The House Vote was 427 to 1.
The Senate moved by unanimous consent to pass the House legislation the minute it arrives in the upper chamber.
With Donald Trump’s MAGA coalition crumpling over this issue, Congressional Republicans, after months of leaders like Mike ‘Holy Roller Hypocrite’ Johnson stonewalling, evading, lying, delaying the swearing in of a duly elected Representative, humoring their Duce, and partially prolonging a government shutdown of their own design, finally showed some backbone and decency by voting to mandate the Trump regime release all of the files pertaining to the investigation of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The one inexplicable no vote was Louisiana Representative Clay Higgins.
It should be stressed that this legislation should not have taken months to pass or required a discharge petition to get it on the House floor.
With a 427 to 1 House vote, the question should also be asked why a discharge petition should have been necessary in the first place.
It should not be political rocket science to want justice and closure for the victims of sexual assault and pedophilia.
It should be political common sense, a dedication to justice, and basic human compassion.
Of course, while all this was going on, Mr. Trump spent another day displaying his disgusting leader by letting a person connected to the death of a journalist in the Oval Office, berating an ABC journalist for daring to bring the assassination subject up and calling another reporter “Miss Piggy.”
Remarking on the passage of the Epstein File Disclosure Bill on the House Floor, Representative Yassamin Ansari said:
“Mr. Speaker. The walls are closing in on Donald Trump and his rich and powerful friends who either abused or raped children or were enabling and complicit in these heinous crimes for decades. This vote today matters, but here is the truth. Donald Trump could direct the Department of Justice to release the files today. He is choosing not to. They are already under subpoena led by oversight Democrats and have refused. This is an ongoing cover-up by the Trump White House and Mike Johnson in the House has been complicit. What is Trump hiding? Why not release the files today? Release the files today.”
Representative Adelita Grijalva, the person Mike Johnson delayed swearing in for 50 days in part because she was the 218th signature for the Epstein discharge petition also spoke on the House Floor, offering:
“Thank you, and thank you especially to the survivors, family members, and advocates who are here today and who have never given up. I also want to thank the organizations who are standing with us today: The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA), The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), and Ultraviolet and the more than 40 other organizations and dozens of survivors calling on Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
I am not standing here because Congress suddenly found courage — I am standing here because survivors forced Washington to pay attention. Your voices, your persistence, and your truth got us to this moment.
Today is about something very simple: The American people deserve the truth, survivors deserve justice, and no one – no matter how powerful – should be protected by secrecy. This vote, this transparency, and this accountability are long overdue. We now know the thousands of pages released so far are only the tip of the iceberg – and that matters, because without full transparency, we cannot have justice.
Let me be clear. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a human rights issue – and a matter of justice.
The momentum behind this did not come from politicians — it came from survivors and the public who demanded answers. That is why the discharge petition crossed 218 signatures – despite Speaker Johnson doing everything in his power to prevent this from happening, including calling an early summer recess, and delaying my swearing in for seven weeks.
The public pressure cannot stop now. There are going to be people trying to frame this as a hoax, a distraction, or a partisan fight. To them I say: you cannot call it a hoax when real survivors are standing right here. The truth is the truth — and no one’s name, party, wealth, fame, or title should prevent the truth from coming out.
We don’t know yet what every document will show — but that is exactly why they must be released. While the House will hopefully pass this legislation today, this is just the first step. The bill must pass the Senate, the President must sign it, and even then, the DOJ must implement the law fully and responsibly.
So today is a milestone, not the finish line. No one should ever have to fight this hard for truth, but the survivors’ courage inspires all of us. Because sunlight is the best disinfectant, and justice cannot survive in the dark. Thank you.”
Representative Greg Stanton posted:
Senator Ruben Gallego, citing the words of Epstein and Maxwell victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, spoke on the Senate floor:
“I want us to remember what’s really at stake here. This isn’t about Democrats versus Republicans, it’s about real girls who were hurt, abused, and trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and the powerful people who surrounded him.
One of those girls was Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She was forced to stay silent for years, but today, I want to let her speak in her own words. Virginia was just sixteen when she started working at Mar-a-Lago, where she met Epstein’s recruiter, Ghislaine Maxwell. She writes in her memoir:
“‘Maxwell says she knows a wealthy man— longtime Mar‑a‑Lago member, she says—who is looking for a massage therapist to travel with him. My lack of experience doesn’t concern her a bit. ‘I’m sure you’d be terrific,’ she insists, looking me up and down. ‘Will you come for an interview?’ ‘Even today, more than twenty years later, I remember how excited I felt. Could my dreams of becoming a professional masseuse be on their way to coming true so quickly? Something about how this proper, well-spoken lady focused on me made that seem possible. I told her I had to get permission from my dad first, but that I really wanted to come.’
“That wealthy man, we all know now, was Jeffrey Epstein.“And that moment began years of trafficking abuse for Virginia.
“Later in her memoir, she writes: ‘I was about to spend more than two years in Epstein and Maxwell’s orbit. My job: to do whatever they asked whenever they asked it. There were no bars on the windows or locks on the doors. But I was a prisoner trapped in an invisible cage.’
“Those are the words of a child. A child who should have been safe. A child who should have been safe from predators like Epstein and Maxwell.
“She talks about how Epstein gave her money to rent an apartment so her parents wouldn’t question why she had to go to meet Epstein’s clients in the middle of the night.
“Here’s the thing, Epstein didn’t act alone. He had help. And the men who helped him target and abuse young girls and protected him are still out there walking around like nothing happened. This can’t just be another news cycle or another Tuesday. There needs to be justice.”
“We owe it to Virginia Giuffre and every survivor of Epstein’s to finally get the full truth of how this happened and who allowed it to happen. That’s why I’m going to again call for the full release of the Epstein files. Let’s bring this evidence out, stop the secrecy, the cover-ups, and the protecting of these elites. The American people deserve the truth, and Virginia deserves transparency, accountability, and healing.”
“At a press conference earlier today, another Epstein survivor said ‘Today we stand in a moment that will decide whether our government belongs to the American people, or to those who prey on them.’
“We owe it to her, and to every survivor, to chose accountability and release the files.”
After the House vote, Senator Mark Kelly posted:
“Hey folks! Today, the US House of Representatives just passed, almost unanimously a bill to release the Epstein files. One guy voted against it. I don’t know what that dude was thinking. It’s gonna come over to the Senate. We will then pass it, send it over to the President. But by the way, the President could release this information. Now, he could do it immediately. And the folks that have done these horrible things to young women and minors should be held accountable for their actions. This is going to shed some light on that.”
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