Epstein Files: US House of Representatives votes to release him

The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to release the investigative files on the Jeffrey Epstein case. There was only one dissenting voice from the ranks of the Republican Party.

Now the other chamber of Congress – the Senate – and then President Donald Trump must approve it.

The bill to release all the files is supported by opposition Democrats, but also by Republicans from the government camp. As the number of Republicans has continued to grow in recent days, Trump has clearly been forced to abandon his objections to the publication.

“Republicans in the House of Representatives should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide,” Trump shockingly wrote on the online platform Truth Social on Sunday. A responsible committee in the House of Representatives could get Epstein “everything he is legally entitled to, I don’t care.”

Republican Representative Clay Higgins was the only one to vote against the publication. In its current form, the law would “expose and harm thousands of innocent people,” he said, justifying his action. It must be ensured that the privacy of victims and persons not accused of criminal offenses is adequately protected in these documents.

There have been calls for all files on the Epstein scandal to be made public for months. This also comes from the Republican Party led by Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement he leads. During the election campaign, the president promised to make the entire investigative file public. After being inaugurated last January, he only released a few uninformative documents.

According to investigators, Epstein had been abusing underage girls and young women for years and trafficking them to celebrities. Recently released emails from a convicted sex offender show that Trump knew about it. Epstein was found dead in a prison cell in 2019 while awaiting his next trial.

Emails recently published by the Democratic Party suggest closer ties between Epstein and Trump – something the US president denies. In one of his emails, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.” He also spent “hours and hours” with abuse victims.

Trump then began an investigation into former President Bill Clinton and tried to draw attention not only to Clinton but also to Larry Summers, who was Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton. Summers announced his retirement from public life following the publication of his email communications with Epstein. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers told US media, Monday (local time).