The Republican-controlled United States House of Representatives has voted almost unanimously to force the release of US justice department files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an outcome US President Donald Trump had fought for months before ending his opposition.
Two days after Trump’s abrupt about-face, the vote passed by 427-1, sending a resolution requiring the release of all unclassified records on Epstein to the Senate for consideration.
The public and increasingly bitter feud among Republicans over the Epstein files had fractured relations between Trump and some of his most ardent supporters.
Before the vote, about two dozen survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse joined a trio of Democratic and Republican lawmakers outside the US Capitol to urge the release of the records.
The women held photographs of their younger selves, the age at which they said they first encountered Epstein, a New York financier who fraternised with some of the most powerful men in the country.
The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters.
Danielle Bensky, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor, speaks during the news conference with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein outside the US Capitol. Source: AAP / Bill Clark / Sipa USA
Many Trump voters believe the Trump administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
Despite his changed position on the bill, the Republican president remains angry about the attention paid to the Epstein matter.
On Tuesday, he called a reporter who asked about it in the Oval Office a “terrible person” and said the television network the journalist worked for should have its license revoked.
‘Nothing to hide’
Trump socialised and partied with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s before what he calls a rift, but the old friendship has become a rare weak spot for the president with his supporters.
Trump has said he had no connection to Epstein’s crimes and has begun calling the issue a “Democratic hoax”, despite some Republicans being among the loudest voices calling for the release of the records from criminal investigations of Epstein.
Trump said his about-face on Sunday was an effort to get Republicans to move on from a damaging feud about Epstein and “because we have nothing to hide”.
Trump already has the power to order the release of justice department records himself, and does not need a congressional resolution compelling him to do so.
It was unclear what the Republican-led Senate would do next.
The resolution passed by the House allows the justice department to withhold material that would “jeopardise an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution”.
Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state felony prostitution charge in 2008 and served 13 months in jail.
The US Justice Department charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019.
Epstein pleaded not guilty to those charges before his death.
