After Trump reversal, US House pushes forward on Epstein vote

WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives will vote on Nov 18 on forcing the release of investigative files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with passage seen as all but guaranteed after President Donald Trump dropped his long-standing opposition.

Mr Trump’s reversal late on Nov 16
came days after a House petition gathered enough support to force a vote, a rare instance of House Republicans defying the president’s wishes.

Until the weekend, Mr Trump and his staff had lobbied hard to prevent any further release of files from the criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice into Epstein, a wealthy New York financier who was, for a time, friends with Mr Trump.

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” the Republican president wrote late on Nov 16 on social media, calling the matter a “hoax” perpetuated by Democrats.

Democrats, and even some of Mr Trump’s supporters, say there is nothing hoax-like in the release of authentic Justice Department records.

Epstein was convicted on Florida state and federal charges related to his sexual abuse and trafficking of teenaged girls. He died in a federal jail cell in Manhattan in 2019 in what was ruled a suicide, a few weeks after he was arrested on new federal charges of sex trafficking children.

California Representative Robert Garcia, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Mr Trump failed in his effort to quash the House’s Epstein investigation and changed course because “he’s panicking and has realised he is about to lose this Epstein vote”.

Trump reverses position

Mr Trump’s change of heart came about because he had grown exasperated with Republicans’ fixation on the Epstein files and wanted them to focus on the cost of living and other issues that matter more to voters, a senior White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he believed a vote on releasing the files should help put to rest allegations that Mr Trump had any connection to Epstein’s abuse. He later told reporters the vote would be held on the afternoon of Nov 18.

“He’s never had anything to hide,” Johnson told reporters on Nov 17, referring to Mr Trump. “He and I had the same concern, that we wanted to ensure that victims of these heinous crimes are completely protected from disclosure.”

Supporters of the files’ release say they also share this concern, and the resolution on which House lawmakers will vote says the Justice Department may withhold or redact the identifying information of victims.

Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has led the push to release the files, said the House was likely to follow a procedure that would require a two-thirds vote to pass, but that he expects the Bill to clear that hurdle, perhaps even unanimously.

If the Bill is ultimately agreed to by the Senate, Mr Massie said he was worried the Justice Department might slow-walk the release of documents by citing exemptions for an ongoing investigation. Mr Trump recently directed the department to conduct one targeting Democrats.

“They’re breaking the law if they redact for any of the purposes that we excluded, like embarrassment,” Mr Massie told reporters.

If the House passes the resolution, it would move to the Senate, which would also need to vote on it before sending it to Mr Trump to sign. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office declined to comment on plans for the Bill.

Trump denies Epstein relationship

Mr Trump partied with Epstein in New York and Florida’s Palm Beach in the 1990s and 2000s, along with other members of the US and international power elite.

The president has said his friendship with Epstein ended some time in the 2000s and he had no connection to Epstein’s crimes, and that his political enemies are trying to smear him by insinuating otherwise. Reporters’ questions about Epstein have visibly angered him in 2025.

E-mails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier believed Mr Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant. The White House said the released e-mails contained no proof of wrongdoing by Mr Trump.

Last week, Mr Trump instructed the Justice Department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein. US Attorney-General Pam Bondi, who earlier in 2025 said a review of the files revealed no further investigative leads, replied to Mr Trump that she would get on it right away.

Many of Mr Trump’s most loyal supporters believe the government is withholding sensitive documents that would reveal Epstein’s ties to powerful public figures who have managed to escape scrutiny.

This has led to Mr Trump falling out with one of his staunchest Republican supporters in Congress, US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene
of Georgia, whom he publicly denounced as a traitor after her persistent criticism of how the party has dealt with the Epstein files. REUTERS