Congress was poised Tuesday to send a bill to President Donald Trump to force the Justice Department to release files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, overcoming a months-long impasse in the House and quickly dispatching with the issue in the Senate.
Hours after the bill passed the House on a 427-1 vote, the Senate agreed to deem the legislation passed as soon as it arrives from the House. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) offered a motion that received unanimous consent and will require no further action by the chamber.
The House vote was the remarkable culmination of a bipartisan crusade by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (D-California) that until Sunday had met fierce resistance from Trump, who repeatedly insisted that the focus on the Epstein files was a “hoax” promoted by Democrats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he had asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) to amend the bill — which Johnson called a “political stunt” by Democrats — to include additional protections for Epstein victims mentioned in the files who want to remain anonymous.
“There are serious deficiencies in the legislation that I have noted at length,” Johnson said during a floor speech.
But Thune said he did not see the need to amend it after it passed the House overwhelmingly.
“When a bill comes out of the House 427 to 1 and the president said he’s going to sign it, I’m not sure that amending it is in the cards,” Thune told reporters.
Republicans across the ideological spectrum joined Democrats in voting for the bill.
The lone no vote in the House came from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), who argued in a social media post that the bill as written “reveals and injures thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc.”
At a morning news conference, Khanna attributed passage of the bill to advocacy by Epstein accusers.
“Because survivors spoke up, because of their courage, the truth is finally going to come out,” Khanna said at a news conference attended by about a dozen accusers.
As it became increasingly clear he could lose the House vote, Trump reversed course Sunday, urging Republicans in a social media post to support the bill, which would compel officials at the Justice Department to release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein in its possession. Trump said Monday that he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
The Justice Department has not said how it would respond to congressional requests to release the Epstein files, but Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputies have previously said that they cannot release materials related to ongoing investigations. Trump called on the Justice Department on Friday to examine the relationships between Epstein and several prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton, and Bondi quickly tapped federal prosecutors in Manhattan to take on the job.
“The real test will be will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said at Tuesday’s news conference with Epstein accusers, some of whom were in the House chamber to witness the vote.
Schumer warned Trump against selectively releasing documents once the bill becomes law.
“If the president tries to manipulate his way into releasing just some of the Epstein files while deliberately hiding others, the public will see right through it — and their frustration, their distrust in Donald Trump will grow even worse,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The House vote was the result of a discharge petition — a mechanism by which House lawmakers can circumvent the normal legislative process to compel votes. The petition received the 218th signature needed to force a vote on the Epstein files last week after newly sworn-in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona) joined the effort, which included all 214 Democrats in the chamber and four Republicans: Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colorado), Nancy Mace (South Carolina), Massie and Greene.
Massie and Khanna introduced the petition in July. Their press for greater transparency surrounding the Epstein case included two news conferences with Epstein’s victims, one in early September and the second one on Tuesday.
As they did in September, several of the Epstein accusers who spoke Tuesday implored the full release of the Justice Department files and insisted that it should be a nonpolitical issue.
This time, however, many of their remarks about Trump and his handling of the matter were much more pointed.
Haley Robson, an accuser who said she was a Republican, accused Trump of stonewalling the release of the files.
The president has said that he knew Epstein socially in Palm Beach and that they had a falling-out in the mid-2000s. Trump’s name appears repeatedly in previously released documents from Epstein’s estate, but Trump has maintained that he had “no idea” about Epstein’s criminal behavior, and the documents have produced no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump.
Trump and White House lieutenants for months tried to convince congressional Republicans to back away from the Epstein inquiry. In a bid to thwart a floor vote, Trump personally whipped votes against the discharge petition in both private and public, according to two people familiar with the effort who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations.
Trump has the authority to direct the Justice Department to release the documents in its possession, as he previously has with documents related to the government investigations into the assassinations of the Kennedys and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Trump has not explained why he has not taken that step, and the White House did not respond to questions about why the release is contingent on a vote from Congress.
“If the president is serious about what he’s saying, he’s got the power to release the Epstein file right now,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) said on the House floor Tuesday before the vote. “Nobody’s stopping him. It’s within his possession. It’s within his control. He can release the whole thing, and he can redact the names of the victims and others, who are innocent.”
The House vote is one of two efforts underway to force more disclosure of the Epstein files.
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) subpoenaed the Justice Department after one of the panel’s subcommittees voted to compel the department to release the files.
Comer has since broadened his probe into the Epstein investigation by subpoenaing Epstein’s estate in August. The estate’s attorneys released the “birthday book,” which featured dedications from Epstein’s high-profile associates collected and given to him by his ex-partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for sex trafficking.
The House released another tranche of files last week from Epstein’s estate that included additional emails mentioning Trump.
Natalie Allison, Maegan Vazquez and Perry Stein contributed to this report.
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