Despite refusing to sign discharge petition, Miller and Moore vote to release Epstein files
By Matthew Young, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – “Let’s be absolutely clear, Riley Moore and Carol Miller had one job to do – sign the discharge petition and help force the release of the Epstein files. They refused.”
That’s what West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said, in a scathing press release, regarding Tuesday’s action by the U.S. House of Representatives to compel the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
“They (Moore, R-W.Va., and Miller, R-W.Va.) stood with Trump to stop that release until the very last second, and only switched their votes when Trump caved because he knew he was going to lose,” Pushkin added. “That’s not leadership. That’s complicity.”
While Moore and Miller ultimately joined with 425 other House members who overwhelmingly voted in favor of releasing the files (GOP lawmaker Clay Higgins of Louisiana was the sole no-vote), both WV lawmakers had been in agreement with Trump’s position to withhold them until the president abruptly changed his mind on Sunday.
“I voted to release the files today,” Moore said, through a press release after the vote. “This bill continues the Trump Administration’s efforts to provide as much information to the public as possible. The Justice Department has already turned over more than 62,000 documents to the House Oversight Committee, and this bill requires the Justice Department to release all remaining documents to the public.”
Although nether Trump nor Miller released a statement immediately following Tuesday’s vote, criticism surrounding Trump’s related Friday interaction with a female reporter from Bloomberg increased.
When reporter Catherine Lucey questioned Trump’s recent behavior, asking, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the (Epstein) files, why not release them,” Trump reportedly pointed toward Lucey and said, “Quiet, piggy.”
Of the more than 20,000 documents released thus far pertaining to convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump’s name is reported to appear some 1,500 times. Though the president initially campaigned on the promise of “declassifying all Epstein files,” he quickly pivoted from that position after his election, referring to the matter as a “Democrat hoax.” Inexplicably on Sunday, Trump then shifted his position once more by urging his fellow Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the files. And while most GOP lawmakers, including Moore and Miller, have issued little in the way of public comments regarding Trump’s potential involvement with Epstein, few have called for a full investigation.
Prior to his statements on Sunday, Trump, on Friday, instructed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a new investigation of the Epstein files, which would exclusively look into the possible involvement of Democrats.
“If President Trump truly wanted the files to be made public […] all he has to do is tell his Attorney General Pam Bondi to release them,” Pushkin’s statement added. “If he truly wanted transparency, the files would already be public.”
“We demand that the president order Attorney General Bondi to release everything – every file, every name, every document – Republican or Democrat, rich or powerful, no exceptions,” Pushkin’s statement concludes. “The victims deserve justice, and the American people deserve the truth. End the cover-up now.”
The bill will now be referred to the U.S. Senate, where unanimous consent was given for passage Tuesday evening. Should the bill ultimately reach the president’s desk for final approval, Trump has stated that his approval will be given.
