BREAKING: House Passes Bill to Force DOJ to Release Epstein Files
The House delivered a rare show of overwhelming bipartisan unity on Tuesday, approving legislation that would compel the Justice Department to finally release its long-hidden files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The landslide vote marked a dramatic shift for a bill that had been bottled up for months amid resistance from President Donald Trump and top GOP leadership.
What began as a procedural long shot — a bipartisan discharge petition introduced in July to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson’s tight grip on the floor schedule — gained steam despite Trump urging supporters at the time to ignore the initiative as a “hoax.” But with pressure mounting from grassroots conservatives, Epstein survivors, and members of Congress, the president ultimately reversed course, signaling he would sign the bill if it clears the Senate.
Tuesday’s vote underscored a growing demand for transparency surrounding the federal government’s handling of Epstein, the well-connected financier who died in a Manhattan detention facility in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to trafficking and abusing minors.
“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight. And they did it by banding together and never giving up,” declared Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, standing alongside several Epstein survivors outside the Capitol.
“That’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the president of the United States, in order to make this vote happen today,” Greene added — a striking rebuke from one of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress.
Meanwhile, a separate probe by the House Oversight Committee has already released thousands of pages of emails and documents from Epstein’s estate, exposing his global network of political leaders, financiers, and high-profile figures — including connections to Trump himself.
In the United Kingdom, the reverberations of the scandal have continued, with King Charles III stripping Prince Andrew of his remaining titles following widespread outrage over Andrew’s relationship with Epstein.
For survivors who have waited decades for justice, the House vote was more than symbolic. Many view the bill as a long-overdue opportunity to expose systemic failures under multiple administrations and bring daylight to a case riddled with secrecy.
On Monday, President Trump told reporters that Epstein’s associations were “connected to more Democrats” and expressed concern that the file release might “detract from the great success of the Republican Party.” Even so, large segments of the conservative base have continued to demand transparency.
Outside the Capitol on Tuesday, survivors braved the brisk November morning, holding photos of themselves as teenagers and urging Congress to move forward.
“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the political conflicts that surround it,” survivor Jena-Lisa Jones said. Although she noted she had voted for Trump, her message to the president was pointed: “I beg you Donald Trump, please stop making this political.”
The bill’s path to the floor was delayed for months as Speaker Johnson kept the House closed for nearly two months and declined to swear in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona during the government shutdown. Grijalva, who won a special election in September, had vowed to be the critical 218th signer on the petition forcing the bill forward.
Once she was finally sworn in, the count flipped — and momentum became unstoppable. Johnson and Trump shifted quickly, with Trump urging Republicans over the weekend to support the measure.
But Greene said the internal fight left political scars: “Watching this turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart,” she told reporters.
Rather than wait for the discharge petition to ripen next week, Johnson opted to fast-track the vote under a procedure requiring a two-thirds supermajority. Still, he used his morning press briefing to outline concerns that the bill risked exposing protected information, including investigative material related to victims.
“This is a raw and obvious political exercise,” Johnson said, though he added he would support the bill because “none of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency.”
The Senate’s handling of the bill remains uncertain. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has been cautious, previously deferring to the DOJ on releasing Epstein-related information.
What the DOJ has released so far under the Trump administration has largely included material already public. This legislation goes much further — ordering the release of all files, communications, and investigative materials related to Epstein within 30 days, including information surrounding his death in federal custody.
Sensitive information involving victims or ongoing investigations could be redacted. But the bill explicitly forbids withholding documents due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Johnson has said he hopes the Senate will add additional protections for “victims and whistleblowers.”
But the bill’s lead sponsors — Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat — warned senators not to tamper with the measure.
“We’ve needlessly dragged this out for four months,” Massie said, adding that critics “are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the whole point here.”