After months of anticipation, the House will finally vote Tuesday on a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s dossier on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose alleged ties to both Democrats and Republicans have fueled speculation across the country and sparked investigations on Capitol Hill seeking to uncover details about the billionaire’s web of political and financial connections.
After President Donald Trump reversed course over the weekend, now urging House Republicans to “vote to release Epstein files”: The bill appears headed to the Senate despite a months-long campaign by President Mike Johnson to block its release.
Johnson has tried to prevent a House vote on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for the August recess because the House was deadlocked over the Epstein issue.
The president also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, delaying the inauguration of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on Epstein’s discharge petition, forcing the president to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to the media following the passage of a funding bill in the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill, Nov. 12, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
On Monday, Johnson continued to raise concerns about the legislation, saying he had spoken to Trump “quite a bit” about it.
“[Trump’s] “The statements speak for themselves,” Johnson said as he left the House on Monday. “He has nothing, he has never had anything to hide.” He and I had the same concern: we wanted to ensure that the victims of these heinous crimes were completely protected from disclosure. “Those who don’t want their names to come to light, and I’m not sure the discharge petition will do that, and that’s part of the problem.”
Asked Monday about the vote, Trump said he is “all for it” and would sign it if it reaches his desk.
“We’ll give them everything. Sure. I would let them, I would let the Senate see it. Let anyone see it,” Trump said of the full Epstein files. “But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us.”
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce reports that Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act: He could order the release immediately.
The measure, called the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Justice Department’s possession related to Epstein.
The Department of Justice and the FBI issued a joint statement in July that indicated a review uncovered no evidence of any client lists maintained by Epstein or other evidence that could predicate a criminal investigation of the unindicted parties.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other people, including government officials, named or mentioned in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil agreements, immunity, plea agreements or investigative proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sexual abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, noted that the Justice Department “has already released tens of thousands of pages” about Epstein to the public.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they had not spoken in more than a decade after a fight. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that Emails Related to Convicted Sex Offender Epstein Released by House Democrats “It proves absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever it is legally entitled to. I DON’T CARE!” Trump added.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 14, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
The bill is expected to pass the House with dozens of Republicans potentially voting in favor, shifting political pressure to Senate Majority Leader John Thune to do the same with a vote in the upper chamber. If it passes the Senate, it will go to Trump’s desk to be signed into law.
For months, Johnson has pointed to the House Oversight Committee investigation, saying the panel’s investigation is broader in scope than the Khanna-Massie bill. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has requested additional documents from Epstein’s estate and testimony from Epstein associates, including former President Bill Clinton.
Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will outlast Donald Trump’s presidency.”
This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein on March 28, 2017.
New York State Sex Offender Registry
“I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote, Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement. But in 2030, he won’t be president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files,” Massie told ABC News’ “This Week” co-host Jonathan Karl. “And the president can’t protect you then.”
Even if the measure passes the House and Senate and is eventually signed into law by Trump, the Justice Department is unlikely to release the entire Epstein dossier, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or claims of White House executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking girls and women.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. she was convicted on five counts of assisting Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021.
