WASHINGTON — The four House Republicans who helped secure the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files called themselves “the Bravehearts” – an acknowledgement that their risky stance would require a tough spine, especially given President Donald Trump’s fierce opposition to the move.
As he later discovered, this bet would also affect his political future.
Seven months later, the House voted to release the Epstein files, which kicked off a Trump-led crusade against the insurgent quartet behind the effort, one of whom is now a former member. Two of them will not return to Congress next year. And the other faces the threat of a primary challenge in the next cycle.
“Everyone is suffering the consequences of these events,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who led the Epstein proposal and lost his May primary to a Trump-backed challenger, told NBC News in an interview. ‘Trump illogically became even more opposed to [defections on] the big, beautiful bill. ‘It upset him.”
Massie co-sponsored a bill with a Democrat that would have required Trump’s administration to release the Epstein files, Justice Department documents related to the investigation of the deceased sex offender. Survivors and many Trump supporters had insisted on declassifying the files.
Only three other Republicans initially signed on: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who resigned from Congress late last year because of her feud with Trump over Epstein; Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who failed to make a runoff this week in her state’s gubernatorial primary race, where Trump had endorsed an opponent; and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who recently faced Trump’s wrath after publicly campaigning for Macy’s.
Epstein was not the only issue that soured relations between Trump and those four members.
Sources close to the White House say Epstein was not the only issue that soured relations between Trump and those four members. Massie has long been a problem for the president, including voting against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” while Greene began breaking with Trump on a number of issues last year after the White House discouraged her from pursuing a Senate bid.
Nevertheless, Trump and his allies made a major effort to defeat Massie, resulting in the most expensive primary race in history. And he threatened to do the same to Green before she decided to quit midway through their season.
“From the White House perspective, they want everyone on the team, which means always supporting the president — that’s their job. If you want to cement yourself in the punch bowl, the Epstein material is a particularly effective way to do that,” said a source close to the White House, who, like others in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking.
In a statement to NBC News, the White House said Trump has been “completely exonerated on anything related to Epstein” and defended the president’s handling of the issue.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.”
Nevertheless, Trump’s frustration with the four members continued to grow, even as a poll of his political allies obtained by NBC News found little evidence that advocating for the release of the files was swaying voters. Internal polling conducted by the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA KY between 2025 and early 2026 showed that almost no voters in Massey’s district ranked the Epstein files as the most important issue during the height of the frenzy last October.
Mace, for his part, is convinced that his push for the Epstein files cost him his endorsement of Trump in the governor’s race. There is no indication that Trump was planning to endorse her before her Epstein vote, although the president shared a poll on social media in August that showed Mace in the lead, and she appeared to be in good standing with the president even at the time.
Nevertheless, Mace said she had no regrets, calling the Epstein issue a hill she was “willing to die on.”
She told NBC News, “When I voted to release the Epstein files, I understood the consequences. I’m a survivor and I would do it all over again.”
Greene declined an interview but posted on social media the morning after Mace’s defeat: “Warning. When you single out and try to destroy those of us who fight the hardest, you have a serious problem. And you keep the weak, stupid ones and protect them. Well, let’s just say you have a serious problem. We are not in your cult and we don’t owe you anything. And we are still the strongest warriors.“
Boebert is now in last place, but he’s still potentially in the next round. Trump threatened Boebert last month after campaigning with his rival Massey, saying, “Anyone who can be that stupid deserves a good primary fight!”
But it was too late to get another candidate on the ballot for Colorado’s June primary.
“Look, the only thing that saved Lauren Boebert this year was the calendar,” a source close to the president said. “She may not be as lucky in the future.”
One Republican operative even suggested that Boebert could face serious problems in the future.
The operator said, “By the time Macy really started paying attention to it, she was already a dead person. MTG, it seemed like that was a significant factor – she was still OK despite the initial fall.” “With Boebert, it seems as if it deteriorated very quickly on some of these issues. In the next Congress, I thought Boebert’s situation looked grave.
Boebert has downplayed Trump’s attacks on him. “I’m not worried about it. I support the president,” she told NBC News last week.
But when asked about her role in fighting for the Epstein files, she became frustrated and appeared eager to divert attention from the issue.
“Will we ever talk about things that are relevant, that we’re actually voting on? Will it always be Epstein?” Boebert said. “That’s the only question any reporter has asked me. It’s just Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. I’ve done everything I can to release the files and get justice for the victims.
The pressure for the Epstein files created a bond among the four Republicans involved in the effort.
His support was crucial in providing the requisite votes for the so-called discharge petition, which allowed him to bypass the leadership and force a floor vote on the motion. (When it came to the House, all but one Republican voted for it.)
But both House GOP leaders and the White House did everything they could to block the proposal from coming up for a vote. It focused primarily on trying to persuade one of the three Republican women to remove her name from the discharge petition.
The four MPs decided to create a group chat, which they named “The Bravehearts”, where they could share updates and support each other amid the intense pressure campaign they were facing.
At one point, Massey said, Boebert was summoned to the White House for a meeting in the Situation Room with top Trump officials, who tried to persuade Boebert to back down. But before the meeting, according to Massey, the rest of the group gave him a lot of information to help refute the arguments expected from the executives.
“He had no intention of going out there and digging a cave,” Massey said. “It was just like studying for finals. She wanted to know every aspect of the bill and what was wrong with what they were saying.”
The group mostly agrees with how the fight played out and its impact on his political career, noting that legislation releasing the Epstein files will be a defining part of his legacy.
“20 years from now when I’m in my rocking chair at the farm, whoever the attorney general is, if they get new Epstein material, they have to release it within 30 days,” Massey said.
And they have remained in touch. After losing his primary race, Massey and his wife vacationed in Costa Rica with Green and his fiancée. During the visit, he also highlighted his plight.
“We joked that she jumped out of the plane, I jumped on it and I hit the ground, and we both flew to Costa Rica,” Macy said.