Lawmakers in both parties fighting to force the Trump administration to release all the federal files on Jeffrey Epstein took a big step closer to their goal this week.

Adelita Grijalva’s victory on Tuesday in a special House election in southern Arizona sends another Democrat to Capitol Hill — and secures the deciding endorsement of the procedural tool forcing a House vote on legislation to compel the Justice Department to disclose the still-concealed documents related to the late child sex offender.

That procedural tool, known as a discharge petition, currently has 217 signatures. Grijalva is set to make it 218, meeting the threshold to force the underlying proposal to the floor even over the objections of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other GOP leaders, who are siding with President Trump in opposition to the bill.

The milestone is highly unusual: Only a handful of discharge petitions have been successful this century. And it would mark a coup for its lead sponsor, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), a frequent Trump critic who has accused those in his own party of protecting pedophiles to prevent embarrassing revelations about wealthy Republican donors.

“I do believe that Trump is not implicated,” Massie said as Congress headed into this week’s long holiday recess. “[But] I believe that Trump is trying to protect rich and powerful people who are his friends, and that is why this material is not getting released.”

The petition’s likely success is also a setback for Trump, who had campaigned last year on promises to unveil the government files on Epstein, only to reverse course in recent weeks to say the investigation is over because the whole........

© The Hill