The House voted overwhelmingly to force the discharge all the files held on the paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
The bill is anticipated to maneuver quickly through the Senate and land on President Donald Trump’s desk. Trump has already promised he’ll sign the bill after months of calling the difficulty a ‘Democratic hoax’.
Just one representative Clay Higgins, from Louisiana, a fervent Donald Trump supporter, voted against the bill.
He posted on X, the bill ‘abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America.’
‘If enacted in its current form, this kind of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely end in innocent people being hurt,’ he wrote.
Around a dozen Epstein victims, and Virginia Giuffre’s brother, were seated within the front row of the gallery because the vote got underway. Several left early when it became clear the vote would pass.
It stays to be seen how quickly the files can be searchable by the general public. It will not be clear how redacted the files can be or what names can be published.
Senator Ruben Gallego will read excerpts of Giuffre’s memoir, ‘No person’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’ on the ground.
It was released months after her suicide, together with her publisher releasing an email from Giuffre saying that it was her ‘heartfelt wish’ that the book be published.
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Former Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene she stood with a number of the abuse survivors outside the Capitol. She said: ‘These women have fought essentially the most horrific fight that no woman should should fight. And so they did it by banding together and never giving up.
‘That’s what we did by fighting so hard against essentially the most powerful people on the planet, even the president of the USA, so as to make this vote occur today.’
What’s within the Epstein files?
The Epstein files discuss with all the evidence gathered by investigators working on the criminal cases against Epstein and his associates.
Lots of those court documents – including flight logs for Epstein’s private jet – have already been made public, but many more remain sealed, raising speculation over who else might be implicated.
When Trump returned to the White House, he released a few of Epstein’s files and promised more would follow, saying he had ‘no problem’ making the documents public.
The FBI said it was reviewing ‘tens of 1000’s’ of documents referring to Epstein, and these are being redacted to guard the identity of victims and every other ongoing investigations.
Is Trump within the Epstein files?
The short answer – yes. He’s mentioned throughout emails, and is reportedly in Epstein’s ‘black book’ of contacts.
However the President has at all times emphatically denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.
It’s also been confirmed that the 2 businessmen flew between Recent York and Palm Beach together recurrently, partying at Mar-a-Lago Club and eating together at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan.
Talking to Recent York Magazine in 2002, Trump said: ‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years, terrific guy. He’s lots of fun to be with.’
Trump insisted he had never been on Epstein’s plane or private island, but flight logs released during a past trial suggested the US president flew on Epstein’s private jet seven times.
Will Trump actually sign the bill?
Donald Trump has already vowed to sign an order to release the Epstein files if Congress vote for it.
Asked by a reporter, the President replied: ‘Sure I might. Let the Senate take a look at it, let anybody take a look at it but don’t discuss it an excessive amount of because truthfully I don’t want it to remove from us.
‘It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends – all of them.
‘The entire thing is a hoax. And I don’t need to take away from the greatness the Republican Party has completed within the last couple of years.’
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