“Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) discharge petition on releasing the Epstein files is all but certain to force a House vote by the end of this month — even if no additional Republicans sign on,” Axios reports.

“That’s bad news for many House Republicans, who are torn between their base’s demand for transparency around the Epstein case and President Trump’s insistence that the matter be dropped.”

“Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also publicly opposed the discharge petition, which would undermine his control of the floor.”

“It was hard to miss the letter Donald Trump reportedly sent disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein for his 50th birthday — complete with a sketched outline of a naked woman — after the House Oversight Committee Democrats published a copy of the 2003 note to X on Monday afternoon,” NOTUS reports.

“But the Republican lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill, just hours later, claimed they were not among those millions of viewers.”

“New video footage shows there was more to the skirmish last week between a protester and Rep. Tim Burchett, which ended with the Tennessee Republican forcefully shoving the man,” Politico reports.

“Burchett characterized the encounter at the time as a heated verbal exchange that grew physical when the demonstrator got in the lawmaker’s face and ‘bumped’ him. But a recording of the incident shows that prior to the two of them coming face to face, Burchett taunted the man, saying ‘come over here.’”

“After a tense back-and-forth, the protester appeared to move away from Burchett, but the lawmaker stepped toward him again and escalated the interaction, mocking the man for ‘quivering.’”