Congress approves bill to release Epstein files that will head to Trump's desk

Both chambers of US Congress have agreed to order the US justice department to release its files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the measure in a 427-1 vote. The Senate said it would pass the bill before it officially received it.

President Donald Trump must ultimately sign off the measure, which he has said he will do. He recently reversed his position and urged fellow Republicans to vote to disclose the records, following pushback from many of his supporters.

Earlier on Tuesday, survivors of Epstein spoke in support of the measure at the US Capitol. One of them said they had suffered "institutional betrayal" for years.

The "Epstein files" refer to the vast trove of documents that were amassed during criminal investigations into the financier, including transcripts of interviews with victims and witnesses, and items confiscated from raids of his various properties.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN that he expected the upper chamber to receive the bill from the lower one on Wednesday morning, after which the bill would be passed and then sent to Trump for the presidential signature.

Trump said the timing did not matter to him and has continued to cast the issue as a distraction. "I just don't want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we've had," he wrote in a social media post late on Tuesday afternoon.

Trump's own historical relationship with Epstein has again been the subject of recent headlines after US lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein's estate - including some that mention Trump and other prominent figures, without indicating any wrongdoing by those individuals.

Trump’s reversal at the weekend - from attacking those on Capitol Hill who wanted the files released to saying there was “nothing to hide” - surprised some in Washington.

The Republican congressional leadership was caught off guard after aligning their message with the president for the past few weeks and opposing the release of the files.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had repeatedly called the push to release the Epstein files a "Democrat hoax". But on Tuesday, he voted in support of release.

Republican Clay Higgins, of Louisiana, was the only lawmaker to vote against the bill and cited his concern about “innocent people being hurt” with the release of the information.

The measure had been expected to take a few days to reach the US Senate, but after the resounding afternoon vote in the House, the timeline quickly sped up.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brought up the bill on the floor of the Senate under a procedure called unanimous consent. Because no one objected, there was no debate and no amendments added to the bill.

A congressional vote was not required to release the files - Trump could have ordered the release on his own.

The bill requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to release “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell no later than 30 days after the law is enacted.

Those materials include internal justice department communications, flight logs and people and entities connected to Epstein.

But there are obstacles to the files being released even if Trump signs the bill as he has said he will do.

For example, the bill gives Bondi the power to withhold information that would jeopardise any active federal investigation or identifies any victims. Trump recently asked the justice department to investigate Epstein's alleged links to major banks and several prominent Democrats.

Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019 in what a coroner ruled was a suicide.

He was being held on charges of sex trafficking, having previously been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.

During two criminal investigations into Epstein, thousands of documents were gathered, including transcripts of interviews with victims and witnesses.

Trump and Epstein previously socialised in similar circles, but the president has repeatedly said he cut ties with Epstein many years ago, before Epstein's 2008 conviction. The president also said he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal activity.

Last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee published three email chains, including correspondence between Epstein and Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

Some of those make mention of Trump and other prominent figures. In one email, sent in 2011, Epstein wrote to Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him.”

The White House said last week that the victim referenced in the email was prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre, who died in April, said that she never saw Trump participate in any abuse and there is no implication of any wrongdoing by Trump or the other high-profile figures mentioned in the emails.

Speaking after the vote, Giuffre's brother Sky Roberts praised her sister's role in seeking justice for Epstein survivors.

"She did it, she paved the way... She paved the way for us to come forward as advocates, for her survivor sisters to come forward, and we won't stop," Roberts said.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the emails were "selectively leaked" by House Democrats to "liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump".

The push for the release of the investigative files held by the Department of Justice was led by Republican Thomas Massie, a Kentucky congressman who sometimes dissents from his party, and Democrat Ro Khanna, a California congressman, both of whom introduced the legislation.

Massie has faced criticism from Trump for his push to release the files, but has stood firm.

“In 2030, he’s not going to be the president,” Massie said to ABC News over the weekend. He added that fellow Republicans who voted against release "will have voted to protect paedophiles”.

Another Republican who has pushed for the release of the files is House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. She had been a staunch supporter of Trump before the two fell out over the issue, with the president now calling her a "traitor".

At a news conference earlier in the day on Tuesday, Greene said she was speaking up on behalf of Epstein's survivors.

"Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves; a patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me," Greene said.

She said that the row over Epstein has been one of the "most destructive things" to Trump's Make America Great Again movement since his election in 2016.

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse also spoke at the news conference, urging lawmakers to release the files and pushing Trump to do the same.

Epstein survivor Annie Farmer said that keeping the files under wraps amounted to “institutional betrayal”.

“Because these crimes were not properly investigated, so many more girls and women were harmed,” Ms Farmer said.