WASHINGTON — The House passed and the Senate approved a bill on Tuesday to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the late child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.

The House vote was 427–1, and the Senate approved the bill unanimously, with automatic passage set for Wednesday as soon as the bill’s papers come over from the House. The bill’s passage is a rebuke of Trump, who fought the legislation for months until it became clear it would pass the House over his opposition.

“He positioned our party against the people, and our party chose the people, not him,” the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), told HuffPost after the vote.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act gives the Justice Department 30 days to publish all of its Epstein records “in a searchable and downloadable format.”

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) was the lone “no” vote. He said in a statement that the bill “abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America.”

The House chamber erupted in applause as the bill was passed.

Trump has not been implicated in Epstein’s crimes, despite his name being mentioned in a separate tranche of documents obtained from Epstein’s estate by Congress. But Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill have gone to great lengths, for months, to try to stop this bill from getting a vote. It only hit the House floor on Tuesday after a bipartisan group of lawmakers collected enough signatures for a rare “discharge petition,” which allowed them to go around Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and force the House to vote on their bill.

As it became clear there was growing GOP momentum to pass this bill, Trump abruptly changed his tune and on Sunday said Republicans should go ahead and vote for it.

Ahead of the vote, some of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse spoke at a press conference outside the Capitol. Several held up photos of themselves as teenagers, when they were recruited by Epstein and his accomplices. They condemned Trump for characterizing the Epstein scandal as an effort to damage the president politically, as he had been friends with Epstein for years.

“It is not about you, President Trump,” Jena-Lisa Jones said. “I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment.”

The House overwhelmingly voted to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, a major rebuke of President Donald Trump's efforts to hide documents potentially tying him to Epstein.

AP

At another press event before the vote, Johnson did his damndest to attack the bill. He knew it was on track to get a big, bipartisan vote — including his own! — but he railed against it anyway in what was almost certainly a performance for an audience of one: Trump.

Johnson falsely claimed the bill wouldn’t protect the privacy of Epstein’s victims. He falsely claimed it cites the wrong section of federal code. Without naming names, he criticized the four Republicans who had been working with Democrats to force a vote on this bill in the first place, Reps. Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.).

“Clearly, this is a political exercise for Democrats, and a few others, sadly,” Johnson said, calling their push for a vote on this bill “deceitful and dishonest.”

The speaker seemed rattled when a reporter pointed out that his support for a vote on releasing Epstein’s files “is a reversal for you,” as Johnson had been fighting it for months.

“It’s not a reversal,” Johnson insisted, claiming his effort to deny the vote was about wanting Congress to be more thoughtful about how the bill was put together. “There’s a reason you have rules and processes here, to ensure that this was not done haphazardly.”

Asked point-blank why he’s now supporting a bill he’s been trying to block for so long and whether it was because Trump changed his mind and said Republicans should support it, Johnson said it was the “only intellectually consistent position” he could take after lawmakers collected enough signatures to force a vote.

“None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency,” Johnson said. “The only way to ensure that both of those things are true at the same time is to allow for everyone to vote their conscience.”

“It’s not a reversal!" Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) insisted, when asked about his reversal in opposing a vote to force DOJ to release its Epstein files.

via Associated Press

Johnson on Tuesday said he’d talked to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and was “very confident” that if it came up, Republicans would amend the legislation to ensure it has “protections” in it for victims. It’s not clear what that means, since there are already protections in the bill, but either way, the Senate didn’t bother with any amendments.

Even after Trump signs the bill into law ― which he said he would do ― it’s possible some of the Epstein materials could remain concealed. Trump previously ordered the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to various Democrats, and this bill allows the department to withhold documents that would “jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution.”

As Greene put it Tuesday morning before the House vote, “The real test will be, will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations?”

It’s also possible the Trump administration will simply not follow the law. The Justice Department is already handing over documents in response to a congressional subpoena for all of the Epstein files, but Democrats and Republicans alike have expressed skepticism that the department will hand over everything.

This story has been updated to clarify that Senators unanimously agreed to pass the bill as soon as it comes over from the House, which didn’t happen before the Senate adjourned on Tuesday.