Epstein files bill passes resoundingly in House with only 1 no vote
After months of anticipation, the House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department's files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It passed 427-1 -- with GOP Rep. Clay Higgins as the only vote against the measure.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
About a dozen Epstein victims, including Virginia Giuffre's brother, were seated in the front row of the gallery as the vote got underway. Some left the chamber after the tally grew above a supermajority and passage was not in peril.
Earlier on Tuesday, a group of women victimized by Epstein spoke outside the Capitol and urged lawmakers to vote yes on the bill. Several took aim at President Donald Trump directly and criticized his handling of the matter.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history -- delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
Johnson continued to criticize the bill on Tuesday morning but confirmed he would be voting to move it forward.
Just before votes were cast, Johnson said on the House floor that it was a "political exercise" and that the bill has "serious deficiencies." Johnson said he hoped the Senate makes changes to it.
"[Trump] has nothing to hide," Johnson said.
The president had also mounted opposition to the measure, including what sources said was an attempt to dissuade GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
But faced with growing support for the measure in the GOP-controlled House, Trump suddenly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files "because we have nothing to hide."
Pressed if he will sign the bill should it reach his desk, Trump on Monday said he would.
"I'm all for it," Trump said.
The measure -- called "The Epstein Files Transparency Act" -- would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all "unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials" in the Department of Justice's possession related to Epstein.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein's "criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings." Victims' names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee's inquiry -- claiming that the panel's probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. Proponents of the bill argue that "the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency."
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act -- he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it's unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
