On Tuesday, only one lawmaker out of hundreds opposed the full release of the Epstein files.
Can President Trump escape the Epstein files leak?
Thousands of newly released Epstein documents bring new questions.
WASHINGTON – For months, a debate over what more information the federal government has about the late Jeffrey Epstein has engulfed Washington and much of the country.
Americans and the politicians who represent them say they want to know more about the extent of the ties between the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker and the rich and powerful, including President Donald Trump.
All of that scrutiny came to a head Tuesday when both the House and Senate overwhelmingly agreed to pass the Epstein File Transparency Act. The bill is a bipartisan bill that would require the Justice Department to release as much information as possible about the federal investigation into Epstein. The bill was immediately placed on the president’s desk after he made a sudden change of direction and supported the bill, despite initially opposing it.
The success of this measure was a remarkable display of bipartisan power. It was also the culmination of a rare rebuke from Congressional Republicans, whose decades-old relationship with Mr. Epstein has come back to haunt Mr. Trump in recent days.
It is unclear how the Justice Department will respond immediately to the new bill or what the timeline for further information disclosure will be. But in the short term, the new bill could represent a victory for Epstein’s many victims and increase the willingness of congressional Republicans to defy the president on at least some issues.
Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has resigned from the board of tech company OpenAI, days after announcing he was stepping away from public commitments due to his ties to Epstein.
“In conjunction with the announcement to step back from public commitments, I have decided to step down from the OpenAI board. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board, am excited about the company’s potential, and look forward to watching their progress,” Summers said in a statement to USA TODAY on Wednesday.
“Larry has decided to step down from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brings to the Board,” OpenAI’s board of directors said in a statement.
Emails released on November 12 revealed that Summers, who was president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006, asked Epstein for romantic advice in 2019.
-Melina Khan
Rep. Clay Higgins, a former police officer, was the lone vote against the bill Tuesday. It was a politically unusual choice for Louisiana Republicans, who typically vote with other conservatives. But he said that was due to privacy concerns.
Protecting the personal information of Epstein’s many victims was a key issue with the deal, even though most Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the bill in recent days, following President Donald Trump’s lead.
The bill’s bipartisan authors, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), emphasized that the bill does not expose victims. The law allows the Justice Department to withhold certain information, including personal information about victims and materials that would impede a federal investigation.
A group of an estimated 1,000 women and children who have accused Epstein were in the House audience during Tuesday’s House vote.
They cheered and hugged each other after voting was over. Some delegates applauded.
“My sister, Maria Farmer, first reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to federal authorities nearly 30 years ago. Since then, survivors, including myself, have learned how our reports were investigated and who committed the abuse and trafficking. We were left in the dark about what was involved and why Epstein and Maxwell were able to get away with causing so many women and girls pain for so many years,” said Annie Farmer, who met Epstein at age 16. Statement after the vote.
