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Which congressional republicans voted for the release of the Epstein files in 2022?
Executive Summary
Two separate events are being conflated: a 2022 Senate vote that included two Republican yes votes, and later House efforts in 2025 to force release of Jeffrey Epstein-related records where a handful of House Republicans signed petitions or voted on subpoenas. Contemporary reporting and committee tallies show Senators Rand Paul and Josh Hawley broke with most Republican senators in 2022 to support release, while later House actions involved different Republican names such as Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace signing a discharge petition and a small group of House Republicans voting to subpoena the Department of Justice [1] [2] [3].
1. What people are claiming and where the confusion starts
Analyses of the record reveal two distinct claims: one that asks which congressional Republicans voted for release in 2022, and another that cites Republican participation in later efforts to force disclosure. The 2022 item refers to a Senate amendment vote to make Epstein-related records public, while the subsequent items describe House committee actions and a 2025 discharge petition aimed at compelling the Justice Department to hand over files. Contemporary summaries indicate sources discussing a 2025 discharge petition listing four House Republicans—Massie, Greene, Boebert, and Mace—and separate lists of House Republicans who voted for or against subpoenas, creating the appearance of continuity where there is none [1] [2] [3].
2. The 2022 recorded votes: two Republican senators bucked the party
The clearest factual anchor in the provided material is that the 2022 congressional vote on releasing Epstein records occurred in the Senate, not the House, and that only Senator Rand Paul (KY) and Senator Josh Hawley (MO) among Republicans voted in favor of the amendment to release records. This is presented as the definitive accounting of the 2022 vote in the analyses and distinguishes the Senate action from later House maneuvers. The material points to this Senate vote as the single 2022 congressional floor vote pertinent to release, and it identifies no House Republicans who voted on a similar floor question in 2022 [1].
3. House activity in 2025: petitions, subpoenas and partisan lines
By contrast, reporting from 2025 documents separate House efforts: a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing Epstein files carried signatures from four House Republicans—Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace—which is not a roll-call floor vote but a procedural push requiring many signatures to bring a measure to the floor [2] [4]. Other 2025 House actions included a committee subpoena request to the Justice Department where some Republicans joined Democrats in a subpoena vote, and Newsweek tallies list several Republicans who voted against or for such subpoenas in committee contexts, reflecting mixed partisan behavior in different institutional settings [3] [5].
4. Names and tallies: who showed up where, according to the provided records
The assembled analyses list specific Republican participants in 2025 House maneuvers and in the 2022 Senate vote. The 2022 Senate “yes” Republicans were Paul and Hawley; no other Republicans are recorded as supporting that Senate amendment [1]. The 2025 House scene shows the discharge petition signed by Massie, Greene, Boebert and Mace, and separate committee votes and subpoenas naming Republicans such as Nancy Mace, Brian Jack, Scott Perry as voting to subpoena DOJ records in at least one reported committee action, while other Republicans voted against measures—an indication that House Republican positions were not uniform [2] [3].
5. How to reconcile the timeline and why the distinction matters
The key clarification is timeline and chamber: the 2022 action of record was a Senate vote with two Republican supporters; the later House activity in 2025 involved petitions, discharge efforts and committee subpoenas with a different roster of Republican names. Conflating these events obscures which officeholders acted when and under what procedural rules. The distinction matters because a Senate amendment roll-call is a recorded floor vote, whereas a House discharge petition or committee subpoena represents different procedural levers and often reflects narrower coalitions or strategic maneuvers rather than the outcome of a full House floor vote [1] [2] [3].
6. Bottom line: direct answer and suggested caution for future queries
Directly answering the original question: In 2022, the congressional Republicans who voted for release were Senators Rand Paul and Josh Hawley (Senate); no House Republicans are recorded as voting on a House floor release measure in 2022 in the provided materials. Later Republican involvement in 2025 included signers of a discharge petition (Massie, Greene, Boebert, Mace) and a small set of House Republicans supporting subpoenas; these are separate episodes and should not be conflated with the 2022 Senate vote [1] [2] [3]. Future inquiries should specify chamber and year to avoid blending distinct procedural actions that generate different public records and political implications.