Democratic U.S. Representative Adelita Grijalva in her first day in office on Wednesday signed the discharge petition to start the process for a vote on directing the Justice Department to release files related to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It remained possible that one of the Republicans who had signed the petition — opposed by the White House — could remove their name from it.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Scott Malone)