WASHINGTON—The Senate on Tuesday unanimously voted to release documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, just hours after the House of Representatives passed the same bill.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on X that he “received unanimous consent to approve the Senate bill to release the Epstein Files.” Once the House sends the bill to the Upper Chamber, it will immediately go to President Donald Trump for his signature.
Just hours before Schumer’s call for unanimous consent, the House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act by a vote of 427-1, with only Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins voting no. Epstein survivors were in the House gallery crying and cheering when the bill passed, The Hill’s Emily Brooks reports. The bill, which requires the Department of Justice to publish “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein,” now heads to the president.
Schumer pledged to fight Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had he attempted to block the resolution. But by the time the House took up the vote, the bill’s passage already seemed a foregone conclusion. Over the weekend, Trump urged House Republicans to vote to release the Epstein files and pledged to sign the bill if passed.
Republicans had initially opposed releasing the files as Democrats pushed to do so, claiming the files implicated Trump. Trump on Monday said he was tired of the Epstein saga overshadowing his administration’s accomplishments, and claimed that releasing the files would hurt Democrats more than Republicans.
Trump’s about-face turned the tide among Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who had previously urged his party to oppose the release.
Higgins said Tuesday that he voted against releasing the files because “as written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc.” Higgins pledged to vote for the bill if the Senate amended it to “properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated.”
The bill requires the Justice Department to release materials that relate to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s reported associate and convicted sex trafficker, as well as “flight logs and travel records,” and “individuals named or referenced (including government officials) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.”
The Justice Department is permitted to withhold certain information, such as victims’ personal information and materials that would “jeopardize an active federal investigation,” the bill summary noted.
The bill summary said 15 days after the required publication, the DOJ must report “all categories of information released and withheld, a summary of any redactions made, and a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials.”
This story has been updated to reflect the Senate’s passage of the bill.
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