From Trump to lawmakers: Who said what in fight to release Epstein files

The US Congress approved the bill to force the public release of Jeffrey Epstein's case files, sparking reactions from President Donald Trump, lawmakers and survivors

US lawmakers have approved a major step toward making the Justice Department’s files on Jeffrey Epstein public, clearing the Epstein Files Transparency Act in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday (local time). The House passed it with a strong majority, and the Senate followed soon after. The bill will now be sent to President Donald Trump, who has already said he will sign it into law.

How the bill advanced through Congress

 

The House passed the bill with a 247-1 vote, showing rare bipartisan unity. The only dissent came from Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who argued that releasing the files could “absolutely result in innocent people being hurt”.

 

Soon after, the Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent, meaning the chamber agreed to pass it without a formal vote or debate. According to AFP, senators cleared the bill the moment it reached them from the House.

 

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death and the secrecy surrounding related federal documents have fuelled years of demands for transparency. 

Who said what about the Jeffrey Epstein files

 

As lawmakers debated the issue, leaders, victims and politicians made remarks about why the files should, or should not, be released. Here is a look at the key statements made on Tuesday (local time):

Donald Trump

 

"I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert."

 

Jena-Lisa Jones, who said Epstein abused her at age 14

 

"Please stop making this political. It is not about you, President Trump. I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment."

Rep Thomas Massie (Republican, Kentucky)

 

"The DOJ is protecting pedophiles and sex traffickers. The time for that to stop is now... How will we know if this bill has been successful? We will know when there are men, rich men, in handcuffs, being perp-walked to the jail. And until then, this is still a cover up."

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican, Georgia)

 

"This was a fight that we should have never had to wage. It should have been the easiest thing for every single member of Congress, it should have been the easiest thing for the Speaker of the House, it should have been the easiest thing for the President of the United States to release all the information, every single file, on behalf of these American women."

Wendy Davis, one of Epstein’s accusers

 

"None of us here signed up for this political warfare. We never asked to be dragged into battles between people who never protected us in the first place. We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the politics that swirl around it."

 

"When survivors travel to speak, to advocate, to stand for the truth, we do it with our own money from our own pockets, carrying our own fear, shaking in our own bodies. There is no team. There is no paycheck. It's just us hoping our voices make a difference. And it puts a pit right in your stomach because you know you're standing on the right side of history, but standing on the right side of history is not a comfortable place to be. It never has been."

Rep Ro Khanna (Democrat, California)

 

"These rich, greedy men abused American values. They abused what's sacred about this country... and it is time that they're going to have a reckoning. The Epstein class is going to go, and the reason they're going to go is because the progressive Left and the MAGA right, and everyone in between, is finally waking up against this rotten system."

Haley Robson, an Epstein accuser, speaking outside the Capitol

 

"I want everybody to take a look. I know everybody sees us today as grown adults, but we are fighting for the children that were abandoned and left behind in the reckoning. This is who you're fighting for. This is who Congress is fighting for. This is who the House of Representatives are fighting for, and hopefully the Senate will fight for us, too."

 

(With agency inputs)