House falls short of overriding 2 Trump vetoes of bipartisan bills

(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House is finally set to vote Tuesday on a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose purported ties to both Democrats and Republicans have fueled speculation across the country and prompted investigations on Capitol Hill seeking to uncover details about the billionaire’s network of political and financial connections.

After President Donald Trump reversed course over the weekend and urged House Republicans to “vote to release the Epstein files,” the bill appears headed for the Senate despite a monthslong campaign by Speaker Mike Johnson to block its release. 

Johnson told House Republicans during a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday morning that he will support the resolution, according to multiple sources. In the meeting, he told members to “vote your conscience.”

Johnson later confirmed during a press conference, “I’m gonna vote to move this forward” despite calling the bill “recklessly flawed.”

“I think it could be close to a unanimous vote because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show for maximum transparency. But they also want to know that we’re demanding that this stuff get corrected before it has ever moved through the process and is complete,” he said.  

Johnson said he spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and said he hopes the Senate will amend the Epstein files bill.

The speaker accused Democrats of “forcing a political show vote on the Epstein files.”

Johnson has tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.

The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.

Johnson on Monday continued to raise concerns about the legislation and said he has spoken to Trump “quite a bit” about it.

“[Trump’s] statements speak for themselves,” Johnson said leaving the House floor on Monday. “He has nothing, he has never had anything to hide. He and I had the same concern, that we wanted to ensure that victims of these heinous crimes were completely protected from disclosure. Those who don’t want their names to be out there, and I am not sure the discharge petition does that and that’s part of the problem.”

Asked Monday about the vote, Trump said he’s “all for it,” and that he would sign it if it reaches his desk.

“We’ll give them everything. Sure. I would let them, let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it,” Trump said of the full Epstein files. “But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us.”

Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.

The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein. 

The DOJ and FBI released a joint statement in July that stated a review uncovered no evidence of any client list kept by Epstein or other evidence that would predicate a criminal investigation of any uncharged parties. 

The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.

Trump, in a post on social media on Sunday, stressed that the Justice Department has “already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the public” on Epstein.

Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”

“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to. I DON’T CARE!” Trump added. 

The bill is expected to pass in the House with dozens of Republicans potentially voting in favor — shifting the political pressure to Thune to follow suit with a vote in the upper chamber. If it passes in the Senate, it will go to Trump’s desk for him to sign it into law.

For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has sought additional documents from the Epstein estate and testimony from Epstein’s associates, including former President Bill Clinton.

Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”

“I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote, Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement. But in 2030, he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files,” Massie told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “And the president can’t protect you then.”

Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. She was convicted on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Thursday failed to advance Sen. Ron Johnson’s bill that would have provided pay to some federal workers during the shutdown.

The “Shutdown Fairness Act” — put forward by Johnson — failed by a vote of 55-45. It would have needed 60 votes to advance.

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock voted with all Republicans to advance the bill. All other Democrats voted against it, effectively blocking it from advancing.

While the bill would not have ended the shutdown, it would allow some federal employees to get paid.

Johnson’s bill would have provided appropriations to pay the troops and “excepted employees” of federal agencies being affected by the shutdown. That includes employees determined by the Office of Personnel Management to be performing emergency work, or for contractors who provide support to those employees.

Democrats were reluctant to provide votes out of concerns that Johnson’s bill gives the administration and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought too broad of authority to determine which employees would get paid and which wouldn’t.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen offered an alternative bill to Johnson’s that would pay all federal employees. Johnson blocked that proposal — along with another similar option from Democrats. Democrats attempted to pass both of these bills unanimously, so Johnson’s objection alone was enough to block them.

Johnson noted that the proposals Democrats offered are “95%” similar. But he noted that the Democrat proposal is different because it only lasts through this fiscal year, includes furloughed employees and limits reduction in force.  

The reduction in force issue was a challenge for Johnson, but he said he was open to negotiation on it.

“I don’t think we should limit the chief executive’s ability to properly manage the federal government and make the tough decision sometimes to reduce the workforce,” Johnson said. “That’s something we can talk about.”

Johnson said he blocked the bills in part because he wants Democrats to allow for debate on his legislation so a solution can actually be reached. The best way to work toward a solution for federal employees, Johnson said, was to begin debate on a bill rather than trying to pass one unanimously as Democrats did.

Federal employees, he said, need that.

“To see that they get their paycheck, so they don’t have to work Door Dash, so they don’t have to go to food banks, so they’re not under that stress — I am asking in good faith, let’s figure out how to get that done,” Johnson said.

The vote on the bill came as federal workers will miss their first full paycheck on Friday.

The legislation put Democrats in an interesting spot, as Republicans work to brand votes against this bill as votes against paying federal workers.

Van Hollen attacked Johnson’s bill, saying it would “essentially weaponize the government shutdown to allow President Trump to decide who works and gets paid and who doesn’t work and doesn’t get paid.”

“Our belief is that no federal employee, no one should bear the burden or be punished for a shutdown they have nothing to do with. So our view is that we want to make sure everybody gets paid at the end of the day.”

When pressed on why he would not, therefore, support the clean bill Republican’s have put forward 11 times, Van Hollen said it’s important to both pay Americans and protect health care.

“Of course we want to open the government. That’s the best way to address this issue. We also need to address these other big issues,” Van Hollen said.

No vote is expected for Thursday on the clean short-term funding bill. With senators leaving town for the weekend, the shutdown will drag on to Monday.

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Thursday is expected to present the latest plans for the East Wing renovation project, in a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.

An organization established by Congress to manage Washington-area federal projects, the NCPC has an agenda item for the “East Wing Modernization Project” on the schedule for its Jan. 8 meeting, which is open to the public and will be livestreamed.

In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit to stop the East Wing construction project by claiming the administration had circumvented the required review process for federal projects. 

In a hearing in that case, the administration told a federal judge it would submit plans for the project to the relevant federal oversight bodies.

The judge said he would hold a follow-up hearing on the White House’s process in January and declined to stop construction at the time. 

Days later, the administration submitted formal applications and plans for the renovation project to the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts, a White House official confirmed to ABC News at the time.

In its filing in the case brought by the historic preservation group, the Justice Department argued that without a permanent ballroom, the White House can no longer meet the needs of the president as he fulfills his constitutional duty to “receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers.”

“It is entirely fitting, then, that the presidential residence and workplace be equipped for that purpose. Given modern needs, the White House is not,” the Justice Department argued.

Even as it determined in late August that the White House ballroom would have “no significant impact” on the surrounding grounds, the National Park Service did highlight some of the adverse effects of the project, presaging concerns that have since been echoed by preservationists, architects and designers.

“The new building’s larger footprint and height will dominate the eastern portion of the site, creating a visual imbalance with the more modestly scaled West Wing and Executive Mansion,” the NPS report noted. “Adding a second story to the East Colonnade will further modify the setting, contrasting with the single-story design of the West Colonnade and changing the traditional spatial organization and sightlines of the grounds.”

Such changes, the report indicated, “will adversely alter the design, setting, and feeling of the White House and grounds over the long-term,” while the destruction of the East Wing would result in “the permanent loss of a component that has been integral to White House operations since 1942.”

Still, the “environmental assessment” — prepared by the deputy director of the park service and signed by its comptroller — concluded that the benefits of a new ballroom for state functions would outweigh the adverse effects “by reducing reliance on temporary event infrastructure, minimizing wear on the grounds, and improving functionality for large gatherings.”

The White House announced the ballroom construction project in late July, and demolition began suddenly on the East Wing in late October, when workers were spotted tearing down the wing of the White House that contained the first lady’s offices.

Trump has repeatedly increased the size and cost of the construction 90,000 square foot ballroom project. Last month, he said it would cost $400 million, after an initial estimate of $200 million. The White House has said the project will be funded by private donations.

The president has also moved to fill both advisory boards supervising the ballroom project with his own aides and appointees. 

He also spent some of his vacation working on the project: Last Friday in Florida, he visited Arc Stone & Tile, an Italian stone importer, and spent roughly an hour at the showroom before purchasing onyx and marble for the ballroom.

The White House expects to make its final presentations to the Commission of Fine Arts in February, and to the National Capitol Planning Commission in March, and will submit its final plan for the project by the end of January, a White House official told ABC News. 

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