House Votes to Release Epstein Files
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WASHINGTON _ The House voted on legislation demanding that the Department of Justice release all of the Epstein files on Tuesday following months of pressure from Americans to unveil the information related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender.
Just one Republican, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), voted against the measure, which passed 427-1.
“If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt. Not by my vote. … If the Senate amends the bill to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated, then I will vote for that bill when it comes back to the House,” Higgins posted on X after the vote.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act — led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) — passed after the bipartisan lawmakers garnered enough support on their discharge petition aimed at bypassing leadership to force a vote on the floor after months of contention within the GOP over how to best handle calls for transparency surrounding the child sex-trafficking ring.
Tension between Republicans was evident for months, with President Trump repeatedly calling the push to release all the files a “Democrat hoax” before ultimately calling for lawmakers to back the measure in a sharp pivot. On Sunday, he posted on Truth Social: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because 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.”
The divide over releasing the files sparked rifts between Trump and some of his staunchest allies, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), with Trump retracting his endorsement of the Georgia congresswoman.
Greene — who has repeatedly said that she does not believe Trump was involved in wrongdoing — stood with Epstein victims at a press conference ahead of the vote, arguing that the president’s handling of the matter was destructive.
“I’ve never owed him anything, but I fought for him, for the policies and for America First, and he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition,” she said.
Democrats repeatedly blasted GOP leadership’s resistance to the vote on the Massie/Khanna bill, alleging that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was protecting predators by not bringing it to the floor. They also accused him of delaying the swearing in of Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D) to prevent reaching the 218 signatures needed to force the vote.
Critics of Massie and Khanna’s efforts argued that the House Oversight Committee was already conducting a full investigation into the abuse while taking strides to protect the victims’ privacy.
“For years the American people demanded transparency about Jeffrey Epstein and the government’s failure to protect the victims,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said on the floor.
He noted that the committee has released 65,000 pages of documents and issued 13 subpoenas, but accused Democrats of using the investigation “as an anti-Trump hoax” with “selectively released documents complete with targeted redactions in an effort to smear President Trump.”
Ahead of the vote, Khanna praised the bipartisan effort: “When people are united, when people work across the aisle, amazing things can happen because the American people are kind and good and decent. I salute particularly the courage of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace. None of this would have been possible without their courage.”
Massie — who has been repeatedly attacked by the president — told reporters: “We fought the president, the AG, the FBI director, the Speaker of the House, and the VP to get this win.”
In a rare moment, GOP Reps. Greene, Massie, and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) were all provided Democratic time on the floor to speak, with House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern granting them debate time.
Johnson — who has repeatedly called for transparency, but argued the Massie bill did not go far enough to protect sensitive information — accused Democrats of forcing a “show vote,” stating on the floor that it was being used “as a political weapon to try to distract from their failures as a party.”
But the Louisiana Republican ultimately backed the measure, which is now headed to the upper chamber.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he plans to immediately move to pass the resolution via unanimous consent.
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