Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn into office on Wednesday, unlocking the needed support to force the House of Representatives into a vote over the Epstein files.

Now having received the oath of office, Grijalva is free to become the 218th — and final signatory — to advance a discharge petition on a bill to instruct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its documentation on Jeffrey Epstein. If successful, the petition would bring the bill to the floor over the objection of the chamber’s leadership.

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Grijalva, who now fills the seat formerly held by her father, the late Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said signing the petition would be her first act as a member of Congress.

«I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. It’s past time for Congress to restore its role as the check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,» Grijalva said.

Epstein, a former businessman and financier, died in 2019 while jailed on federal sex-trafficking charges involving minors. During his career, he accrued an impressive social circle that included rich and powerful figures like former President Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump and the United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew.

His sudden death, ruled a suicide by investigators, left unanswered questions about whether he had used his expansive social circle to facilitate illegal sexual encounters for some of his contacts.

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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein’s years of abuse of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

After disappointing announcements from the DOJ that the investigation met a dead end earlier this year, lawmakers led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., demanded Congress vote to force the DOJ to release its documentation on the matter.

Those demands went unheeded by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who said the DOJ was already conducting its own internal evaluation and complying with congressional requests for information.

For Massie and three other Republicans, that wasn’t good enough.

Massie joined Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., — and all House Democrats — in signing the petition, falling just one signatory short of putting it over the needed 218 threshold.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks with Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna during a news conference with alleged victims of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 3, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Two of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims joined lawmakers in the House chamber for Grijalva’s swearing in.

«Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice. This includes the millions of people across the country who have experienced violence and exploitation — including Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels, both survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. They are here in the gallery here this evening,» Grijalva said.

Johnson has said he supports the measure in principle but believes aspects of it are poorly written or may provide insufficient protections for Epstein’s potential victims.

With Grijalva’s support, Democrat leadership believes the petition will come to the floor sometime in December.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, noted that Johnson might try to derail its timeline.

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«It should ripen in early December. That doesn’t mean that the speaker of the House [won’t] try to do some shenanigans, but if all goes the way we want it to go, early December,» McGovern said.

Jeanette Jara se distancia de Gabriel Boric

El acto de cierre de Jeannette Jara, en Maipú, en las afueras de Santiago. Foto: Bloomberg

José Antonio Kast se presenta por tercera vez a la presidencia de Chile. Foto: Bloomberg

Las incógnitas

President Donald Trump issued pardons for more than 70 people accused of seeking to overturn the 2020 election results. 

The move largely has been viewed as a symbolic gesture, as the presidential pardons only cover federal charges and those involved don’t have any federal charges leveled against them.

Among those pardoned were Trump allies like the president’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who peddled claims that the 2020 election was «stolen» from Trump and is embroiled in a case in Arizona where he faces state charges for election interference.

Although the pardons cannot extend to state charges like those Giuliani faces in Arizona, the pardons could pave the way for some to attempt to redeem their reputation, according to Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.

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Olson said that while the pardon itself cannot reverse a disbarment, loss of license or loss of employment, the pardon could provide fuel for the pardon beneficiaries to pursue reconsideration of these consequences.

«What other purpose is served by pardoning someone who hasn’t been charged with any federal crime?» Olson said in a Tuesday email to Fox News Digital. «Some of the beneficiaries will treat this gesture as if it vindicates their good name, or establishes that they should not have been disbarred or disgraced. But those are not things a presidential pardon can do.»

For example, Giuliani was disbarred in both New York and Washington in 2024. The Manhattan appeals court in New York determined in July 2024 that Giuliani routinely made inaccurate statements about the 2020 election, and the decision said that he «baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.»

Even so, Olson said that there could be some benefit for those pardoned — even if they don’t face federal charges — in the event it could protect them from prosecution from a future administration. However, those benefits could be limited in this instance, he said.

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While proponents of the pardons claim that they restore justice, critics have blasted the pardons as an attempt to undermine democracy. (Adam Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

«That angle is less important if the passage of time has meant that prosecution would be barred anyway by relevant statutes of limitation, as is likely to be the case with many charges here,» Olson said.

While proponents of the pardons claim that they restore justice, critics have blasted the pardons as an attempt to undermine democracy.

«First, Trump pardoned the violent insurrectionists who beat cops. Now, he pardons the key instigators of January 6th,» Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a Monday social media post. «We need to see this for what it is: An attempt to erase history, so it can be repeated.»

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Meanwhile, Giuliani’s team claimed that he didn’t seek a pardon from Trump, but argued that the pardon is grounds for Giuliani to have his bar license restored.

«Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election, when he responded to the legitimate concerns of thousands of everyday Americans,» Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, said in a Monday post on X. 

«Mayor Giuliani never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision,» Goodman said. «This action further highlights the years of unjust attacks against the mayor and so many others, and reinforces what should now be clear to everyone—Mayor Giuliani deserves to have his bar license immediately reinstated without delay.»

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Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former U.S. President Donald Trump, departs the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Courthouse on December 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital on why the pardons were issued now, but compared charges Trump allies faced to «communist tactics.»

«These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. «Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime’s communist tactics once and for all.»

Other prominent figures pardoned include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Justice Department Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced the pardons Sunday. 

Trump previously has issued pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which occurred as Congress was poised to certify the 2020 election results.

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In January, just hours after his inauguration, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the attack. Among those were Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.