(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House is finally set to vote Tuesday on a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose purported ties to both Democrats and Republicans have fueled speculation across the country and prompted investigations on Capitol Hill seeking to uncover details about the billionaire’s network of political and financial connections.
After President Donald Trump reversed course over the weekend and urged House Republicans to “vote to release the Epstein files,” the bill appears headed for the Senate despite a monthslong campaign by Speaker Mike Johnson to block its release.
Johnson told House Republicans during a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday morning that he will support the resolution, according to multiple sources. In the meeting, he told members to “vote your conscience.”
Johnson later confirmed during a press conference, “I’m gonna vote to move this forward” despite calling the bill “recklessly flawed.”
“I think it could be close to a unanimous vote because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show for maximum transparency. But they also want to know that we’re demanding that this stuff get corrected before it has ever moved through the process and is complete,” he said.
Johnson said he spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and said he hopes the Senate will amend the Epstein files bill.
The speaker accused Democrats of “forcing a political show vote on the Epstein files.”
Johnson has tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
Johnson on Monday continued to raise concerns about the legislation and said he has spoken to Trump “quite a bit” about it.
“[Trump’s] statements speak for themselves,” Johnson said leaving the House floor on Monday. “He has nothing, he has never had anything to hide. He and I had the same concern, that we wanted to ensure that victims of these heinous crimes were completely protected from disclosure. Those who don’t want their names to be out there, and I am not sure the discharge petition does that and that’s part of the problem.”
Asked Monday about the vote, Trump said he’s “all for it,” and that he would sign it if it reaches his desk.
“We’ll give them everything. Sure. I would let them, let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it,” Trump said of the full Epstein files. “But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us.”
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
The DOJ and FBI released a joint statement in July that stated a review uncovered no evidence of any client list kept by Epstein or other evidence that would predicate a criminal investigation of any uncharged parties.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
Trump, in a post on social media on Sunday, stressed that the Justice Department has “already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the public” on Epstein.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that emails related to convicted sex offender Epstein released by House Democrats “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to. I DON’T CARE!” Trump added.
The bill is expected to pass in the House with dozens of Republicans potentially voting in favor — shifting the political pressure to Thune to follow suit with a vote in the upper chamber. If it passes in the Senate, it will go to Trump’s desk for him to sign it into law.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has sought additional documents from the Epstein estate and testimony from Epstein’s associates, including former President Bill Clinton.
Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
“I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote, Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement. But in 2030, he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files,” Massie told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “And the president can’t protect you then.”
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. She was convicted on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
