US Congress votes to release Epstein files, sending bill to Trump
US President Donald Trump will need to sign the bill, which also made it through the Senate, as ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
The US House of Representatives and the US Senate have passed a bill set to force the Justice Department to publicly release files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The House voted 427-1 to pass the measure. Within hours, the Senate had also passed the bill, agreeing to pass it with unanimous consent.
The bill will now be sent to US President Donald Trump's desk, who had initially opposed it.
Trump has said he will sign the legislation "whenever it gets to the White House", according to a senior official.
If he does so, the bill will force all files and communications related to Epstein and his death to be released within 30 days.
The release would likely see information about Epstein’s victims or continuing federal investigations to be redacted.
However, the department would not be allowed to redact information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary".
Pressure has been mounting for some time over the release of the documents, with claims of a cover-up coming from both Republicans and Democrats.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial in 2019. He faced charges that he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls. Since his death, many more have said they were abused by him.
The Epstein files refer to what is thought to be thousands of documents connected to the investigation into his activities.
The files are believed to include flight logs from Epstein’s private jets, emails, estate records, court documents, and internal Department of Justice communications, as well as information about the investigation into his death in prison.
They are understood to detail Epstein’s movements, associates, and decisions made during his prosecution, as well as materials related to his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a jail sentence.
Trump claimed to have cut ties with the disgraced financier years ago, but tried for months to move past demands for the release of the files.
However, many Republicans continued to demand that the information be released, with survivors of Epstein's abuse continuing to pressure the White House.
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“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the politics that swirl around it," one survivor said.
The vote comes after 23,000 documents relating to Epstein were published by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last week.
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