The Republican-controlled U.S. Congress voted almost unanimously on Tuesday to force the release of Justice Department files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an outcome President Donald Trump had fought for months before ending his opposition.

Two days after Trump’s abrupt reversal, the House of Representatives passed the measure 427-1, sending a resolution requiring the release of all unclassified records on Epstein to the Republican-majority Senate, which swiftly approved it. The bill could now go to Trump for his signature as soon as Wednesday. A senior White House official said Trump plans to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.

The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn for Trump, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration 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. Epstein was a New York financier who fraternized with some of the most powerful men in the country.

Victims Call for Passage

Before the House vote, about two dozen survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse joined Democratic and Republican lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol to urge the release of the records. They held photographs of their younger selves, the age at which they said they first encountered Epstein. After the vote, they applauded lawmakers from the House gallery, some crying and hugging each other.

Despite his changed position on the bill, Trump 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 network the journalist works for should have its license revoked.
“I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump said. “I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.”

White House Caught Off-Guard

The White House was surprised by how quickly the measure passed through Congress, having expected it to take longer in the Senate.

The fight over the Epstein papers has affected Trump’s public approval, which fell to its lowest point this year in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll found just one in five voters approved of his handling of the matter, with only 44% of Republicans approving.

Trump had socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s before a rift developed, but the old friendship has become a rare weak spot for him among supporters.

Congressional Pressure and Statements

Jena-Lisa Jones, who said Epstein sexually abused her at 14, urged:
“Please stop making this political, it is not about you, President Trump. I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment.”

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), who led the push for the vote, accused the Justice Department of “protecting pedophiles and sex traffickers”.
“We will know when there are men, rich men, in handcuffs, being perp-walked to jail. Until then, this is still a cover-up,” he said.

Trump’s opposition had soured relations with Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), who expressed anger at the Justice Department’s lack of transparency. She said Trump pressured her to withdraw support for the resolution and publicly called her a traitor after she refused. She ultimately voted in favor alongside Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, stating:
“A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America, and Americans like the women standing behind me.”

Background on Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state felony prostitution charge in 2008 and served 13 months in jail. The U.S. Justice Department charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019. Epstein pleaded not guilty to those charges before his death.