WASHINTON, Nov 18 (The African Portal) – US lawmakers are expected to advance a bill on Tuesday requiring the release of government records on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in defiance of President Donald Trump‘s attempts to keep a lid on one of the country’s most notorious case files.
After weeks of resistance, behind-the-scenes pressure and frenzied lobbying against making the material public, Trump threw in the towel on Sunday as it became clear that as many as 100 Republicans in Congress were poised to defy him.
The House of Representatives looks all but certain to advance the Epstein Files Transparency Act, compelling publication of unclassified documents detailing the investigation into the disgraced financier’s operations and 2019 death in custody, ruled a suicide.
Lawmakers say the public deserves answers in a case with over 1,000 alleged victims, while pro-Trump activists insist the files will expose Democrats and other powerful figures long shielded from scrutiny.
Trump can try to block the files, but killing the bill in the Senate or vetoing it after a lopsided House vote would be awkward to defend, with the midterm elections looming and the public overwhelmingly in favor of transparency.
The saga has exposed rare fissures in support for the Republican leader, who campaigned on releasing the files but changed course after taking office, accusing Democrats of pushing a “hoax” and attacking politicians who called for their release.
Trump said on social media late Sunday that House Republicans should vote to release the files “because we have nothing to hide”.
“I’m all for it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday when asked about signing the bill into law if it passes the Senate.
His U-turn marks a rare occasion when a revolt from Trump’s allies has forced his hand.
All House Democrats and four Republicans signed a “discharge petition” – an extraordinary procedure forcing the vote – despite Republican leaders’ attempts to block it.
Last-minute appeals
At the time of his death, millionaire Epstein was facing federal trial over an alleged sex trafficking operation said to have exploited underage girls and young women, following a 2008 conviction for solicitation of prostitution, including from a minor.
Trump’s attorney general and FBI director said in July they had completed an “exhaustive review” of the case file that threw up “no basis to revisit the disclosure” of any Epstein materials.
Later that month, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early for summer amid a brewing revolt over Epstein, and kept it out of session for almost two months from mid-September.
He also delayed for weeks swearing in a newly elected Democratic lawmaker who would eventually be the decisive 218th signatory of the discharge petition, although he denies these moves were motivated by Epstein.
The White House escalated efforts last week to avoid the vote, with Trump and his allies making last-minute appeals to two of Republican signers of the discharge petition.
The rupture widened when Trump pulled his endorsement of loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene in a stunning break that she said “has all come down to the Epstein files”.
“I have no idea what’s in the files – I can’t even guess – but that is the question everyone is asking, is why fight this so hard?” she told CNN.
But fresh disclosures – such as newly surfaced emails from Epstein suggesting Trump “knew about the girls” – have revived scrutiny of the pair’s long association.
In another message, Epstein told his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking: “I want you to realise that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.”
He said in the same message that an unnamed victim “spent hours at my house with him” but Trump “has never once been mentioned”.
Revelations also included messages between Epstein and Clinton’s former Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, who told US media late Monday he was “stepping back” from public commitments as a result.
Trump has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.
If the bill clears the House, Democrats will pressure Republicans to bring it to the Senate floor.
Passage there would require 60 votes – meaning support from at least 13 Republicans. Even then, Trump could veto the measure, forcing a potentially elusive two-thirds override in both chambers.
Credit: (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
