The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Tuesday (18th) that compels the Department of Justice to release documents pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with a vote of 427 to 1.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) was the sole dissenting vote, while two Republicans and three Democrats abstained. Many lawmakers applauded and cheered as the bill passed.

Proponents of releasing all records argue that the documents could contain information about Epstein's connections to powerful figures worldwide, particularly whether he provided young women as sexual partners to them.

The bill, known as the "Epstein Files Transparency Act," mandates that the Attorney General release all materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days. However, Republican leadership has maintained a cautious stance on the release, citing potential national security classified information within the documents.

Rep. Higgins stated that day, "I have opposed this bill from the very beginning based on principle." In a post on X, he elaborated, "This bill is a dereliction of the 250-year-old American criminal justice process. As written, it exposes and harms thousands of innocent people – witnesses, alibi providers, families. If the bill is enacted as it is, the wholesale release of criminal investigative records to such a rabid media will result in innocent people being harmed."

Rep. Higgins further added, "The Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation and has already released over 60,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case. These efforts will continue in a way that provides all due protection to innocent Americans. If the Senate amends the bill to properly address the privacy of victims and other Americans not accused of crimes, I will vote to send it back to the House."

Speaker Johnson raised political suspicions towards Democratic lawmakers, questioning why they were pushing for the release of these files at this particular time.

Four Republican lawmakers, along with all Democratic members, signed a discharge petition to bring the matter to the floor, bypassing the Speaker's authority. Speaker Johnson opposed these efforts but ultimately voted in favor of the bill's passage, stating his expectation that the Senate would rectify the bill's "serious flaws."

The vote came just a day after President Trump urged Republican lawmakers to vote in favor of the bill, which gained broad support within the Republican party after Trump announced he would sign it if passed by Congress.

President Trump accused Democrats of trying to use the scandal as a weapon to distract from his administration's historic achievements. He wrote on Truth Social, "House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files. We have nothing to hide, and it's time to move past this Democrat hoax that the radical left fanatics are spreading to excuse the Republican big wins, especially out of the Democrat 'shutdown.'"

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that morning that Senate Majority Leader John Thune would amend the discharge petition filed in the Senate to address the clear issues related to protecting victims' privacy and send the bill back to the House. He said it was "uncertain" whether the bill would even be "taken up" in the Senate.

NNP Representative Editor Sung Ku Hong / Special correspondent for this paper NNP info@newsandpost.com