The House voted to release the Epstein files on Tuesday.
The measure — the Epstein Files Transparency Act — passed with bipartisan support after President Trump dropped his opposition on Sunday. Speaker Mike Johnson said he would vote in favor and predicted the tally would be nearly unanimous. The bill requires the Justice Department to release its files from the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
One Republican, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, voted against the measure, and five representatives did not vote — three Democrats and two Republicans. The Democrats united in voting to release the files. The measure will now move to the Senate.
Johnson noted he expects the Senate to make changes to address what he called “serious deficiencies,” including concerns over survivors’ privacy and the potential release of sensitive information. Senate Republican leadership has not committed to holding a vote.
Survivors filled the House gallery where the vote took place. Once it passed they cheered and blew kisses to the House floor, thanking the congress members.
All of the Democrats and four Republicans forced the bill to the floor last week after GOP leaders stalled it for months, disrupting committee work and delaying other legislation since the summer — and prompting Trump to publicly attack Republicans backing the push.
Ahead of the vote, more than a dozen of Epstein’s accusers joined lawmakers outside the Capitol to urge members of both parties to support the bill.
The vote is a rare win for Republicans to stand up to President Trump. Several Republican congress members supported the measure in order to make good on their campaign trails promises.
President Donald Trump has encouraged House Republicans to release the Epstein files, claiming on Truth Social that he has nothing to hide — despite the release of 20,000 emails from the sex offender suggesting otherwise. He told reporters Monday that he was “all for it” and would sign it if it passed.
“As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,’” he wrote Sunday.
The president’s reversal comes after deflecting from his past relationship with the late child sex trafficker following the House Oversight Committee’s release of thousands of emails between those in their inner circle, several of which the president was named directly.
“The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on ‘Epstein,’ are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!” Trump wrote. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
He added that “nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive,” and that the Democrats should have released the files before he came into office. Trump has repeatedly tried to avert any connection to Epstein and has even launched a $10 billion lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal for reporting on his ties to the late sex offender.
Epstein survivors released a PSA video Monday, urging lawmakers to vote “yes” to release the Epstein files. The women held up pictures of their younger, underage selves, revealing “This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein.”
