The US House of Representatives voted almost unanimously on Tuesday to support the release of authorities’ investigative files into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite pressure from Donald Trump on his majority not to organize this vote.
The bill, approved by 427 votes in favor and 1 against, aims to order the Justice Department “to make public all documents and files” it has regarding the New York financier, who died in prison in 2019 before being tried for sex crimes. He now heads to the Senate, where his fate is increasingly uncertain.
“We have nothing to hide”
For months, Donald Trump has led an apparent campaign to thwart the holding of the House vote, with potentially embarrassing consequences for the president. The Republican billionaire reiterated on Tuesday that he had “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” and confirmed that he had fired the financier from Mar-a-Lago, his luxury club in Florida, because he was “a sick pervert.”
Figures of the New York jet set, the two businessmen were close from the late 1980s until their falling out in the early 2000s, and before legal proceedings were launched several years later against the financier, who was accused of organizing a ring of sexual exploitation of underage girls.
Faced with protests and increasing defections in his camp before the vote, Donald Trump finally pivoted on Sunday and gave his support to the text. “We have nothing to hide,” said the president, who once again rebelled against what he considered a “hoax” created by the democratic opposition.
The case has been relaunched in recent days
But the American President did not explain why he did not order the Minister of Justice to publish the documents directly, without a vote in Congress.
After promising his supporters to reveal shocking revelations during his campaign, Donald Trump has done everything to quell the controversy since his return to power, sparking outrage even within the “MAGA” movement he founded.
The affair was relaunched last week with the publication of emails from the New York financier, with a very comprehensive address book. In messages revealed by Democratic lawmakers, Jeffrey Epstein claimed that Donald Trump “knew about girls” who had been sexually assaulted and he even “spent a few hours” with one of them.
But the American president, who has never been tried by a court on this matter, assured that he knew nothing about this. He also counterattacked by calling for an investigation into the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and certain Democratic figures, including Bill Clinton.
