What's next in Congress on the push to release the Epstein files
[November 14, 2025]
By MATT BROWN and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is speeding toward a vote next week on
releasing files related to the sex trafficking investigation into
Jeffrey Epstein, a step that comes after months of resistance from
Republican leaders.
They have no choice but to allow consideration of the bill after a
petition on the measure reached the necessary 218 signatures. It comes
at a time when new documents are raising fresh questions about Epstein
and his associates, including a 2019 email that Epstein wrote to a
journalist that said President Donald Trump “knew about the girls.” The
White House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to
smear the Republican president.
Public speculation has been rampant for years about Epstein’s operation,
death and connection to powerful and wealthy individuals, including
Trump, former President Bill Clinton, tech billionaires and celebrity
academics, among others.
Why is the House about to vote?
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a
petition in July to force a vote on their bill, the Epstein Files
Transparency Act.
The effort was backed by all House Democrats and four Republicans,
including Massie and Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor
Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
Minutes after Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was sworn into office
Wednesday, she signed her name to the Epstein petition, pushing it to
the magic number of 218 — a majority in the 435-member House.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said following Grijalva's swearing-in that
he would expedite the petition process to bring a vote on the bill to
the House floor early next week.
Johnson has pushed back on claims that he has obstructed the Epstein
legislation to protect Trump or others. He told reporters Wednesday that
the Republican majority took issue with the phrasing of the measure,
which he claimed did not adequately protect victims. Johnson has also
pointed repeatedly to the Epstein investigation being conducted by the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has resulted in
thousands of pages of documents being released, including more than
20,000 on Wednesday.
What does the bill do?
The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and
communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the
investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about
Epstein’s victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to
be redacted, per the bill.
The department, however, would not be allowed to redact information due
to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity,
including to any government official, public figure, or foreign
dignitary.”
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President Donald Trump speaks before signing the funding bill to
reopen the government, in the Oval Office of the White House,
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Is it going to pass?
Johnson, who had dismissed the petition as a “moot point,” said he
will bring the measure to a vote next week. If everyone who signed
the petition supports it on the floor, it will pass.
But the bill appears likely to pick up additional Republican votes —
potentially dozens or more — now that it is moving forward. Rep. Don
Bacon, R-Neb., who did not sign the discharge petition, has said he
plans to back it.
The tougher test will come in the Senate, where Republicans hold a
53–47 majority and it would likely take 60 votes to move the bill to
final passage.
Asked in September whether the Senate would take up the Epstein bill
if it passed the House, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said, “I
can’t comment on that at this point.”
Thune added that the Justice Department “has already released tons
of files related to this matter.”
“I trust them in terms of having the confidence that they’ll get as
much information out there as possible in a way that protects the
rights of the victims,” Thune said.
Can Trump stop it?
If the measure passes the Senate, it would go to Trump, who almost
certainly would veto it. He has opposed the discharge petition from
the start, even reaching out Wednesday to two Republicans who had
signed it.
“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again
because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve
done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump posted on
his Truth Social platform. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican
would fall into that trap.”
A president's veto can be overridden with a two-third vote in both
chambers. That has only happened twice since 2009.
Massie said Trump can avoid the entire ordeal by releasing all the
Epstein files held by the federal government.
“There’s still time for him to be the hero,” Massie said of Trump.
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