US Congress passes measure to force release of Epstein files, sending it to Trump

Summary

• The US House almost unanimously voted to release Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein after Trump ended his opposition.
• Survivors of Epstein's abuse urged the records' release. Some Trump voters believe his administration covered up Epstein's ties.
• Trump denies involvement, calling Epstein a "sick pervert." The vote exposed Republican infighting. The Senate's next steps are unclear.

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled US Congress voted almost unanimously on Nov 18 to force the release of Justice Department files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an outcome President Donald Trump had fought against for months before ending his opposition.

Two days after Mr Trump’s abrupt about-face, the House of Representatives passed the measure with a vote of 427-1, sending a resolution requiring the release of all unclassified records on Epstein to the Republican-majority Senate, which swiftly approved it, setting the stage for the Bill to go to Mr Trump for his signature.

The public and increasingly bitter feud among Republicans over the Epstein files had fractured relations between Mr Trump and some of his most ardent supporters.

Before the vote, about two dozen survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse joined a trio of Democratic and Republican lawmakers outside the US Capitol to urge the release of the records.

The women held photographs of their younger selves, the age at which they said they first encountered Epstein, a New York financier who fraternised with some of the most powerful men in the country.

After the vote, they stood to applaud lawmakers from the House’s public gallery, some of them crying and hugging each other.

The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn in Mr Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019.

Trump lashes out

Despite his changed position on the Bill, the Republican President remains angry about the attention paid to the Epstein matter.

On Nov 18, he called a reporter who asked about it in the Oval Office a “terrible person” and said the television network the journalist worked for should have its licence revoked.

“I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Mr Trump told reporters, while hosting a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“I threw him out of my club many years ago, because I thought he was a sick pervert.”

Mr Trump socialised and partied with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s before what he calls a rift, but the old friendship has become a rare weak spot for the President with his supporters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Nov 17 found that 44 per cent of Republicans approve of Mr Trump’s handling of the matter, well below the 82 per cent who approve of his overall performance.

“Please stop making this political, it is not about you, President Trump,” Ms Jena-Lisa Jones – who said Epstein sexually abused her when she was 14 – told a press conference outside the Capitol a few hours before the vote.

“I voted for you, but your behaviour on this issue has been a national embarrassment.”

Mr Trump has said he had no connection to Epstein’s crimes and has begun calling the issue a “Democratic hoax”, despite some Republicans being among the loudest voices calling for the release of the records from criminal investigations of Epstein.

Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who led the effort to force the vote, accused the Justice Department from the House floor of “protecting paedophiles and sex traffickers”.

“How will we know if this Bill has been successful?” he said before the vote. “We will know when there are men, rich men, in handcuffs, being perp-walked to the jail. And until then, this is still a cover-up.”

Speaker Johnson resisted

House Speaker Mike Johnson had for months resisted a drive for disclosure spearheaded by Mr Massie, who collected signatures from 218 House members for a discharge petition to force the vote. Only one lawmaker dissented in the Nov 18 vote: Mr Clay Higgins, a Republican from Louisiana.

Mr Trump’s opposition soured relations with one of his strongest Republican supporters in Congress, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has expressed anger at the Justice Department not releasing more details on Epstein. She said Mr Trump pressured her to withdraw her support for the resolution and publicly called her a traitor after she doubled down.

She joined Mr Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna at the Capitol before voting in favour of the resolution, telling reporters: “A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me.”

Mr Trump said his about-face on Nov 16 was an effort to get Republicans to move on from a damaging feud about Epstein and “because we have nothing to hide”.

Mr Trump has the power to order the release of Justice Department records himself, and does not need a congressional resolution compelling him to do so.

It was unclear what the Republican-led Senate would do next. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has declined to comment.

Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state felony prostitution charge in 2008 and served 13 months in jail. The US Justice Department charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019. Epstein pleaded not guilty to those charges before his death. REUTERS