The US House of Representatives voted 427-1 on Tuesday to require the Justice Department to release files related to its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in federal custody in 2019. The measure now moves to the Senate.
Lawmakers from both parties engaged in heated debate ahead of the vote, accusing one another of delaying public access to the documents.
Speaker Mike Johnson supported the measure but criticised Democrats for advancing it at this moment. “This is a show vote,” he said. “They’re making a show of it.” He also defended former President Donald Trump, saying, “The president had nothing to do with this, and he had nothing to hide.”
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a sponsor of the bill, urged Trump to direct the Justice Department to release the records immediately rather than wait for the legislative process to conclude.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed concern that even with new legislation, the Justice Department could still keep some material “tied up in the investigation.”
Trump, speaking at the White House during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, again denied any connection to Epstein. “I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” he told reporters. “I threw him out of my club several years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.” He added, “I never went to his island.”
After months of opposing the full release of the Epstein documents, Trump shifted his stance on Sunday, saying Republican lawmakers could vote for the legislation to open the files. “It’s a Democrats’ problem. Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them,” he said.
On Monday, former US Treasury Secretary and ex-Harvard president Larry Summers announced he would step back from public commitments after emails revealed he maintained friendly ties with Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution.
Summers said he felt “deeply ashamed” and accepted “full responsibility” for what he called a “misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
Last week, the House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of emails from the Epstein estate. Democrats on the panel published three messages, including a 2011 email in which Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell claiming Trump “spent hours” with one of the victims.
Republicans accused Democrats of selective disclosure and released more than 23,000 additional pages. The White House dismissed the documents’ relevance, saying the emails “prove literally nothing.”
Trump has consistently denied any involvement in Epstein’s activities.
–IANS