U.S. Representatives are set to vote on a bill later today that would force the release of the Justice Department’s entire cache of files related to its investigation of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days. Victims’ names would be redacted.
President Donald Trump had urged supporters to dismiss the bid to release the files as a “hoax” but on Sunday, facing down a rebellion, urged House Republicans to back the measure, “because we have nothing to hide.”
- Procedural votes and debates are scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
- Several victims of Epstein are expected to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill.
- A House committee on Wednesday released more than 20,000 pages of documents related to Epstein.
- The files showed Epstein communicating with well-connected members of society, fuelling many people’s belief the remaining files would reveal more ties to powerful public figures who have managed to escape scrutiny.
- In one newly released email, Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls.” The White House said the emails contained no proof of wrongdoing by Trump.
- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who was shown in the release to be emailing Epstein in 2019, has said he is stepping back from public commitments and is “deeply ashamed of my actions.”
- Justice Department is probing several prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, after Trump called for the probe. Any formal DOJ investigation has the potential to block the files release.
- Jeffrey Epstein was in 2008 convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. He was arrested on new federal charges of sex trafficking children in 2019 and weeks later died in a federal jail cell in what was ruled a suicide.
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