Representatives Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have been summoned to Situation Room or phoned by Trump himself

Donald Trump has cranked up his intense pressure campaign on congressional Republicans to oppose the full release of the justice department’s files related to Jeffrey Epstein, before a crucial and long-awaited House vote on the matter next week that scores of Republicans are slated to support.

The belated swearing-in on Wednesday of the Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva – which the House speaker, Mike Johnson, had refused for almost two months during the government shutdown – brought the number of signatures on Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna’s discharge petition to the 218 needed to force a floor vote on legislation demanding the Department of Justice release all of its investigative files on Epstein within 30 days.

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CNN reported that top officials summoned representative Lauren Boebert – one of four Republicans in the House who have signed the petition – to a meeting in the White House Situation Room with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, and FBI director, Kash Patel, to discuss her demand to release the files. Trump had also telephoned her early on Tuesday morning, a day before Grijalva was due to be sworn in and provide the crucial final signature.

President Donald Trump and his top officials spent Wednesday scrambling to defend him against damaging emails from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and head off efforts in the House to push for the release of additional files from Epstein’s prosecution.

Early on Wednesday, House Democrats released emails from Epstein that alleged Trump spent time with one of Epstein’s victims. The bombshell messages came hours before House Speaker Mike Johnson was set to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who is poised to be the needed 218th vote on a discharge petition forcing a House vote on the Epstein files. The petition has already been signed by most House Democrats and a small group of Republicans including Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Nancy Mace of North Carolina.