Michael Gold

So that's one of the interesting things about this effort here.

You know, theoretically, we could see a vote on the House floor sometime in December.

It could be earlier, depending on how the speaker decides to maneuver here.

But even if this bill comes to the House floor and passes in a vote, which it probably will because it already has the support of the majority of the House,

The legislation would still have to go to the Senate, which might not even ever have to take it up.

And if it were to somehow get passed by the Senate, then it would get sent to the president, who, it seems very clear from his public remarks, would probably veto this and send it back to Congress.

Yeah, it's a great question.

And I think one of the outstanding things that a lot of people here are wondering is why the White House whipped so hard against this once it became obvious that this effort would succeed.

I think a lot of this is about politics.

It's embarrassing to the White House to have members of the president's own party vote for a bill that essentially rebukes his administration and tries to compel them to do something that they insisted they wouldn't do.

And because so many on the right have been clamoring for the release of the Epstein files, there was always a sense that if this actually ever came to the floor, it would not be just a simple majority vote, but that a lot of Republicans would feel like they had no choice but to support it to keep their base happy.

And that is a difficult position, both for Republicans and for the president to be in, because it makes it look like the president is losing favor with members of his own party.

I think we will see more Republicans than the four who have already signed on to this effort vote to release these documents.

You're right to say that lawmakers, especially Republicans on Capitol Hill, are often worried about invoking the wrath of the president, especially as we head into midterm elections and as we head into primary season.

But I think there's a different and important political calculation here.

On the one hand, there's voting with the president and voting against the president.

But on the other hand, Republicans don't want to be seen as recording a vote that would shield Jeffrey Epstein from further transparency.

The story of Jeffrey Epstein is one that prompts a lot of questions about the kind of things that President Trump has put at the heart of his campaign, about whether there is a powerful group of elites whose interests are perceived as being more important than the interests of the people.

Trump ran on a campaign of ending the deep state, of draining the swamp.

But now he's in charge, and he's the one who appears to be shielding these files and keeping them out of view of the American people.