A hotly debated House vote is expected next week following the bombshell release of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails that allege the president knew about the convicted sex offender’s sex trafficking allegations.
After months of opposition, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on November 12 that a vote would be held next week on a bill that would require the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.
As the House of Commons investigation into the disgraced financier continues, Mr Johnson unveiled a rough timeline after a group of MPs on both sides of the aisle used vague petitions to circumvent opposition from House leadership. Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial.
After the petition appeared to be heading for success, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on November 12 that the House of Commons would vote on the release of the files next week, sparking a parliamentary battle over an issue that Johnson had been trying to avoid for months.
The Epstein file has become a stubborn thorn in President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, with influential MAGA voices and commentators dividing over the government’s handling of related investigations into participants in Epstein’s human trafficking ring. If the bill passes the House next week, it will be sent to the Senate for consideration and a vote, which is likely to draw even more attention to Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump.
The bipartisan petition itself exposed party divisions, with four House Republicans — Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — choosing to keep their names on the document and breaking with the party’s call for the files to be made public.
Amid the Nov. 12 vote to end the shutdown, House Democrats released three emails from Epstein written between 2011 and 2019 in which he mentioned Trump by name. In one of the emails, Epstein wrote that Trump “spent many hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims. In another article, Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls.” The charges against Epstein include conspiring to transport minors across state lines to perform sex acts with clients.
The White House called the release of the emails a “smear,” and President Trump said on social media that Democrats were trying to “distract” from other issues.
In a social media post, President Trump warned Republicans against voting for a bill that would require full disclosure of government records related to Epstein, saying “only very bad or stupid Republicans would fall into that trap” and calling the issue a “hoax”.
Contributor: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml.
