Trump admin updates: Trump wants Senate to cancel August recess to work on nominees

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said he plans to pursue a procedural gambit to trigger a House vote on legislation that would force the release of the “complete” Jeffrey Epstein files.

The congressman plans to offer a discharge petition, which requires 218 signatures and allows the majority of the chamber to circumvent GOP leaders. There would only be floor action if the resolution receives enough support.

A waiting period of seven legislative days kicks off once the petition has enough signatures. So this could become a headache for GOP leaders after the August recess.

“We all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files, who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes. Americans were promised justice and transparency. We’re introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the US House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files,” Massie said in a post on X.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday responded to calls for her resignation over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which has rankled the MAGA base.

"I'm going to be here for as long as the president wants me here, and I believe he's made that crystal clear," Bondi said.

When asked about her reported rift with Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino over the matter, Bondi said she was not going to discuss personnel matters.

"I was with [FBI] Director Patel all morning and we are committed to keeping America safe, making America safe, working with our incredible partners at DEA, FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals to do everything we can to make America safe and that's what we're focused on," she said at an event at the Drug Enforcement Administration.

President Donald Trump continued to defend Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of Jeffrey Epstein files as he took some questions from reporters on the subject.

One reporter asked about comments from his daughter-in-law Lara Trump that there should be more transparency in the Epstein case.

"The attorney general's handled that very well. She's really done a very good job," Trump said. "And I think that when you look at it, you'll understand that. I would like to see that also. But I think the attorney general, the credibility is very important. And, you want credible evidence or something like that. And I think the attorney general has handled it very well."

ABC News' Katherine Faulders asked the president what Bondi told him about the DOJ and FBI review of the Epstein files and "specifically, did she tell you at all that your name appeared in the file?"

"No, no, she's -- she's given us just a very quick briefing," Trump responded before making baseless claims that the files were created by some of his political foes.

"And in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen, and I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden -- and you know, we and we went through years of that with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, with all of the different things that we had to go through. We've gone through years of it, but she's handled it very well, and it's going to be up to her. Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release," Trump said.

President Donald Trump, as he left the White House for an event in Pittsburgh, was asked about the new inflation data out Tuesday morning that found consumer prices rose 2.7% in June compared to a year ago.

The reading marked a notable surge in prices as Trump's tariff policy took hold, matching economists' expectations.

Trump called the increase "very slight."

"Essentially, there were exactly as anticipated, very low inflation," he said. "So what you should do is lower the rate, the Fed should lower the rate immediately."