On Tuesday , November 18th a bill to force the release the Epstein files will be voted on in the House of Representatives. This bill is called the Epstein Files Transparency Act and is pushing the Department of Justice to release all the files containing the investigation that was done on sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
These files contain everything from communication that he had with his victims, hotel books, details about the victims, and investigations involving Epstein and his victims. Regarding the files, President Trump has said that House Republicans should vote for the release of these files, though previously against the release of the files to the public.
Trump said that he has nothing to hide and that he “does not care”. He said “ All I do care about is that the Republicans get BACK ON POINT” on his social media post according to the article released by Fox 5 on the matter of the Epstein bill.
The voting in the House of Representatives occurred around 2 pm, and was almost a unanimous vote that was 427-1, with one Republican man, Clay Higgins being against the release of these files.
Before the voting occurred in the House of Representatives, House speaker Mike Johnson, who is apart of the Republican party, repeated many of his points he made that morning about his concerns about the bill. He stated that he will be voting yes for the release and expects most everyone will.
On Wednesday morning the Senate confirmed that they passed the Epstein bill and sent it to President Trump. The President has indicated that he will sign the bill, though it is unclear when that will occur.
When will the files be released? On November 20th President Trump indicated that he signed the bill so now the Department of Justice will have approximately 30 days to release the files to the public. There may be some drawbacks to the release of the files even if Trump does sign the bill.
Also given that Trump has requested investigations from Former President Bill Clinton and Larry Summers, to investigate these prominent Democrats to the links with Epstein. While Bill Clinton has strongly denied any links with Epstein, were as Summer’s has apologized for his wrong decision to continue to be in communication with Epstein.
Will the files be redacted before released to the public? From the article When Will the Epstein Files be Released, and Will They be Redacted the information provided stated that the public will most likely see many redactions in any release of the Epstein files. Some reasons for this could be the release of private information of the victims that does not need to be released into the public.
Works Consulted
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-files-house-vote
