Adelita Grijalva sworn in after months of waiting: When will the House vote on the full release of the Epstein files?

When Adelita Grijalva at last took her seat in the United States House of Representatives (House) this week, following a special-election victory in Arizona’s 7 th District, the stage was set for a major legislative showdown.

Her swearing-in gives Democrats the 218th signature on a discharge petition that would force a floor vote on the release of unclassified government files connected to Jeffrey Epstein - Donald Trump’s nightmare.

Grijalva joins the House after more than seven weeks of delay, during which Congress remained out of session due to a government shutdown. That blockage blocked her from being sworn in earlier, and meanwhile the discharge petition to force a vote on the so-called Epstein files hung one signature short. It gave Trump an opportunity to make people forget about the issue, but it was only ever a short-term solution.

However, while Grijalva’s seating marks a key milestone, the vote on the release of the files is not set for immediately upon her arrival. According to House procedural timing and comments from key lawmakers, the floor vote is expected in early December.

This short delay allows for procedural housekeeping: her swearing-in, the discharge petition officially crossing the threshold, and scheduling within the House calendar once full legislative activity resumes. Even then, the outcome is uncertain: the petition forces a vote, but it does not guarantee passage.

If the petition does in fact succeed and the House votes in favour of full unclassified disclosure of the Epstein files, the measure still faces hurdles: the Senate would need to consider similar language, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) may push back on what it considers sensitive or victim-protected material.

And the timing couldn’t be more poignant: an email from 2011 sent by Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell claims that Donald Trump “spent hours” with one of Epstein’s victims at his Florida home, a detail made public by Democrats this week.

The document states, “that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him … he has never once been mentioned.”

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In a separate 2019 email exchange between Epstein and journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein allegedly said Trump “knew about the girls” and had asked Maxwell to stop recruiting them. While the emails offers no explicit context or follow-up as to what some of the language means, the revelation intensifies pressure for Congress to unseal more of the so-called Epstein files and shines fresh light on the broader push for transparency in Trump fudged attempt to bury the memories.

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