WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives is moving to vote on a bill that would force the Justice Department to release case files it collected on deceased financiers. Jeffrey Epsteinovercame a month-long effort by the president. donald trump And Republican leaders blocked that effort.
Since the House of Representatives returned to Washington for the first time in nearly two months due to the government shutdown, there has been a renewed push to release more information about the multiyear sex trafficking investigation into Epstein. When lawmakers returned last week, they received new details from some of Epstein’s emails. Trump “spent hours” She said she was with sex trafficking victims at Epstein’s home and that Epstein “knew the girls.”
The new revelations and upcoming votes marked one of the rare instances in which Mr. Trump has almost no control over his party.
But the sex trafficking case against Epstein has only gained political influence since he committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. Epstein was charged with sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls, and many more people have since alleged they were abused by the well-connected financier.
Many lawmakers now argue that the Justice Department should also release the case file on Epstein, saying it could show that others were aware of or complicit in Epstein’s sexual abuse. House Democrats, joining with a handful of key Republicans, were able to force a vote on a bill to do so, using a tactic that rarely succeeds. discharge petition.
As it became clear that the bill would pass the House, likely with significant support from Republicans, President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson changed their approach from outright opposition to expressions of indifference.
“I don’t care!” President Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday. “All I care about is the Republicans getting back on their feet.”
Why is the House willing to vote?
Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) filed a petition in July to force a vote on the Epstein File Transparency Act.
The effort was supported by all House Democrats and four Republicans: Reps. Massie and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
Minutes after the Democratic Party Adelita Grijalva When the Arizona congresswoman took the oath of office on Wednesday, she signed the Epstein petition with her name, pushing it to the magic number 218, a majority in the 435-seat House.
After Grijalva was sworn in, Prime Minister Johnson said he would expedite the petition process in preparation for a vote on the bill in the House of Commons this week.
The chairman denied allegations that he sabotaged the Epstein bill to protect Trump or others. He told reporters last week that the Republican majority questioned the language of the measure, arguing it did not adequately protect victims.
Johnson also reiterated the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s concurrent investigation into Epstein’s sexual abuse. Republicans, who control the committee, have also focused on Epstein’s ties to Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton.
Epstein’s emails were released by the oversight committee as part of 20,000 pages of documents obtained from Epstein’s estate.
The committee also subpoenaed the Justice Department to hand over its case file on Epstein, but Democrats on the committee say the response is insufficient.
What does this bill do?
The bill would require the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information related to the investigation into his death in federal prisons. The bill would allow information about Epstein’s victims and ongoing federal investigations to be redacted.
However, the ministry is not allowed to edit information for “embarrassment, reputational damage, or political considerations, including for government officials, public figures, and foreign dignitaries.”
Several survivors of Mr. Epstein’s abuse will join lawmakers in speaking outside the Capitol on Tuesday morning.
Will it pass?
The bill will almost certainly pass the House, but its future in the Senate is a different story.
It already has support from a majority of the House of Representatives, and more Republicans are expected to vote in favor of it in response to voter demands.
There will be a tougher test in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
Asked whether the Senate would take up the Epstein bill if it passes the House in September, Senate Minority Leader John Thune (D) said, “I can’t comment on that at this point.”
Thune added that the Justice Department has “already released a large number of files related to this matter.”
“I have confidence in them to get as much information out there as possible in a way that protects the rights of victims,” Thune said.
Will Trump stop it?
If the bill passes both houses of Congress, it will go to Trump. They could try to block it with a veto, but they would be under enormous pressure to sign it.
Last week, President Trump lobbied two Republican members of Congress to block the House member’s petition to remove him from office. But after that failed, he appears to have changed his approach to the bill.
“We have nothing to hide. It’s time to move on from this Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical leftist lunatics to distract from the great success of the Republican Party,” President Trump wrote on social media late Sunday after landing at Joint Base Andrews after a weekend in Florida.
A presidential veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses. This has only happened twice since 2009.
Massey suggested that President Trump could avoid the entire ordeal by releasing all of the Epstein files held by the federal government.
“There’s still time for him to be a hero,” Massey said of Trump.
