Updated November 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM EST
Republicans in the House are on track today to approve the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a vote that follows President Trump's unexpected blessing for a measure that has deeply divided the party and its base.
The bipartisan effort, which has been led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., was long fought by Trump and Republican leadership from reaching the House floor. As recently as last week, White House officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., about her support for releasing the files, but her position was unchanged after the meeting.
Ahead of Tuesday's vote, survivors and their families joined lawmakers for a press conference on Capitol Hill, where they urged Congress to get the bill to Trump's desk. Massie said that although it took four months to force the vote through a process known as a discharge petition, he expected the measure to draw near unanimous support.
"We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win," Massie said. But "they're on our side today ... they are finally on the side of justice."
The vote illustrates a rare win for Republicans willing to defy Trump, who has held a tight grip on the GOP-led Congress since his return to office. Republicans who signaled their support for the measure said their party needed to make good on a campaign trail promise last year to release the files.
For months, Trump has attacked Republicans for pushing the measure, including Massie and most recently Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But he did an about face over the weekend as it became clear a vote in the House was likely to succeed, and said Republicans should approve the bill.
On Tuesday, Greene said her falling out with Trump "has torn MAGA apart."
"I was called a traitor by a man that I fought ... six years for, and I gave him my loyalty for free," she said. "He called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition."
Ahead of Tuesday's vote, survivors shared harrowing stories of getting pulled into the sex trafficking network as minors, and their subsequent fight for justice with Epstein and his allies. Several took aim at President Trump, saying he had politicized their fight.
One survivor, Jena-Lisa Jones, said watching their push for transparency turn political has been painful to watch.
"We are hearing the administration say they intend to investigate various Democrats who were friends with Epstein. I beg you President Trump, please stop making this political. It is not about you," Jones told reporters. "You are our president, please start acting like it ... I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment."
Following Trump's remarks over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday said he was on board with the measure, but wanted the plan amended in the Senate to protect survivor names, among other changes.
"I'm going to vote to move this forward," Johnson told reporters. "It could be close to a unanimous vote because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show they're for maximum transparency. But they also want to know that we're demanding that this stuff gets corrected."
The bill, if passed, would put Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in the hot seat. It's unclear if the chamber will take it up. Massie and other supporters have urged the Senate not to "muck up" the bill and potentially water it down with changes.
On Monday, Trump told reporters at the White House that the Senate can take up the bill as well, and that he would sign it if it passes.
"I'm all for it," Trump said from the Oval Office, but maintained it was a "hoax" that he didn't want to "detract" from his party's success.
Trump does not need legislation in order to approve the files for release, but he told reporters that Congress "can do whatever they want" on the vote.
His remarks came after a simple majority of House members signed onto what is known as a discharge petition — a workaround that forces votes without leadership or committee approval. Last week, the chamber's newest member, Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., became the decisive 218th signature on the petition.
Grijalva's swearing in was delayed for seven weeks after her election, galvanizing Democrats who accused House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., of stalling in order to put off the vote. Johnson rejected that claim, saying her oath of office would not be taken until the government shutdown fight was resolved. He also committed to not block the vote on the House floor.
Tuesday's expected vote also comes after a wave of Epstein files were released last week by members on the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. Democrats first released a set of three emails, followed by thousands of pages of new files released by the panel's chairman, James Comer, R-Ky. The documents triggered new questions about the extent of Trump's relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender before his death in 2019.
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