Epstein files emerge as flashpoint in 2026 Republican primaries

Ed Gallrein is running hard on his loyalty to President Trump as he challenges Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, and it shows when the discussion veers into the Epstein files.

Mr. Gallrein has gone quiet on exactly where he stands on the fight to unseal the government’s Epstein files. Mr. Massie is leading the fight.

The fierce political battle over the Epstein documents threatens to roil the next round of Republican primaries now that House members will be forced to pick sides. Polls show overwhelming public support, including among Republicans, for complete transparency, and some lawmakers warn that voters are keeping a close eye on them.

“It’s a litmus test because it’s basically, if your member of Congress is not supporting transparency on Epstein, it makes them completely not trustworthy,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told The Washington Times on Thursday. “It’s a big one.”

Mr. Massie is leaning into that message. He has framed the choice for Mr. Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL captain, and other Republicans as stark: Either stay in Mr. Trump’s good graces or vote to release the files and risk his wrath.

“His pitch to my voters is he will do what the president wants, and the president calls the Epstein files a hoax, so we can also infer from that that he would vote to protect the pedophiles,” Mr. Massie said of his rival.

The Gallrein campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked underage girls for sex, possibly with some of Epstein’s wealthy and politically connected friends.

After a monthlong political battle, Mr. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, California Democrat, secured the 218 signatures this week needed to force House Republican leaders to hold a vote on releasing all unclassified records tied to the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

Mr. Massie and three other House Republicans — Ms. Greene, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado — joined all the chamber’s Democrats on the petition.

Shortly before the discharge petition received the final signature needed to move forward, Mr. Gallrein accused Mr. Massie on social media of “falling in line with the likes of AOC and the Squad” and “undercutting” Mr. Trump and his agenda.

Yet he did not mention the Epstein files.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, indicated he is setting up a vote for next week.

Supporters of the effort predict that dozens more Republicans will break with Mr. Trump to support the measure. They will have to defend their votes in their reelection campaigns.

Even if it passes the House, the measure is expected to either die in the Republican-controlled Senate or on Mr. Trump’s desk.

Mr. Massie urged his colleagues to understand that their vote on the Epstein files will outlast the Trump presidency.

“Voting for a cover-up will be on their record in 2030 when Trump can no longer protect them with a presidential endorsement,” he said.

Last year, Mr. Trump signaled that he would be willing to release the files, including during a podcast with Lex Fridman, saying, “I’d have no problem with it.” More recently, he has dismissed the files as a “hoax.”

His change of heart has left some conservatives puzzled with his approach, especially after House Democrats released new emails revealing that, in the words of Epstein, Mr. Trump “knew about the girls.”

“Why didn’t Trump just release these? Just release them,” Megyn Kelly said on her streaming show this week. “I don’t know if there is any there there whatsoever, but I conceded that they sound bad — they don’t sound good.”

“To me, this is a self-inflicted wound by the Trump administration,” she said.

Questions are also percolating about why Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, was recently transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas.

Maxwell is expected to apply for a commutation of her prison sentence, which runs through 2037.

Mr. Massie and the other Republicans who signed the discharge petition acknowledge that there is no evidence Mr. Trump did anything wrong. They argue that he may be shielding allies or even foreign intelligence figures from scrutiny. They also note that Democrats had the opportunity to release the files when they controlled Congress, but they didn’t.

A recent Marist poll found that 77% of Americans want the files released with victims’ names redacted. That includes 84% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans and 83% of independents.

Still, Mr. Trump and his allies pressured Republicans to abandon the discharge push.

Ms. Boebert, however, didn’t budge after she was summoned to the White House Situation Room, where Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel attempted to persuade her to withdraw from the petition.

Running for reelection in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, Ms. Boebert later posted a local news segment praising her for standing up to “the wishes of her party and her president.”

Ms. Greene told The Times that the Trump team didn’t try to sway her.

“You couldn’t waterboard me and make me take my name off of that discharge petition,” she said, adding that the Epstein files are a No. 3 issue for her constituents, right behind affordability and health care.

For Ms. Greene, the fight is about justice for victims and about exposing what she calls “deep state” efforts to protect the rich and powerful worldwide.

“If you are trying to cover that up, then you’re instantly bad, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, like it doesn’t even matter to people,” she said. “It crosses all political boundaries.”

Mr. Massie’s leadership on the issue has solidified his status as Mr. Trump’s primary target.

Over the summer, Mr. Trump’s allies launched MAGA KY, an anti-Massie super PAC funded primarily by pro-Israel billionaires Paul Singer, John Paulson and Miriam Adelson. Mr. Trump recently endorsed Mr. Gallrein.

The super PAC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Mr. Massie, who says the effort has backfired and strengthened his reelection message.

“Gallrein is funded by three billionaires who epitomize the Epstein class,” Mr. Massie told The Times. “In fact, one of those billionaires is John Paulson, who appears in Epstein’s black book.”

He added, “It really doesn’t matter what he says while he’s campaigning because they already own him.”

A spokesperson for Mr. Paulson has said it was news to him that his name was in Epstein’s black book. They also said Mr. Paulson never shared a meal or drink with Epstein and that Mr. Massie is fabricating the attack to distract from his failures in Congress.