House set to vote on release of Epstein documents after Trump U-turn | US politics
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday to mandate the release of investigative files on pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the latest move in the scandal that has dogged Donald Trump since his return to the White House.
In a sharp reversal this weekend, Trump on Sunday withdrew his opposition to a vote to release the files of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Epstein. On Monday, Trump said he would sign the measure if it reaches his desk.
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. As a candidate seeking re-election, Trump promised to release files on Epstein, who, investigators concluded, killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Trump has failed to fulfill this promise since taking office.
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.”
As president, Trump has the authority 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.
One x post Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote to Trump: “Let’s make this easy. Release the files now.”
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. Johnson went to extraordinary lengths to prevent a vote on the measure that shattered 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.”
Emails released by a House committee last week showed that Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls,” but it was unclear what that statement meant. The White House said the released emails contained no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump.
Last week, Trump ordered the justice department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein. US attorney Pam Bondi, who said a review of the files earlier this year found no other investigative leads, told Trump she would look into the matter immediately and appointed a prosecutor to lead the effort.
The Epstein scandal is a major issue for Trump’s right-wing base; Some of them believe in conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein and his powerful coterie of friends and associates. Unlike many other issues, the Epstein files sparked outcry from Trump’s supporters in politics and the media, who called on Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to release the files.
Meanwhile, several Epstein survivors have increased pressure on Congress to implement the measure.
“It’s time to bring the secret out of the shadows,” said one of Epstein’s victims. video The document, published by the organization World Without Exploitation, urges Americans to call their lawmakers and demand they vote to release more records.
On Monday night, activists projected a picture of Trump and Epstein onto the Justice Department building and shared the message: “Release the files now.”
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
