WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a bill that would force the Justice Department to release files on deceased financiers. Jeffrey Epsteinthe culmination of a month of efforts that overcame the president’s opposition. donald trump and Republican leadership.
When a small bipartisan group of House members filed a petition in July to circumvent House Speaker Mike Johnson’s control over which bills the House considers, it seemed like a hopeless effort, especially as President Trump had encouraged his supporters to ignore the issue as a problem. “hoax.” But efforts to block both Mr. Trump and Mr. Johnson from voting failed.
Now, the president has given in to the growing momentum behind the bill, even saying Republicans should vote for it. His blessing makes it almost certain that the House will pass the bill by an overwhelming margin, putting further pressure on the Senate to advance the bill.
President Trump said Monday that he plans to sign the bill if it passes both chambers of Congress, adding, “I’ll let the Senate consider it.”
Tuesday’s vote will also further support the Justice Department’s request to release the case file on Epstein, the well-connected financier who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.
A separate investigation conducted by the House Oversight Committee resulted in the release of thousands of people. Number of email pages Other documents found in Epstein’s estate showed connections to world leaders, Wall Street power brokers, influential politicians and Trump himself.
President Trump’s retraction of the Epstein file
President Trump said he cut ties with Epstein several years ago. I tried for months to overcome the demands. For disclosure. On Monday, he told reporters that Epstein has ties to more Democrats and that he didn’t want the Epstein file to “undermine the great successes of the Republican Party.”
Still, many in the Republican base continue to demand the release of the files. Adding to that pressure, several survivors of Epstein’s abuse appeared at the Capitol on Tuesday morning demanding the release of their files. They also met with Mr. Johnson; A rally was held in front of the National Diet Building in September.but had to wait two months before voting.
Mr. Johnson has kept the House of Representatives closed for nearly two months for legislative business and refused to take the oath of office of Democratic members. Adelita Grijalva Arizona government is on shutdown. After winning the Sept. 23 special election, Grijalva had promised to provide the crucial 218th vote on the Epstein Files bill petition. But it wasn’t until she took the oath of office last week that she was able to sign the expulsion petition with majority support in the 435-member House.
It soon became clear that the bill would pass, and both Johnson and Trump began to relent. President Trump said Sunday that Republicans should vote for the bill.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massey, who sponsored the bill with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, said Trump was “tired of me winning. He wanted to be in.”
How is Prime Minister Johnson dealing with this bill?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is moving to hold a vote this week, rather than waiting until next week for his dismissal position to formally take effect. He indicated that the bill would be submitted to the House of Commons using a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority.
“I think this is an important vote to continue to show the transparency that we’ve had,” House Republican Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said Monday night.
House Democrats celebrated the vote as a rare victory for the minority.
“This is a complete and utter surrender because, as we as Democrats have made clear from the beginning, survivors and the American people deserve full and complete transparency regarding the lives ruined by Jeffrey Epstein,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
What will the Senate do?
Still, it’s unclear what the Senate will do with the bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S., has previously been cautious when asked about the bill, saying he would rather trust the Justice Department to release information about the Epstein investigation.
However, what the Justice Department has announced so far under the Trump administration is Most are already published. The bill would go further and force the release within 30 days of all files and communications related to Mr. Epstein and any information related to the investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein’s victims or the ongoing federal investigation can be redacted, but information cannot be redacted based on “embarrassment, reputational damage, or political considerations involving government officials, public figures, or foreign dignitaries.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also suggested that he wanted the House of Lords to amend the bill to protect the information of “victims and whistleblowers”.
But Massey said the Senate should consider the public uproar that forced both Trump and Johnson to withdraw.
“If it’s anything other than a genuine effort to make Congress better and stronger, and senators undermine it, it’s going to backfire,” Massey said.
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freeking and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
