The United States Senate unanimously approved this Tuesday, 18th, a bill that forces authorities to make public files on the case of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, hours after .
The senators used a special procedure so that the text was considered approved automatically, without debates and without amendments. The proposed law will be sent to Donald Trump’s office for its promulgation.
The US president is prepared to sign the Epstein files bill as soon as it reaches his desk, a White House official said.
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Jeffrey Epstein was a tycoon and sex offender who committed suicide in his cell in August 2019, before facing a federal trial for a series of scandals linked to his network of minors sexually abused by him and some of his guests, in many cases world personalities.
The law approved by the US Congress obliges the Department of Justice to publish non-confidential documents from the investigation into the financier and his death in prison.
The move was taken after Democrats, joined by a small group of Republican dissidents, managed to bring the legislation to a vote in the House despite vehement opposition from Trump and GOP leaders. It reflected how the Epstein case and the president’s handling of it had fragmented Trump’s political coalition and suggested a fragility in his absolute control over the party.
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The motion to take the project to the plenary was stalled for months in the Chamber and needed one more signature to move forward. The fate of the project changed last week after the reopening of the federal government, which allowed deputy Adelia Grijalva to take office. The Democrat gave the last signature to the motion.
In parallel, the release of Epstein’s emails obtained through injunction by the House Oversight Committee, also last week, increased pressure on Trump and Republicans.
In more than 20,000 files, the president is mentioned more than 1,600 times, and in some emails Epstein says that Trump knew about his crimes and spent hours with one of the victims. The Republican denies any criminal conduct and considers the matter a “farce”.
On Monday, Trump said he would sign the bill if it passed both houses of Congress, adding: “Let the Senate look at it.”
Tuesday’s vote reinforces demands for the Justice Department to release files on the case of Epstein, an influential businessman who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019, accused of sexual abuse and trafficking of minors.
Trump changes position
Trump claimed to have severed ties with Epstein years ago, but tried for months to avoid pressure to release the documents. On Monday, he told reporters that Epstein had ties more to Democrats and that he didn’t want Epstein’s files to “harm the great success of the Republican Party.”
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Still, many in the Republican base continue to demand the release of the files. To increase this pressure, several survivors of Epstein’s abuse will appear at the Capitol this Tuesday to press for the release of the files. They also met with Johnson and protested in front of the Capitol in September, but had to wait two months for the vote.
That’s because Johnson kept the House closed to legislative activity for nearly two months and also refused to swear in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona during the government shutdown.
After winning a by-election on September 23, Grijalva had promised to provide the crucial 218th vote for the Epstein Files Bill petition. But only after taking office last week was she able to sign the unfilter petition, securing the necessary majority in the 435-member House.
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It quickly became evident that the bill would pass, and both Johnson and Trump began to concede. On Sunday, Trump said Republicans should vote for the bill.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky and co-author of the bill with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, said Trump “got tired of seeing me win. He wanted to join us.”
Even with everyone voting in favor of releasing the files, Republican leaders dismissed the measure as a “political vote for the English to see”, orchestrated by Democrats who only feigned interest in the Epstein case in the hope of damaging Trump politically. And although the president said he would sign the bill into law if it reached his desk, his supporters questioned whether the Justice Department would actually release the files.
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*With information from international agencies.
