Sky Roberts, left, brother of Virginia Giuffre, who was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and his wife Amanda Roberts hold a photo of Giuffre during a press conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act in front of the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation Tuesday to force the release of unclassified investigative files from the case against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of the luxurious and powerful who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges.
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson opposed the effort until this week.
Johnson said Tuesday morning that he would vote for the measure, which came to the floor after Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., collected enough signatures on a dismissal petition to override the leadership.
The Louisiana Republican told reporters at his regular House leadership news conference that “the coercive mechanism here is preventing the very deliberate, professional and careful way that Congress is supposed to do this.”
“But now that we have forced the vote, none of us want to go on the record and be accused in any way of not being in favor of maximum transparency,” Johnson said said.
The vote comes less than a week after lawmakers voted on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released around 20,000 pages of emails from Epstein’s estate in which Trump’s name was repeatedly mentioned.
In an email from Epstein to convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, the financier and sex offender claimed that Trump “knew about the girls.”
Trump denies any involvement in Epstein’s alleged crimes and has stated that he kicked Epstein out of his private club Mar-a-Lago in Florida because he claimed the financier had poached youthful female employees from the club. Epstein was sentenced in Florida in 2008 for soliciting minors for sex.
During a news conference Tuesday in the Oval Office alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump told reporters: “As far as the Epstein files go, I have nothing to do with Jeffery Epstein. I kicked him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.”
Trump added, as he has said several times, that the files are a “Democratic hoax.”
Stories of abuse
Women who shared stories of being abused by Epstein as teenagers gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday morning, along with Massie, Khanna and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who attacked Trump online this weekend, calling her a “traitor.”
Haley Robson, who has prominently shared her account of sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein, said that as a Republican, Massie and Greene’s advocacy was “incredible to see and we are so grateful.”
“And to the President of the United States of America, who is not here today, I want to send a clear message to you: While I understand that your position on the Epstein files has changed, and I am grateful that you have committed to signing this bill, I cannot help but be skeptical about the agenda,” Robson said.
In a Sunday evening post on his own social media platform, Trump said told Republicans vote for bipartisanship legislation Tuesday, which lawmakers dubbed the “Epstein Files Transparency Act.”
Greene, who also spoke at the news conference, said the government’s refusal to release the so-called Epstein files had “torn MAGA apart.”
“The only thing that will appeal to the powerful, courageous women behind me is if actual action is taken to release these files, and the American people will not tolerate any other crap,” Greene said.
Republicans Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado were the other Republicans who signed the petition along with Massie, Greene and all Democrats.
Grijalva signature
In a second news conference outside the Capitol later Tuesday morning, the House’s newest Democratic member, Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, spoke alongside sexual abuse prevention advocates.
“The impetus behind this didn’t come from politicians. It came from survivors and the public demanding answers. That’s why the release petition reached 218 signatures, despite Speaker Johnson doing everything in his power to prevent it, including calling for a release in early summer and delaying my swearing in by seven weeks,” Grijalva said.
Grijalva became the 218th signature on the petition on Wednesday. immediately afterwards their swearing-in ceremony.
Johnson refused to swear in Grijalva, who won her seat on September 23, during the government shutdown, although other lawmakers had already sworn an oath during the House session.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., also spoke at the news conference and warned that Senate leadership “cannot delay this any further.”
“They need to schedule a vote on this in order for the bill to pass,” Kelly said.
Trump told He would sign the bill on Monday, according to NBC News.
About a dozen public protesters stood in front of the police barricade surrounding the news conference, holding signs demanding the release of the Epstein files.
Robin Galbraith, 61, of Maryland, held a sign protesting Johnson’s refusal to allow an earlier vote on the records’ disclosure.
“These survivors deserve justice. And, you know, all women and girls deserve justice,” Galbraith said in an interview with States Newsroom. “For example, if there are the richest people in the world who traffic girls, I mean, as someone who has daughters and sons, we all want to make sure that children are no longer such victims.”
FBI memo
The US Department of Justice estimates that Epstein had over 1,000 victims.
In July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a memo saying the department would not publicly release any further information about the Epstein case.
The sudden reversal after Trump and his supporters lobbied for the release of the files sparked uproar among the president’s base and turned a magnifying glass on Trump’s well-documented friendship with Epstein.
Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The president sued the Wall Street Journal over its coverage of a 50th anniversary Birthday card Trump is said to have given Epstein. The card featured a cryptic message and a scrawl of a naked woman with Trump’s apparent signature mimicking pubic hair. Trump denies that he created and signed the birthday doodle.
The journal too reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed the president in May that his name appeared in the Epstein case files. The context in which his name appeared is unclear.
A series In the Miami Herald in 2018, journalist Julie K. Brown drew widespread attention to Epstein’s crimes and Trump’s 2017 appointment as labor secretary of former Miami federal prosecutor Alex Acosta, who had struck a deal in 2008 to end a federal investigation into Epstein.
Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.
