Congress Moves Fast to Unseal Epstein Files, Trump Backs Bill Signing

A Bipartisan Push for Transparency

Both the House and Senate took decisive action on Tuesday to pass a bill that would compel the Justice Department to publicly release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. This marked a significant moment in a long-standing effort that had faced considerable opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership.

In July, a small, bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a petition aimed at bypassing Speaker Mike Johnson's control over the House floor. At the time, it seemed like a long shot—especially with Trump urging his supporters to dismiss the matter as a "hoax." However, both Trump and Johnson were unable to prevent the vote from happening. The president recently conceded to political reality, stating he would sign the bill. Just hours after the House vote, senators approved it unanimously, skipping a formal roll call.

This bipartisan effort highlighted the growing pressure on lawmakers and the Trump administration to meet longstanding demands for the Justice Department to release its case files on Epstein. Epstein, a well-connected financier, died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.

For survivors of Epstein’s abuse, the passage of the bill was a major milestone in their years-long pursuit of accountability. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, emphasized the strength of the survivors, stating, “These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight. And they did it by banding together and never giving up."

Greene also praised the effort to challenge powerful figures, including the president of the United States, to make the vote happen. In the end, only one lawmaker opposed the bill. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican and staunch Trump supporter, cast the sole "nay" vote in the House's 427-1 tally. He expressed concerns that the legislation could lead to the release of information about innocent people involved in the federal investigation.

Key Provisions of the Bill

The bill mandates the release of all files and communications related to Epstein within 30 days, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. It allows the Justice Department to redact information about Epstein’s victims or ongoing federal investigations but not information due to "embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity."

Before the bill's passage, thousands of pages of emails and other documents from Epstein's estate had already been released through an investigation by the House Oversight Committee. These documents revealed Epstein's connections to global leaders, Wall Street powerbrokers, influential political figures, and even Trump himself. In the United Kingdom, King Charles III stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after pressure to act over his relationship with Epstein.

Trump's Reversal and Political Pressure

Trump had previously claimed he cut ties with Epstein years ago but had tried for months to avoid the demands for disclosure. Despite this, many in the Republican base continued to push for the release of the files. Survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outside the Capitol on Tuesday, recounting their traumatic experiences.

“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the politics that swirl around it," said one survivor. Another, Jena-Lisa Jones, urged Trump to stop making the issue political, saying, “I beg you Donald Trump, please stop making this political.”

The group of women had met with Johnson and rallied outside the Capitol in September, but had to wait months for the vote. Johnson had kept the House closed for legislative business for nearly two months and refused to swear in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona during the government shutdown. After winning a special election on Sept. 23, Grijalva had pledged to provide the crucial 218th vote to the petition for the Epstein files bill. Only after she was sworn into office last week could she sign her name to the discharge petition to give it majority support in the 435-member House.

The Role of Speaker Johnson

Rather than waiting until next week for the discharge position to officially take effect, Johnson held the vote under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority. However, he also spent a morning news conference listing problems he saw with the legislation, arguing that it could have unintended consequences by disclosing parts of federal investigations usually kept private, including information on victims.

“This is a raw and obvious political exercise,” Johnson said. Still, he voted for the bill, explaining, “None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency.”

Meanwhile, the bipartisan pair who sponsored the bill, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., warned senators against amending it, saying they would face the same public uproar that forced both Trump and Johnson to back down. “We’ve needlessly dragged this out for four months,” Massie said, adding that those raising problems with the bill “are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the whole point here.”

Senate Moves Quickly

Even as the bill cleared the House, Johnson pressed for the Senate to amend it to protect the information of “victims and whistleblowers.” However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly shut down that notion. As senators gathered in the chamber Tuesday evening for the first votes of the week, it became clear no one would object to passing the bill as written.

Just before Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called to pass the bill by unanimous consent, Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican close to Trump, walked in the chamber and gave Schumer a thumbs-up. He then walked over to Schumer and shook his hand.

“This is about giving the American people the transparency they’ve been crying for,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “This is about holding accountable all the people in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle who raped, groomed, targeted and enabled the abuse of hundreds of girls for years and years.”