A motion to move Massie's petition failed in committee Tuesday, but the petition still stands at 216 signatures — just two names shy of muscling its way through to the House floor.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said he believes the workaround will fail, but Axios reports attempts to halt the petition appear likely to be doomed.
Asked about why only a handful of Republicans have signed on, Massie laid the blame on the White House.
"It's so sick and twisted. The the reason they're doing it is because they're terrified of President Trump's political machine — not just his legislative affairs folks, (who are) reaching out from the White House to every Republican member of Congress who might think about co-sponsoring this," Massie told Liberty Vault. "They're getting calls from the political machine that Donald Trump runs."
Massie has become a prime target of Trump and his allies, who have mounted a fierce campaign to unseat him following his vote against the GOP tax and spending bill and statements criticizing the president's military strikes in Iran.
In the meantime, Massie's Democratic partner in the discharge petition effort — Rep. Ro Khanna of California — says there is a clear route for the petition to reach the necessary 218 signatures.
"There are two vacancies that haven't been reported as much, but two Democrats are going to be joining (the House) and they're both committed to signing it," Khanna told ABC. "That's going to happen by the end of September."
For now, the Trump administration is focused on combating the fallout from the release of a lewd note the president allegedly sent Epstein for his 50th birthday, a document Trump has denied writing.