By Stephen Groves | Related Press
WASHINGTON — The Home voted overwhelmingly in favor of a invoice Tuesday to power the Justice Division to publicly launch its recordsdata on the convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, a exceptional show of approval for an effort that had struggled for months to beat opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican management.
When a small bipartisan group of Home lawmakers launched a petition in July to maneuver round Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s management of which payments attain the Home flooring, it appeared a longshot effort — particularly as Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a “hoax.”
However each Trump and Johnson failed of their efforts to forestall the vote. Now the president has bowed to the rising momentum behind the invoice and even mentioned he’ll signal it if it additionally passes the Senate.
The invoice handed 427-1, with the one no vote coming from Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who’s a fervent supporter of Trump. He additionally chairs a subcommittee that initiated a subpoena on the Justice Division for the Epstein recordsdata.
Tuesday’s vote additional confirmed the stress mounting on lawmakers and the Trump administration to satisfy long-held calls for that the Justice Division launch its case recordsdata on Epstein, a well-connected financier who killed himself in a Manhattan jail whereas awaiting trial in 2019 on expenses he sexually abused and trafficked underage women.
“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight. And they did it by banding together and never giving up,” mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as she stood with among the abuse survivors outdoors the Capitol Tuesday morning.
“That’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the president of the United States, in order to make this vote happen today,” added Greene, a Georgia Republican and longtime Trump loyalist.
Pushing for extra accountability, the survivors of Epstein’s abuse solid the present effort in Congress as a step in the direction of accountability for Epstein’s crimes after years of presidency failure beneath a number of presidential administrations.
Trump’s reversal on the Epstein recordsdata
Trump has mentioned he minimize ties with Epstein years in the past, however tried for months to maneuver previous the calls for for disclosure. On Monday, he informed reporters that Epstein was linked to extra Democrats and that he didn’t need the Epstein recordsdata to “detract from the great success of the Republican Party.”
Nonetheless, many within the Republican base have continued to demand the discharge of the recordsdata. Including to that stress, a number of survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outdoors the Capitol Tuesday morning. Bundled in jackets towards the November chill and holding photographs of themselves as youngsters, they recounted their tales of abuse.
“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the political conflicts that surround it,” mentioned Jena-Lisa Jones, one of many survivors.
She added that she had voted for Trump, however had a message for the president: “I beg you Donald Trump, please stop making this political.”
The group of ladies additionally met with Johnson and rallied outdoors the Capitol in September, however have needed to wait months for the vote.
That’s as a result of Johnson saved the Home closed for legislative enterprise for practically two months and likewise refused to swear-in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona throughout the federal government shutdown. After profitable a particular election on Sept. 23, Grijalva had pledged to offer the essential 218th vote to the petition for the Epstein recordsdata invoice. However solely after she was sworn into workplace final week may she signal her identify to the discharge petition to offer it majority help within the 435-member Home.
It shortly grew to become obvious the invoice would move, and each Johnson and Trump started to fold. Trump on Sunday mentioned Republicans ought to vote for the invoice.
But Greene informed reporters that Trump’s determination to combat the invoice had betrayed his Make America Nice Once more political motion. It’s one of many causes behind her distinguished break up with the president.
“Watching this turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart,” she mentioned.
How Johnson is dealing with the invoice
Relatively than ready till subsequent week for the discharge place to formally take impact, Johnson is transferring to carry the vote beneath a process that requires a two-thirds majority.
“This is a raw and obvious political exercise,” Johnson mentioned.
Nonetheless, he deliberate to vote for the invoice. “None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency,” he added.
In the meantime, Home Democrats celebrated the vote as a uncommon win for the minority.
“It’s a complete and total surrender, because as Democrats we made clear from the very beginning, the survivors and the American people deserve full and complete transparency as it relates to the lives that were ruined by Jeffrey Epstein,” mentioned Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries.
What is going to the Senate do?
It’s not clear how the Senate will deal with the invoice.
Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., has beforehand been circumspect when requested in regards to the laws and as a substitute mentioned he trusted the Justice Division to launch data on the Epstein investigation.
However what the Justice Division has launched to date beneath Trump was largely already public. The invoice would go additional, forcing the discharge inside 30 days of all recordsdata and communications associated to Epstein, in addition to any details about the investigation into his dying in federal jail. Details about Epstein’s victims or persevering with federal investigations could be allowed to be redacted, however not data as a result of “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Johnson additionally mentioned he desires to see the Senate amend the invoice to guard the knowledge of “victims and whistleblowers.”
However the bipartisan pair who sponsored the invoice, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., warned senators towards doing something that might “muck it up” and mentioned they’d face the identical public uproar that compelled each Trump and Johnson to again down.
“We’ve needlessly dragged this out for four months,” Massie mentioned, including that these elevating issues with the invoice “are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the whole point here.”
Related Press writers Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
