U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he will adjourn the chamber a day early and send lawmakers home for a five-week summer recess, canceling Thursday’s schedule and deferring all substantive business until 2 September. Johnson framed the decision as a way to avoid what he called “political games” over a proposed bipartisan vote to compel the Justice Department and FBI to release their remaining files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats and a handful of Republicans, led by Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ro Khanna of California, have been trying to force a floor vote through a discharge petition. Tensions escalated further when Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, succeeded in advancing a motion for the House Oversight Committee to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell—Epstein’s long-time associate who is serving a 20-year federal sentence—for a deposition. Johnson insisted he supports “maximum transparency” but warned that an indiscriminate document dump could expose victims’ identities. The Justice Department, facing similar pressure, said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche intends to meet with Maxwell, while Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a federal judge to unseal grand-jury transcripts in the Epstein and Maxwell cases. The maneuvers highlight deep divisions within the Republican conference and a widening rift between the Trump administration and parts of its political base over how far and how fast to disclose the long-sought Epstein records.