Watch live: House votes overwhelmingly to force release of Epstein files

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted overwhelmingly for a bill Tuesday to force the Justice Department to publicly disclose its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a remarkable show of approval for an effort that has struggled for months to overcome opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership.

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When a small group of bipartisan House lawmakers filed a petition in July to maneuver House Speaker Mike Johnson’s control over bills that reach the House floor, it seemed like a far-fetched effort — especially since Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the order as a “sham.”

He watches: “Trump called me a traitor, but Epstein survivors are patriots,” Green says.

But both Trump and Johnson failed in their efforts to prevent the vote. Now the president has bowed to the growing momentum behind the bill and even said he would sign it if it also passes the Senate.

Tuesday’s vote also demonstrated growing pressure on lawmakers and the Trump administration to meet long-standing demands that the Justice Department release its case files on Epstein, a well-connected financier who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges of sexually assaulting and trafficking underage girls.

“These women fought the most terrible fight that no woman should ever have to fight,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said as she stood with some survivors of abuse outside the Capitol on Tuesday morning. “And they did it by sticking together and never giving up.”

He watches: Representatives Massie, Greene and Khanna hold a briefing on the vote on the Epstein files, and demand that the Senate pass the bill.

“This is what we did by fighting hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the president of the United States, to get this vote today,” added Greene, a Georgia Republican and longtime Trump loyalist.

A separate investigation by the House Oversight Committee uncovered thousands of pages of emails and other documents from Epstein’s estate, showing his connections to world leaders, Wall Street power brokers, influential political figures and Trump himself. In the UK, King Charles III stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after coming under pressure to act on his relationship with Epstein.

Read more: Read Jeffrey Epstein’s newly released emails about Trump

Pressing for more accountability, survivors of Epstein’s abuse have described current efforts in Congress as a step toward accountability for Epstein’s crimes after years of government failure under multiple presidential administrations.

Trump retracts Epstein files

Trump said he cut ties with Epstein years ago, but tried for months to get around disclosure demands. He told reporters Monday that Epstein was associated with more Democrats and that he did not want the Epstein files to detract from the GOP’s great success.

Read more: Trump said he doesn’t care about the Epstein files. What’s the next step in pushing for their release?

However, many in the Republican base continued to demand the release of the files. Adding to that pressure, several survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outside the Capitol on Tuesday morning. They wore jackets to protect against the November cold, uploaded photos of themselves when they were teenagers, and told their stories of abuse.

“We were exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the political struggles that surround it,” said survivor Jenna Lisa Jones.

She added that she voted for Trump, but she had a message for the president: “I’m begging you, Donald Trump, please stop making this political.”

The group of women also met with Johnson and rallied outside the Capitol in September, but had to wait several months before voting.

He watches: Epstein offers an expected vote in the House on Tuesday after Trump’s surprise U-turn

That’s because Johnson kept the House closed for legislative work for nearly two months and also refused to swear in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona during the government shutdown. After winning a special election on September 23, Grijalva pledged to cast the decisive 218th vote on the Epstein Files bill. But only after she was sworn in last week was she able to sign her name to the impeachment petition to give her majority support in the 435-member House.

It quickly became clear that the bill would pass, and both Johnson and Trump began to back away. Trump said on Sunday that Republicans should vote in favor of the bill.

He watches: Trump disputes with MAGA ally before vote to release Epstein files

However, Greene told reporters that Trump’s decision to fight the bill was a betrayal of his “Make America Great Again” political movement.

“Watching this turn into a fight has torn MAGA apart,” she said.

How Johnson is handling the bill

Instead of waiting until next week for the Brexit position to officially take effect, Johnson is moving to hold the vote under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority.

But Johnson also spent a morning news conference listing the problems he sees with the legislation. He said the bill could have unintended consequences by revealing parts of federal investigations that usually remain classified, including information about victims.

“This is a crude and clear political exercise,” Johnson said.

However, he intends to vote in favor of the bill. He added: “None of us wants to go on the record and be accused in any way of not striving for maximum transparency.”

Meanwhile, House Democrats celebrated the vote as a rare minority victory.

“It is a complete and complete surrender, because we as Democrats have made clear from the beginning that survivors and the American people deserve full and complete transparency regarding the life of Jeffrey Epstein,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

What will the Senate do?

It is not clear how the Senate will deal with the bill.

He watches: Trump faces new questions about Epstein with the release of new emails and files

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., had previously been circumspect when asked about the legislation, saying instead that he trusted the Justice Department to release information about the Epstein investigation.

But what the Justice Department has published so far under Trump has been mostly public already. The bill would go further, mandating the release within 30 days of all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. It would be permitted to withhold information related to Epstein’s victims or the ongoing federal investigation, but not information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or high-ranking foreign figure.”

Johnson also said he wanted to see the Senate amend the bill to protect the information of “victims and whistleblowers.”

Read more: The emails reveal Epstein’s network of wealthy and powerful people despite his sex offender status

But the bipartisan duo that sponsored the bill, Reps. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, warned senators against doing anything that would “screw it” and said they would face the same public uproar that forced both Trump and Johnson to back down.

“We’ve unnecessarily delayed this for four months,” Massey said, adding that those raising issues about the bill “are afraid people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the point here.”

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown contributed to this report.