A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Nov. 12.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. House and Senate have passed a bill to force the Justice Department to release the case files it has collected on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, pushing past a monthslong effort by U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican leaders to stymie the effort.
The push for more disclosure in the years-old sex trafficking investigation into Epstein has come roaring back since the House returned to Washington after a nearly two-month absence during the government shutdown. As lawmakers returned last week, they were greeted by new details from a tranche of Epstein’s e-mails, including claims that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim and that he “knew about the girls.”
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The new revelations showed one of the rare instances where Trump has not been able to exhibit almost total control over his party.
Yet the sex trafficking case into Epstein has only grown in political influence since Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019. He faced charges that he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls, and since then many more have said they were abused by the well-connected financier.
Trump on Sunday urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move.
Reuters
Now, many lawmakers say that the Justice Department also needs to release its case files on Epstein, arguing that it could show that other people were aware of or complicit in Epstein’s sexual abuse. House Democrats, joined by a few key Republicans, were able to force a vote on the bill to do that by using a rarely successful measure called a discharge petition.
As it became apparent that the bill would pass the House with significant support from Republican lawmakers, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson changed their approach from outright opposition to declarations of indifference.
“I DON’T CARE!” Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
The bill later passed the Senate, leaving the release of the documents in the hands of Trump and his Justice Department.
Why did the House vote?
Rep. Thomas Massie has suggested Trump can avoid the entire ordeal by releasing all the Epstein files held by the federal government.Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press
Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie introduced a petition in July to force a vote on their bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The effort was backed by all House Democrats and four Republicans: Massie and Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
Minutes after Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was sworn into office Wednesday, she signed her name to the Epstein petition, pushing it to the magic number of 218 – a majority in the 435-member House.
Johnson said following Grijalva’s swearing-in that he would expedite the petition process to bring a vote on the bill to the House floor this week.
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The speaker has pushed back on claims that he has obstructed the Epstein legislation to protect Trump or others. He told reporters last week that the Republican majority took issue with the phrasing of the measure, which he claimed did not adequately protect victims.
Johnson has also pointed repeatedly to a concurrent investigation into Epstein’s sexual abuse that is being conducted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Republicans who control the committee have also focused on Epstein’s connections to Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton.
It was the oversight panel that released Epstein’s e-mails, part of 20,000 pages of documents that it obtained from Epstein’s estate.
The committee has also subpoenaed the Justice Department for its case files on Epstein, but Democrats on the committee say the response has been insufficient.
A billboard in Times Square, paid for by the group Home of the Brave, highlights Jeffrey Epstein's comment about Donald Trump that 'of course he knew about the girls.'Adam Gray/Getty Images
What does the bill do?
The bill could force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein’s victims or continuing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted, per the bill.
The department, however, would not be allowed to redact information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse, joined by lawmakers, also plan to speak outside the Capitol on Tuesday morning.
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Statues representing Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, a work of protest art by free speech advocates, stand on the National Mall near the Capitol in September.J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press
Can Trump stop it?
With the measure passing both chambers of Congress, it now goes to Trump. He could try to stop it with a veto, but he would also be under enormous pressure to sign it.
Trump lobbied two Republicans last week to try to stop the House discharge petition. But after that was unsuccessful, he seemed to change his approach to the bill.
“We have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on social media late Sunday after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
A president’s veto could also be overridden with a two-thirds vote in both chambers. That has only happened twice since 2009.
Massie suggested Trump can avoid the entire ordeal by releasing all the Epstein files held by the federal government.
“There’s still time for him to be the hero,” Massie said of Trump.