House Republicans on Monday night voted against a measure introduced by Democrats that would have compelled the government to release information on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including a rumored client list of his. The move potentially protects powerful people from being implicated in Epstein’s crimes, even as Republicans have touted themselves as being for “law and order.”
The measure was introduced by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California during a meeting of the House Rules Committee as it debated a cryptocurrency-related bill. If the vote had passed, the amendment would have been attached to the bill, and if the bill were enacted, it would have required the Department of Justice to compile and publicly release all of its records on Epstein, who died in 2019 in prison.
The vote failed 5 to 6, with only one Republican—South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman—joining all Democrats in voting in favor of the amendment.
“This is about trust. Republicans said, ‘Trust us. Vote for us and we will release these files.’ Well here we are—they’re backtracking,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said, chiding Republicans for their obstruction.
Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, chair of the committee, defended the party’s vote. “I think most of us believe what’s appropriate will be released when it is time for the president to release it,” she said.
But in recent days President Donald Trump and his administration have been accused of covering up on behalf of Epstein, who sex-trafficked underage women. For years, Trump and other Republicans invoked the Epstein issue to cast aspersions on their political opponents, whom they implied—without evidence—were clients of Epstein.
In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi even invited right-wing influencers to the White House to purportedly release Epstein-related data, much of which was already public. Now the Trump administration has claimed that the alleged client list doesn’t exist, and Trump has demanded that his MAGA supporters stop bringing up the issue.
Pro-Trump media outlets like Fox News quickly fell in line. The network severely curtailed its mentions of Epstein shortly after Trump’s edict.
Trump’s decision to pivot away from revealing Epstein-related information also raises questions about his own relationship with the convicted criminal. The two men were friends for decades, and Epstein was seen on multiple occasions partying with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump is an admitted serial sexual assailant and was found liable for sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump financier Elon Musk has previously claimed that Trump’s name was in Epstein’s files, but with the administration obfuscating on the details, the full truth has not come out.
Republicans in Congress have now made it more difficult to know the true extent of Epstein’s crimes and which powerful people, if any, may have been complicit.