WASHINGTON — The long-standing fight to demand the Justice Department release all documents tied to its investigation into late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shifted to President Trump on Tuesday after the House and Senate, within hours of each other, voted overwhelmingly to publicize the files.
Trump, who tried to thwart the release of the records for several months, reversed course Sunday night and indicated that he plans to sign the measure when it reaches his desk. For that to happen, the Senate and House needed to approve the measure — and on Tuesday that happened with near-unanimous support in both chambers, at the urging of Epstein survivors.
The action, however, did not come without some tension.
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 the privacy of the victims. Calling the bill “flawed,” Johnson then called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to fix 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 hugely divisive congressional fight. The Senate ultimately decided to quickly pass the bill without making any changes — or a recorded vote — after a successful procedural maneuver led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“Epstein victim groups have made 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 to 1, with Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) the only nay vote.
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 how the Epstein saga and the Trump administration’s handling of the files were fueling a rift within Trump’s political base, which in the end was strong enough to force top Republicans to cave.
In an emotional speech on the House floor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, argued the Epstein scandal is unlikely to end anytime soon because it has resonated deeply with many Americans — including those in the MAGA movement — who feel disenfranchised from the powerful people who control the government.
“These American women aren’t rich powerful elites,” Greene said in her speech. “These are your average Americans, and you want to know what the Epstein files represent? It represents the failures of the federal government and Congress.”
Speaking with reporters in the morning outside the Capitol, Greene also said, “The real test will be, will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations?”
Ahead of the votes, several Epstein abuse survivors urged lawmakers to support the release of the records. They gathered outside the Capitol as they made their emotional plea.
“It’s time that we put the political agendas and party affiliations to the side. This is a human issue, this is about children,” said one survivor, Haley Robson. “There is no place in society for exploitation, sexual crimes or exploitation of women in society.”
Republicans follow Trump’s lead
Republicans for months balked at calling for the release of the Epstein files, joining Trump in claiming the issue was being brought up by Democrats as a way to distract from Republicans’ legislative successes. Some Republican lawmakers repeated those claims when debating the measure Tuesday, saying the vote was a “political show” led by Democrats who wanted tarnish Trump’s reputation.
Although Trump urged Republicans to support the measure ahead of the vote, his administration could have released the files without an act of Congress. At an Oval Office event Tuesday, Trump did not answer when a reporter asked him why he hadn’t done so yet. The president instead called the ABC News reporter “terrible” and for her network’s broadcast license to be revoked.
Trump’s tirade highlighted how the president is feeling about the Epstein scandal, which he says is a “Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics” to distract from his legislative agenda. His remarks came after he had a drastic reversal and urged Republicans to vote to release the documents, saying there was “nothing to hide.”
Trump’s reversal came days after 20,000 documents from Epstein’s private estate were released by lawmakers in 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 house and “knew about the girls,” a revelation that reignited the push in Congress for further disclosures.
Trump has continued to deny wrongdoing in the Epstein saga despite initially opposing the release of files from the federal inquiry into the conduct of his former friend, a convicted sex offender and alleged sex trafficker. Epstein died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019.
Many members of Trump’s MAGA base have demanded the files be released, convinced they contain revelations about powerful people involved in Epstein’s abuse of what is believed to be more than 200 women and girls. Tension among his base spiked when Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in July that an “Epstein client list” did not exist, after saying in February that the list was sitting on her desk awaiting review. She later said she was referring to the Epstein files more generally.
Trump’s call to release the files now highlights how he is trying to prevent an embarrassing defeat as a growing number of Republicans in the House have joined Democrats to vote for the legislation in recent days.
The Epstein files have been a hugely divisive congressional fight in recent months, with Democrats pushing for the release and Republican congressional leaders largely refusing to take the votes. The issue even led to a rift within the MAGA movement.
Democrats have accused Johnson of delaying the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, because she promised to cast the final vote needed to move a so-called discharge petition, which would force a vote on the floor. The speaker has denied those claims.
Robson, one of the survivors, questioned Trump’s about-face on the vote.
“While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files, and I’m grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can’t help [but] be skeptical of what the agenda is,” Robson said.
The bill would prohibit the attorney general, Bondi, from withholding, delaying or redacting “any record, document, communication, or investigative material on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
But caveats in the bill could provide Trump and Bondi with loopholes to keep records related to the president concealed.
In the spring, FBI Director Kash Patel directed a Freedom of Information Act team to comb through the entire trove of files from the investigation, and ordered it to redact references to Trump, citing his status as a private citizen with privacy protections when the inquiry first launched in 2006, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said the Trump administration will be forced to release the files with an act of Congress.
“They will be breaking the law if they do not release these files,” he said.
