WASHINGTON- The long-running fight to demand that the Justice Department release all documents related to its investigation of recently convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shifted to President Trump on Tuesday after the House and Senate, within hours of each other, voted overwhelmingly to release the records.
Trump, who tried to thwart the release of the documents for several months, reversed course Sunday evening and indicated he planned to sign the measure when it reached his desk. For that to happen, both the Senate and House of Representatives needed to approve the measure — and on Tuesday, it happened with near-unanimous support in both chambers, at the urging of Epstein survivors.
The action did not take place without tension, however.
Hours before the House vote, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he would support the measure even though he believed it did not do enough to protect victims’ privacy. Calling the bill “flawed,” Johnson then called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to correct the bill in the upper chamber before sending it to the president’s desk.
But amending the bill would have further delayed passage of the measure, prolonging a highly contentious fight in Congress. The Senate ultimately decided to quickly pass the bill without making any changes — or recorded votes — after a successful procedural maneuver led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“Epstein victims’ groups have made it clear that they support this bill as written, without amendments,” Schumer said. “We should listen to them and pass this bill quickly. »
The House vote was 427-1, with only Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) voting against.
The votes were the culmination of a months-long fight that began when House Democrats, joined by a small group of Republicans, forced a vote on the transparency bill over the objection of Trump and Republican legislative leaders.
The effort underscored the extent to which the Epstein saga and the Trump administration’s handling of the cases were fueling a divide within Trump’s political base, which ultimately was strong enough to force top Republicans to concede.
In an emotional speech on the House floor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said the Epstein scandal is unlikely to end anytime soon because it has deeply affected many Americans — including those in the MAGA movement — who feel disenfranchised by powerful people who control the government.
“These American women are not rich and powerful elites,” Greene said in her speech. “These are average Americans, and you want to know what the Epstein files represent? They represent the failures of the federal government and Congress.”
Speaking to reporters in the morning outside the Capitol, Greene also said, “The real test will be whether the Justice Department will release the records, or will it all remain tied to the investigations?”
Before the votes, several survivors of Epstein’s abuse urged lawmakers to support the release of the documents. They gathered outside the Capitol to make their emotional appeal.
“It’s time to put aside political agendas and partisan affiliations. This is a human issue, it concerns children,” said survivor Haley Robson. “There is no place in society for exploitation, sexual crimes or the exploitation of women. »
Republicans follow Trump’s lead
For months, Republicans have been reluctant to call for the release of the Epstein files, joining Trump in saying the issue was being raised by Democrats as a way to distract from Republicans’ legislative successes. Some Republican lawmakers reiterated those claims during debate over the measure Tuesday, saying the vote was a “political demonstration” carried out by Democrats who wanted to tarnish Trump’s reputation.
Although Trump urged Republicans to support the measure before the vote, his administration could have released the records without an act of Congress. At an Oval Office event on Tuesday, Trump did not respond when a reporter asked him why he hadn’t done so yet. The president instead called the ABC News reporter “terrible” and called for his network’s broadcast license to be revoked.
Trump’s tirade highlighted how the president feels about the Epstein scandal, which he says is a “Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical left crazies” to distract from his legislative agenda. His remarks came after a dramatic reversal and he urged Republicans to vote to release the documents, saying there was “nothing to hide.”
Trump’s change of heart came days after 20,000 documents from Epstein’s private estate were released by lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee. The files referenced Trump more than 1,000 times.
In private emails, Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours” at his home and “knew about the girls,” a revelation that reignited pressure in Congress for new revelations.
Trump has continued to deny wrongdoing in the Epstein saga, although he initially opposed the release of records from the federal investigation into the conduct of his former friend, a convicted sex offender and alleged sex trafficker. Epstein committed suicide while in federal custody in 2019.
Many members of Trump’s MAGA base have demanded that the files be made public, convinced they contain revelations about powerful people involved in Epstein’s abuse of what are believed to be more than 200 women and girls. Tension within his base came to a head when Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in July that an “Epstein client list” did not exist, after saying in February that the list was on her desk awaiting review. She later said she was referring to the Epstein files more generally.
Trump’s call to release the records now shows how he is trying to avoid an embarrassing defeat as a growing number of House Republicans have joined Democrats in voting for the bill in recent days.
The Epstein files have been an extremely contentious fight in Congress in recent months, with Democrats pushing for release and Republican congressional leaders largely refusing to vote. The issue has even led to a division within the MAGA movement.
Democrats accused Johnson of delaying the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, because she promised to cast the final vote needed to present a so-called discharge petition, which would force a vote. The speaker denied these claims.
Robson, one of the survivors, questioned Trump’s about-face on the vote.
“While I understand that your position has changed on the Epstein cases and I appreciate your commitment to signing this bill, I cannot help but do so. [but] be skeptical of the agenda,” Robson said.
The bill would prohibit Attorney General Bondi from withholding, delaying or redacting “any record, document, communication or investigative material on the basis of embarrassment, reputational damage or political sensitivity, including with respect to any government official, public figure or foreign dignitary.”
But caveats in the bill could provide Trump and Bondi with loopholes to keep records relating to the president secret.
In the spring, FBI Director Kash Patel asked a Freedom of Information Act team to review all of the investigation’s records and ordered it to remove references to Trump, citing his status as a private citizen with privacy protections when the probe was first launched in 2006, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said the Trump administration would be forced to release the records by an act of Congress.
“They will be breaking the law if they don’t release these files,” he said.
