Donald Trump lost a rare power struggle on Capitol Hill Tuesday as the House passed a bill 427-1 demanding the public release of Justice Department records tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
The passage comes weeks after the president’s behind-the-scenes efforts to keep the legislation from ever reaching the floor.
The overwhelming vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act came after months of quiet maneuvering by Trump’s inner circle, who, according to Reuters, “for weeks tried to stall or head off a vote in Congress to force the release of investigative files” related to Epstein.
Even after Donald Trump reversed course and said he supported the measure, his team had still been “hoping to amend the bill in the Senate.” The bill went to the upper chamber, where they cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday night with unanimous consent.
Trump told reporters Monday, “I’m all for it,” when asked if he would sign it into law. The lopsided vote exposed a rare fracture in Trump’s influence over House Republicans.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who had previously opposed bringing the bill to the floor, ultimately voted for it while continuing to criticize it as a “political exercise” with “serious deficiencies.” On the House floor, Johnson added, “[Trump] has nothing to hide.”
The White House reportedly tried several tactics to stall the vote, including an effort to sway Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert during a Situation Room meeting, urging her not to support the discharge petition that forced the bill to a vote.
Trump’s opposition to the bill also triggered an unusual public break with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his most loyal allies in Congress, who supported the legislation despite the White House’s stance.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s earlier resistance, saying, “President Trump has never been against releasing the Epstein files – rather, he has always been against Republicans falling into the Democrat trap of talking about this rather than focusing on the historic tax cuts signed into law, the fact that zero illegal aliens have entered our country in five months, and the many other accomplishments of the Trump Administration on behalf of the American people.”
The legislation would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all unclassified documents related to Epstein and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The bill specifically calls for the disclosure of federal records involving individuals, including public officials, linked to Epstein’s criminal network, while shielding the identities of victims.
About a dozen Epstein survivors were present in the House gallery for the vote.
Earlier in the day, several of them stood outside the Capitol urging passage of the bill and criticizing Trump’s handling of the issue.
Even if signed into law, the timeline for releasing the files remains unclear.
Justice Department officials have said that documents tied to ongoing investigations or protected by executive privilege may remain sealed.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges involving sex trafficking of minors.
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