Reps. Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace balk at Trump’s reported effort to get them to remove their names from Epstein petition

Republican Reps. Lauren Boerbert and Nancy Mace refused to remove their names from a congressional effort aimed at forcing the government to release documents related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, despite a reported campaign mounted by President Trump. 

Trump called Boebert (R-Colo.) on Tuesday, and tried to reach out to Mace (R-SC) as well, ahead of the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who had pledged to become the 218th signatory on a discharge petition that would force a full House vote on releasing the so-called Epstein files, according to the New York Times. 

Boebert and Mace, along with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are the only Republicans backing the discharge petition, which has been signed by all House Democrats. 

On Wednesday, Boebert was summoned to the White House for a meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Kash Patel to discuss her demand for more Justice Department files on the disgraced financier, the outlet reported.  

Boebert and Mace did not remove their signatures from the petition, which was signed by Grijalva Wednesday afternoon. 

Lawmakers cannot remove their names once the 218-signature threshold has been reached. 

“I want to thank White House officials for meeting with me today,” Boebert wrote on X. “Together, we remain committed to ensuring transparency for the American people.” 

The congresswoman told reporters that she felt “no pressure” from the White House to remove her name from the petition. 

“I don’t feel marginalized at all,” Boebert said. “President Trump is an amazing man. I stand by him.”

Mace described her decision to sign the petition as “deeply personal” and related to her being a “survivor of sexual and domestic violence.”   

“I signed the discharge petition. I was one of four Republicans to do so. I stand with all survivors,” she wrote on X. “When it seems like the world is against you. When the press hates your guts. When your friends desert you.Your pain is my pain. Your fight is my fight. Your justice is our justice.”

“God bless all those who never had a fighting chance. The Epstein vote will be for you too.” 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cast Trump’s outreach to the congresswomen as an effort to be transparent. 

“Doesn’t it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please?” Leavitt told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing.

“Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns?” she added, without offering details about the conversations that took place.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) characterized the discharge petition as “reckless” and “moot,” arguing that it would not adequately protect the identity of victims of sexual abuse and that lawmakers in the lower chamber are already actively investigating and releasing files related to Epstein. 

He said the petition will be put on the House floor for a vote “next week.” 

Johnson also noted that Republicans put the discharge petition – led by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) – up for unanimous consent on the House floor ahead of the vote on reopening the government and Democrats “objected.” 

“There’s two questions you should ask every Democrat in the House and Senate,” he told reporters. “Why didn’t you bring this up during the four years of the Biden administration … and secondly, if they’re for transparency and they really want all this to be out and there’s such an urgency, then why did they vote down the unanimous consent to pass the discharge petition?” 

“I can’t answer that question, but they should.”