The House voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill Tuesday to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
WASHINGTON — In a rare bipartisan showing, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday on a bill that would force the Justice Department to release files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after a monthslong battle that has shaken Washington.
The vote passed 427-1, with only Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana voting nay on the bill. Two other Republicans and three Democrats did not vote.
Who is Clay Higgins?
The bill was expected to pass with near unanimous support after President Donald Trump reversed his stance abruptly on Sunday, saying that Congress should release the files.
But in the days ahead of the vote, Higgins signaled he was considering opposing it. Last week, he told a reporter that the bill was “poorly written and it supports an endeavor that’s contrary to long standing criminal justice procedures in America so I have opposed it on that basis.”
As the vote was finalized, Higgins posted to X confirming he was voting no, saying it abandoned centuries of procedure.
“I have been a principled ‘NO’ on this bill from the beginning. What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today. It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America. As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc. If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt,” he wrote. “Not by my vote. The Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation that has already released well over 60,000 pages of documents from the Epstein case. That effort will continue in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans. If the Senate amends the bill to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated, then I will vote for that bill when it comes back to the House.”
Higgins is one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, representing the deep-red third district in Louisiana.
The president has for months pushed back against the effort to release additional information on Epstein, after initially promising to do so on the 2024 campaign trail. But once in office, he called the investigation a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats, and urged his supporters to ignore the issue.
But the demand for information reached a boiling point last week, when House Democrats released a cache of emails from Epstein, including several that referenced the president long after he said he cut ties with Epstein.
It quickly became apparent the bill would pass, and both Johnson and Trump began to fold. Trump on Sunday said Republicans should vote for the bill.
“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,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as she stood with some of the abuse survivors outside the Capitol Tuesday morning.
“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,” added Greene, a Georgia Republican and longtime Trump loyalist.
Who didn’t vote on releasing the Epstein files?
Three Democrats and two Republicans missed Tuesday’s vote.
Republican Arkansas Congressman Steve Womack confirmed he missed the vote because of “a family member’s serious medical issue” that required his presence at home. “After almost fifteen years with a perfect voting record, I am sad to report that my streak will end today,” Womack said in a statement on Monday before the vote.
Ohio Congressman Michael Rulli was the other Republican that didn’t participate in the Epstein vote.
Democratic New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who was recently elected as governor of New Jersey, didn’t vote and announced shortly after she’ll formally resign her seat on Nov. 20.
Democratic Virginia Congressman Don Beyer confirmed he missed the vote because he was sick “with a bad bug, but would’ve voted yes had my vote been needed for passage.”
According to the official roll call, Democratic Texas Congressman Gregorio Casar also missed the vote.