A “pathetically humiliated” Speaker Mike Johnson was visibly fuming when his plan for an Epstein files bill blew up in his face.
The Republican said he was “deeply disappointed” that the Senate passed legislation to declassify files related to Jeffrey Epstein without amending it—something he was clearly taken aback by as he left a state dinner.
NEW: Speaker Johnson tells me he’s “deeply disappointed” the Senate approved the Epstein files bill without making changes.
He said he spoke to Trump about it tonight: “We both have concerns,” Johnson said.
I asked if Trump may veto it: “I’m not saying that. I don’t know.” pic.twitter.com/qdErlrMKWY— Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) November 19, 2025
“I was just told that Chuck Schumer rushed it to the floor and put it out there preemptively,” he told a MS NOW reporter on Tuesday. “It needed amendments.”
The bill in question had already passed the House with flying colors, with only a single GOP representative voting against it. Johnson demanded that his fellow Republicans in the Senate make changes to the legislation before sending it back to the House.
Senate Leader John Thune, a Republican, did not heed Johnson’s call, and the bill passed the Senate after its minority leader, Chuck Schumer, called for unanimous consent.
Next, the bill heads to Trump’s desk for signing or vetoing. The president pledged Monday that he will sign the bill, despite asserting for months that the issue of Epstein needs to be moved on from.
Johnson, a known Trump suck-up, said he spoke to the president immediately after the Senate passed the bill. Asked how Trump felt, Johnson did not rule out a veto.
“I just spoke to the president about that,” he said of the bill’s need to have additional protections for those not accused of a crime. “We’ll see what happens.”
MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell then asked Johnson, “So do you think he may veto it?”
Johnson answered, “I’m not saying that.”
Schnell shot back, “Is he supportive of it in its current form?”
“We both have concerns,” he responded.
Thune dismissed the need for the Senate to amend the bill, pointing to the broad support it received in the House. He said any amendments would have delayed its passage and required sending the revised bill back to the House for another vote.
Now, the onus is on Trump—the man who has dedicated much of his second term to keeping the Epstein files under wraps, equating it to a “Democrat hoax”—to decide whether the bill should be enacted as-is.
The bill’s passing in the Senate has been viewed as a defeat for both the White House and Johnson.
MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell was among those criticizing Johnson’s tactics, saying that he was left “pathetically humiliated” by the Senate.
He added later on his Tuesday night show, “Every member of Congress who didn’t know it already knows now that Mike Johnson has no idea what he’s talking about when he tells them what’s going to happen.”
If enacted, the legislation will require Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all unclassified records and documents held by the Justice Department and the FBI related to the investigation of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, within the next 30 days.
As written, the bill requires that no records be withheld, redacted, or delayed due to embarrassment or potential harm to someone’s reputation.
The names or identifiable information about victims and material depicting child sexual abuse can be redacted, but such omissions must have a written justification submitted to Congress.
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