US House votes to force release of Epstein files after Republican feud
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WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Tuesday (Nov 18) overwhelmingly passed a measure to force the release of Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein, after months of internal Republican infighting and an abrupt reversal by President Donald Trump.
The resolution which requires all unclassified records tied to the late convicted sex offender to be made public and passed 427–1, now heads to the Senate. Trump ended his opposition two days earlier, easing a bitter dispute between the president and some of his most loyal Republican allies.
The vote came hours after about two dozen survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse gathered outside the US Capitol with Democratic and Republican lawmakers, urging the records’ release as they held photographs of themselves as children, the ages at which they say they first encountered Epstein.
BITTER REPUBLICAN SPLIT OVER RELEASE
The scandal has long been a political vulnerability for Trump, who socialised with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s before what he describes as a personal rift. Many of Trump’s supporters believe the administration has hidden details of Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured the circumstances of his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail, ruled a suicide.
The president remains visibly irritated by questions about the matter. On Tuesday, he snapped at a reporter in the Oval Office, calling the journalist a “terrible person” and saying the network she worked for should have its licence revoked.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Monday found only 44 per cent of Republicans approved of Trump’s handling of the Epstein issue, far below the 82 per cent who approve of his overall performance in office.
“Please stop making this political, it is not about you, President Trump,” said Jena-Lisa Jones, who said she was abused by Epstein at age 14. “I voted for you, but your behaviour on this issue has been a national embarrassment.”
Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who led the push for disclosure, said “it’s time to pull the Band-Aid off”, joining the survivors outside the Capitol.
SPEAKER JOHNSON’S RESISTANCE AND NEXT STEPS
House Speaker Mike Johnson spent months resisting Massie’s efforts. Massie ultimately gathered signatures from 218 House members for a rare discharge petition to force the vote, a significant move in a chamber where Republicans hold a narrow 219–214 majority.
Trump’s initial opposition deepened fractures with conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his staunchest allies. Greene, who has repeatedly demanded more transparency from the Justice Department, said Trump pressured her to drop her support and even publicly labelled her a traitor before she refused.
“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,” Greene said after voting for the resolution.
Trump later claimed his sudden about-face was aimed at ending the distracting feud and insisted Republicans “have nothing to hide”. The president already has the authority to order the release of unclassified DOJ records without waiting for Congress.
It remains unclear how the Senate will act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not commented.
The resolution allows the Justice Department to withhold material that would “jeopardise an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution”.
Epstein served 13 months after pleading guilty to a Florida prostitution charge in 2008. He was indicted in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges, pleaded not guilty, and died that August.
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