US House passes measure to force Epstein files release
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted to mandate the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; It was an outcome that President Donald Trump opposed for months before giving his approval.
Two days after Trump’s sudden return, the vote passed by a vote of 427-1, sending a resolution requiring the release of all declassified records about Epstein to the Senate for consideration.
An increasingly bitter public fight among Republicans over the Epstein files has soured relations between Trump and some of his most ardent supporters.
Before the vote, nearly two dozen survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse joined three Democratic and Republican lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol to call for the release of the recordings.
The women carried photos of themselves as teenagers, around the same age they first met Epstein, a New York financier who befriended some of the country’s most powerful men.
Many Trump voters believe his administration covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and concealed details about his death, which a New York City medical examiner ruled a suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
Jena-Lisa Jones, who said Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was 14, said at a press conference outside the Capitol a few hours before the vote: “Please stop politicizing this, this is not about you, President Trump.” he said.
“I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment.”
Trump has said he has no connection to Epstein’s crimes and has begun calling the issue a “Democratic hoax,” even as some Republicans have been among the loudest voices calling for the release of criminal investigation records into Epstein.
“It’s time to take the Band-Aid off,” said Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who led efforts to force the vote and joined Epstein’s alleged victims at the Capitol.
California Democrat Ro Khanna said Trump should invite the survivors to the final meeting, where the president would sign the decision to release the records, if the Senate approves.
