Breaking down what’s next as Congress is scheduled to vote on releasing Epstein files next week

House Speaker Johnson must now hold a vote to release Epstein files after Rep. Lauren Boebert refused to remove her signature despite a personal call from President Trump. Colorado Springs family of suicide victim Virginia Giuffre pushed Rep. Jeff Crank to support the “survivor supported bill.”

DENVER — Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has not removed her name from the discharge petition forcing a vote in the U.S.House of Representatives to release the Jeffery Epstein files, despite reports of intense pressure from high-level Republicans to do so.

Epstein is a convicted sex offender and sex trafficker who died by suicide in jail in 2019. For years, politicians have fought to have files related to his crimes released to the public.

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After reports Boebert met with members of the Trump administration who were trying to encourage her to remove her signature from the petition, the 218th signature needed to force a vote on releasing all the Epstein files was secured with the swearing in of Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva.

The Scripps News Group spoke with Metropolitan State University of Denver political science chair Dr. Robert Preuhs about what happens next.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., speaks to reporters as members of the House Second Amendment Caucus criticize a series of Democratic measure to curb gun violence in the wake of the mass shootings at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and a grocery in Buffalo, N.Y., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“What happens next is that the House of Representatives will vote on that bill. The speaker has said they would do that next week. Then it’s an actual bill, so it has to go through the Senate. Usually needs to then pass the usual 60 majority,” Preuhs said. “Then, it goes to the Senate, where it will likely face the need to get 60 votes to close the filibuster, and then that’s procedural, and then a full vote, which is a simple majority, and then it needs to go and be signed by the President, just like any other bill.”

President Donald Trump would then decide whether to sign or veto the bill.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released an additional 20,000 pages of documents members received from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.

Those documents include emails in which Epstein discussed his relationship to the president. The White House has called those emails “a hoax.”

“I think a lot of this has to do with 2026 elections. You have to keep in mind that the Democrats are in favor of this. It doesn’t look good from these early emails,” Preuhs said, adding the batch of documents will likely hurt both parties — not just Republicans. “But the big difference is that we have a sitting President Trump, who’s been named in some of these emails and maybe named in some of the more additional documents, and so that’s really the target.”

Preuhs said no matter how the issue progresses, it will likely continue to be used as a political sticking point ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.