LIVE UPDATES: U.S. lawmakers vote to make Epstein files public

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Fallout from the Epstein files

The gavel is down, making it official: The House has passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

It was overwhelming but not unanimous, passing 427 to 1.

It’s incredibly rare in this deeply partisan U.S. Congress to see any matter approved so strongly, let alone a bill that has until now been so divisive.

The sole dissenter was Republican Clay Higgins.

It’s unclear what exactly we’ll learn if the Justice Department releases all of its files related to the Epstein case.

But Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been reporting on Epstein since the mid-2000s, says there are certainly some outstanding questions that need answers.

One of those questions, Levine wrote in July for the New York Times, pertains to how Epstein “amassed such a large fortune and how he was able to fund such a complex trafficking scheme.”

“We need to follow the money,” he wrote. “The FBI files may reveal more about the funding and other financial mechanics of Mr. Epstein’s operation.”

Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre claimed Epstein trafficked her to multiple men. Those she accused have denied wrongdoing.

“Who were the clients implicated in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation?” Levine wonders.

The House of Representatives has now begun voting on House Resolution 4405, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

More than 100 representatives have already cast their ballots and so far there's not a single vote against it.

There are 15 minutes allotted for the vote by the 433 members of the House.

If the bill passes in the House, it then goes to the Senate. It's not yet clear whether the Senate Majority Leader John Thune will hold a vote on the matter.

It's also possible that the Senate could ask for changes to the bill, requiring the House to vote on it again.

If it does pass through both the House and Senate, it would then end up on Trump's desk.

Trump could then veto the bill. The president had previously opposed the Justice Department's (DOJ) release of its Epstein files but he has since indicated that Republicans should support the bill and that he would sign it.

If the bill makes it through all these stages, the DOJ would then have 30 days to release all unclassified documents and investigative materials that relate to Epstein.

Those records, according to the bill, can't be redacted “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

However, the bill does allow some exceptions to redacts, which includes portions that contain "personally identifiable” information about victims or information that could compromise an ongoing federal investigation.

The House is now voting on a series of matters, including the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Epstein maintained a network of high-profile, wealthy and influential individuals whose names have been mentioned in the thousands of documents related to his case.

Here are a some of the most noteworthy:

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor

The former U.K. Prince was stripped of his title due to the controversy around his association with Epstein. Survivor Virginia Giuffre claimed Epstein introduced her to Andrew in 2001 and that she was forced to have sex with him. Andrew has denied the accusations but he settled a lawsuit against him by Giuffre in 2022.

Bill Clinton

The former U.S. President has denied having a close relationship with Epstein but he reportedly flew several times on Epstein's private jet.

Clinton has acknowledged travelling on Epstein's private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier's crimes. He also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein's known victims.

Larry Summers

According to recently released emails connected to the Epstein estate, the former Harvard University president maintained a relationship with Epstein even after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008.

Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary has said he is "ashamed" of those actions.

During his Oval Office tirade against an ABC News correspondent for asking about the Epstein files, Trump said the media should instead look into Reid Hoffman's associations with the late sex trafficker.

Hoffman is the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, and has been a major donor to Democrats. He worked with Epstein on fundraising for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until around 2015, but has denied any involvement with his crimes.

"I don't know Reid Hoffman, but I know he spends a lot of money on the radical left," Trump said. "Reid Hoffman, in my opinion, should be under investigation. He's a sleazebag."

Trump in fact ordered his attorney general last Friday to investigate Hoffman's links to Epstein.

Hoffman paid for a powerful advertisement to run during last night's Monday Night Football broadcast in which some of the survivors of Epstein's abuse called for the release of the files.

Trump just called for ABC's broadcast license to be revoked while he admonished a reporter, in unusually strong terms, for asking a question about the Epstein files during his appearance with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It was the second question Mary Bruce, ABC's chief White House correspondent, asked Trump during the meeting in the Oval Office.

"Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?" Bruce asked the president.

Trump replied: "You know, it's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who's highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question."

Trump was referring to Bruce's earlier question to bin Salman about allegations the prince approved the 2018 assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump called ABC a "crappy company" and said Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr should take its broadcast license away "because your news is so fake and it's so wrong."

In 2007, Epstein faced a federal indictment accusing him of recruiting a network of underage girls to sexually abuse them at his homes in Florida and New York through the early part of that decade.

He potentially faced life in prison, but federal prosecutor Alex Acosta agreed to a secret deal letting Epstein plead guilty to lesser charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor, without informing the survivors.

Epstein served just 13 months in a county jail, and for eight months of that term was allowed to leave the jail six days a week to work.

Trump named Acosta to be his secretary of labour in his first term.

After Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown revealed the secret plea deal in 2018, a new federal investigation was launched into Epstein. Acosta resigned from cabinet.

Epstein was indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy. The indictment alleged he "intentionally sought out minors and knew that many of his victims were in fact under the age of 18."

Epstein died by suicide a month later, so never faced the charges in court.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said today that Democrats are "playing games with the vote," saying the party wanted to distract from its "failures."

"It is as deceitful and dishonest as their pointless stunt to shut down the government," Johnson said.

He added that Trump had "nothing to do with it," referring presumably to Epstein's crimes. "He has said himself he has nothing to hide," Johnson added.

Johnson said he's certain today's vote will pass. For months, he was against the measure to release the remaining unclassified documents, saying they would harm victims — which Massie and Greene say is false. Johnson changed his position after Trump said over the weekend he was in favour of it.

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