, Mr. Trump, who has faced days of backlash from loyal supporters over the Justice Department’s decision to close its investigation without releasing additional information, said that he would authorize Attorney General Pam Bondi to release testimony from grand jury proceedings in the case.
“The effect of this resolution is much stronger than any of you had expected,” said Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the Republican chairwoman of the Rules Committee, apparently suggesting that it had swayed Mr. Trump to authorize Ms. Bondi to release the testimony.
But the approval of the resolution by the Rules Committee, a panel dominated by Republicans and generally under the tight control of the speaker, reflected that widening tension between Mr. Trump, his base and Congress over the case of Mr. Epstein had reached a breaking point.
The measure calls on the Justice Department to make available within 30 days “documents, records and communications” surrounding the investigation into Mr. Epstein, his death, and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Mr. Trump, who has long promoted conspiracy theories and used them to build his political movement, has urged his supporters to trust his administration’s conclusions and essentially tried to cast out those with continued questions over Mr. Epstein from his political base.
But Republicans in Congress, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have still called for the release of the Justice Department’s files about Mr. Epstein. And many hard-right lawmakers whose politics typically align closely with Mr. Trump said this week that their conservative voters had split from the president and were bombarding their offices with calls for greater transparency.
Democrats, for their part, have tried to take advantage of the rift within the G.O.P., in part by forcing votes on measures that call for the release of Epstein-related files. And Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a frequent Trump critic, undertook a long-shot procedural maneuver to force a floor vote on the matter, an effort that had drawn the support of at least eight other Republicans.
Mr. Massie’s resolution, which has a wider scope than the resolution passed Thursday, does not have the support of Republican leaders and would likely require broad support from Democrats to pass.
Mr. Massie, in a social media post, criticized the resolution as a toothless gesture that would not produce any new disclosures.
“Congress thinks you’re stupid,” he wrote. “The rules committee passed a NON-BINDING Epstein resolution, hoping folks will accept it as real.”
The measure advanced on Thursday came after discussions between Mr. Johnson and Republican members of the rules panel.
Republicans on the committee were dismayed that Democrats planned to force a vote on the Epstein disclosures when they met on Thursday to approve debate rules for the rescissions legislation. All but one of them had voted against a similar Democratic effort in a meeting earlier this week, prompting an outcry from their conservative supporters.
So far, the Epstein investigation has proved less contentious in the Senate. But earlier on Thursday, Republicans in that chamber blocked an attempt by Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, to win unanimous approval of a measure calling on the Justice Department to release materials tied to the Epstein investigation.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican and close Trump ally, objected to the move, accusing the Democrats of using the case of Mr. Epstein as a “political football.”
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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