The House is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on bipartisan legislation requiring the Justice Department to release all unclassified investigative files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a measure that gained new momentum after President Donald Trump abruptly reversed his opposition over the weekend.
Ahead of the vote, more than half a dozen Epstein survivors gathered at the Capitol with Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY) to demand passage and criticize Trump’s prior efforts to block the disclosure.
Haley Robson, who said she met Epstein when she was 16, held up a childhood photo of herself and told lawmakers, “We are fighting for the children.”
Directly addressing Trump, she said, per ABC News: “While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files and I’m grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can’t help but be skeptical of what the agenda is. So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you: I am traumatized. I am not stupid.”
Jena-Lisa Jones, another survivor, urged the President to “please stop making this political.”
“I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment,” Jones said, ABC News reported.
Trump had spent months opposing the release and lashing out at Republicans who supported it, including calling Greene “Marjorie Traitor Greene” and withdrawing his endorsement. On Sunday, however, he told House Republicans to back the bill “because we have nothing to hide.”
Greene praised the survivors on Tuesday as “strong and courageous” and, without naming Trump, declared that a “patriot” serves Americans like the women standing with her.
Massie expressed concern that new Justice Department probes ordered by Trump into Epstein’s ties to prominent Democrats and financial institutions could be used to delay the files’ release under rules shielding ongoing investigations.
The bill, sponsored by Khanna, would require the attorney general to publish all unclassified Epstein-related records — including those concerning Ghislaine Maxwell, flight logs, detention materials, and any destruction of evidence — within 30 days of becoming law.
Khanna predicted “overwhelming” House support but urged the Senate not to alter the measure. The path forward in the upper chamber remains unclear, with GOP leaders noncommittal.
Survivor Lisa Phillips announced a new nonpartisan, survivor-led political movement to close justice-system loopholes that protect abusers, stating, per CBS News, “This fight belongs to us. We lived it and we know the truth and we will not wait quietly for institutions to decide when we’re allowed to speak.”