House of Representatives to vote on release of Epstein files after Trump U-turn – US politics live | US news
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House set to vote on release of Epstein documents after Trump U-turn
Lauren Gambino
In July, Democratic congressmen Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie used an arcane procedural tactic known as a habeas corpus to bypass House leadership and force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act bill if a majority of the 435-member House of Representatives signed it.
House speaker Mike Johnson went to extraordinary lengths to prevent a vote on the measure that disrupted his conference. Democrats accused the speaker of delaying the swearing-in of Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva to prevent her from becoming the 218th signatory. He signed the petition shortly after being sworn in last week.
After Trump backed down, several Republicans in the House of Representatives including close allies Members of the bench have publicly announced their intention to vote to release the files, meaning the measure could pass unanimously.
If the House approves the bill, it will move to the Senate, which will then have to vote on the bill before sending it to Trump for his signature. Republican Senate majority leader John Thune’s office declined to comment on what he plans to do about the bill.
Inside an interview Khanna, the California congressman who led the push in the House with Pod Save America on Monday, said he now expects the measure to pass the Senate “quickly.”
One x post Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote to Trump on Monday: “Let’s make this easy. Release the files now.”
What to know about the US House vote on releasing the Epstein files
If passed, the bill would require the justice department to release all unclassified material relating to the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
A decisive vote in favor of the bill seems inevitable, and many other Republicans were able to join their party colleagues in voting for the bill after Trump changed his mind over the weekend.
But there are still other hurdles before the files come to light.
The bill will head to the Senate, where Republican majority leader John Thune has not committed to a vote. But an overwhelming vote in favor by the House could make it morally difficult for the Senate to refuse to vote. To overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule, 60 of the chamber’s 100 senators would need to support it.
The bill then goes to the president’s desk. Trump told reporters Monday that he would sign the document if it came to his desk, but that he had veto powers. A presidential veto can be overcome, but it is a significant hurdle.
This is one of the emails released last week by Democrats who brought renewed attention to Trump and his history with Epstein. Trump “knows about girls,” Epstein wrote.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Trump. Photo: House Oversight Committee Democrats/Reuters
In another email, Epstein wrote that he “spent hours” with one of the victims at Trump’s home, and in another email he referred to the president as “dirty.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the messages “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
Trump and Epstein’s history
Trump’s friendship with Epstein was a long-running scandal in American politics; because the late, disgraced financier had connections to many rich and powerful figures in the United States and abroad.
Trump has previously said he fell out with Epstein years before his convictions and helped fuel the conspiracies.
As a candidate seeking re-election, he also promised to release the files of Epstein, who, according to investigators, killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019.
Trump has so far failed to do so since his resumption. As president, he has the power to order the justice department to release documents in its possession, as he previously did with government records related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.
Trump’s sudden reversal of the Epstein files
The president’s dramatic shift comes as it became increasingly clear that the bill would likely pass the House with significant support from Republican lawmakers.
Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson have shifted their approach from outright opposition to statements of indifference.
“I Don’t Care!” Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “All I care about is Republicans GET BACK TO THE TOPIC.”
Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he did not want the Epstein scandal to “deflect” the White House’s success and claimed it was a “hoax” and a “Democrats’ problem.”
“We will give them everything,” he told reporters. “Let the Senate look at it, let everybody look at it, but don’t talk too much about it, because frankly I don’t want to take that away from us.”
This issue has become a rare weak spot for the President along with his supporters. An October poll showed only four in 10 people approved of his handling of the issue, compared to nine in 10 who approved of his overall performance.
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote on releasing investigation files into convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This is the latest move in the scandal that has dogged Donald Trump since his return to the White House.
Trump had initially opposed releasing more files, but changed his tune over the weekend, urging Republican lawmakers to “vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide” in a message posted on TruthSocial.
I am Frances Mao and I will bring you the latest news and other stories on this topic in the coming hours.
