House Republicans worked late Thursday to draft a resolution addressing the Trump administration’s handling of records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case. The resolution is non-binding but acknowledges calls for greater transparency
The House resolution, which could be voted on next week, does not require the Justice Department to release additional records. However, it reflects growing pressure from the Republican base on the Trump administration and is causing debate among GOP lawmakers.
The House was delayed for hours Thursday from final consideration of President Donald Trump’s request for about $9 billion in government funding cuts as GOP leaders worked to address demands from their members to respond to the Epstein files. Late in the evening, they agreed on a resolution aimed at balancing calls from the far-right for greater transparency with Trump’s position, who has described the issue as a “hoax” that his supporters should move past.
Yet the House resolution was the latest sign that many have not moved on from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s promises to publicly release documents related to Epstein. Since Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019 following his arrest on sex trafficking charges, the financier has remained a focus among conservatives and conspiracy theorists, who have criticized Trump and Bondi for not releasing more files in the case.
“The House Republicans are for transparency, and they’re looking for a way to say that they agree with the White House. We agree with the president. Everything he said about that, all the credible evidence should come out,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday afternoon.
Democrats vehemently decried the resolution's lack of force. They have advanced their own legislation, with support from nine Republicans, that would require the Justice Department to release more information on the case.
Rep. Jim McGovern, who led the Democrats' debate against the Republican resolution Thursday night, called it a “glorified press release” and “a fig leaf so they can move on from this issue.”
Under pressure from his own GOP members, Johnson had to demonstrate action on the Epstein files or risk having Republicans support the Democratic measures that would force the release of nearly all documents.
“The American people simply need to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference. “Democrats didn’t put this into the public domain. The conspiracy theory provocateur-in-chief Donald Trump is the one, along with his extreme MAGA Republican associates, who put this whole thing into the public domain for years. And now they are reaping what they have sown.”
Still, Democrats, who hold minorities in both chambers, have relished the opportunity to make Republicans repeatedly block their attempts to force the Justice Department to release the documents.
Trump in recent years has suggested he would release more information about the investigation into Epstein, especially amid speculation over a supposed list of Epstein's clients.
In February, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.
A White House spokeswoman said Thursday that Trump would not recommend a special counsel in the case. But later Thursday, the president said he had asked Bondi to seek the release of testimony from grand jury proceedings in the case.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said that process would likely only produce limited information, but added that it showed that “the president is hearing the American people.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report