U.S. House votes overwhelmingly to pass bill to force release of Epstein files

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FILE - This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. Newly released court documents show that Epstein repeatedly declined to answer questions about sex abuse as part of a lawsuit. A partial transcript of the September 2016 deposition was included in hundreds of pages of documents placed in a public file Friday, Aug. 9, 2019 by a federal appeals court in New York. Epstein has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges after his July 6 arrest. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

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

When a small bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a petition in July to maneuver around House Speaker Mike Johnson’s control of which bills reach the House floor, it appeared a longshot effort — especially as Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a “hoax.”

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 will sign it if it also passes the Senate.

Tuesday’s vote further showed the pressure mounting on lawmakers and the Trump administration to meet long-held demands that the Justice Department release its case files on Epstein, a well-connected financier who killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls.

U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, a Republican from North Dakota, voted in favor of H.R. 4405, legislation requiring the public release of all unclassified federal records related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s victims deserve justice, and the American people deserve answers,” Fedorchak said.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “Julie Fedorchak has not magically found a backbone. For months, House Democrats and a handful of Republicans needed one more member of Congress to force this vote. How can she look herself in the mirror knowing that she alone could have moved this forward and she refused? She is a coward.”