House overwhelmingly passes bill to release Jeffrey Epstein files [View all]
Source: CNBC
Published Tue, Nov 18 2025 9:48 AM EST Updated 25 Min Ago
The House on Tuesday voted nearly unanimously to order the Department of Justice to release all of its files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, two days after President Donald Trump abruptly dropped his opposition to the bipartisan bill. The bill, brought by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., passed 427-1. It will now head to the Senate.
Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., the only representative to oppose the legislation, said in an X post right after the vote that he has “been a principled ‘NO’ on this bill from the beginning.” “If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt,” he wrote.
The push to release the Epstein files had previously faced opposition from more GOP lawmakers, following the lead of Trump, whose White House had warned that backing the effort would be considered a “hostile act.”
While Trump on Sunday night suddenly urged House Republicans to vote in favor of the bill, he has continued to fume about the continued focus on Epstein in the media and on Capitol Hill.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/18/epstein-files-trump-house-vote.html
Article updated.
Original article -
The House on Tuesday voted nearly unanimously to order the Department of Justice to release all of its files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, two days after President Donald Trump abruptly dropped his opposition to the bipartisan bill. The bill, brought by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, will now head to the Senate.
The push to release the Epstein files had previously faced opposition from GOP lawmakers, following the lead of Trump, whose White House had warned that backing the effort would be considered a "hostile act."
A discharge petition that would have forced a vote on the bill was jammed up during the government shutdown, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., kept representatives out of session for nearly eight weeks. The prolonged absence delayed the swearing-in of Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, the final signature needed to move the petition forward.
The shutdown ended last Wednesday and Grijalva, after being sworn in, signed the discharge petition. But, with pressure mounting, Johnson said he would bring the Epstein bill to a vote earlier than expected.
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