US House will vote next week on bill compelling release of Epstein files | Jeffrey Epstein
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that he will introduce a bill requiring the release of government files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the House agenda next week.
“We’ll put this on the ground [a] “There will be a full vote as soon as we come back next week,” the speaker told reporters as the House met to discuss legislation to reopen the government.
Johnson, who opposes the bill, made the announcement just hours after swearing at Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who took the oath of office seven weeks after winning a special election in late September to replace her father, longtime Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.
Grijalva’s oath of office clears the way for a vote to release the Epstein files, making him the 218th and final signatory on the petition for eviction This automatically triggers a vote in Parliament on legislation requiring the justice ministry to release the files. In his speech on Wednesday, Grijalva said: “Justice cannot wait another day, adelante.”
Under the rules governing eviction petitions, Johnson would not be given the authority to request a vote until early December, so his announcement that the vote would be held next week came earlier than expected.
Republicans are reportedly preparing for “a significant portion of the conference” to vote on the bill Policy. Nebraska Republican representative Don Bacon, Tennessee Republican representative Tim Burchett and Pennsylvania Republican representative Rob Bresnahan have stated that they will do so.
Epstein died in 2019 in what the government labeled a suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Although Trump has long flirted with conspiracy theories claiming that he was at the center of a larger conspiracy to supply underage children to global elites, the justice department announced earlier this year that it would not release any further details about the case, sparking uproar over the public release of files related to the investigation into Trump’s activities.
Even if the bill passes the House, it must pass the Senate and be signed by Trump. Senate leaders have shown no indication they will bring the issue to a vote, and Trump has called the effort “a hoax by the Democrats.”
Chris Stein contributed reporting
