BBC News: Both chambers of Congress agreed to order the US justice department to release its files on sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The House of Representatives overwhelming approved the measure in a 427-1 vote and the Senate unanimously fast-tracked it without a formal vote.
The moves come just days after President Donald Trump reversed his position and urged Congress to vote to disclose the records following public pushback from many of his supporters.
Last week, Trump and his ties to Epstein were thrust back into the headlines after more than 20,000 pages of documents – some mentioning the president – were released. The White House denied any wrongdoing.
Republican Clay Higgins, of Louisiana, was the sole House objector and cited his concern about “innocent people being hurt” with the release of the information.
Trump’s reversal from attacking those on Capitol Hill who wanted the files released to saying there was “nothing to hide” surprised some in Washington.
The Republican congressional leadership was caught off guard after aligning their message with the president for the past few weeks and opposing the release.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had repeatedly called the push to release the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax”.
On Tuesday, he voted in support of release.
The measure had been expected to take a few days to reach the US Senate, but after the resounding afternoon vote in the House, the timeline quickly sped up.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brought up the bill on the floor of the Senate under a procedure called unanimous consent. Because no one objected, there was no debate and no amendments added to the bill.
It will head from the Senate to the president‘s desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.
A congressional vote was not required to release the files – Trump could have ordered the release on his own.
The bill requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to release “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell no later than 30 days after the law is enacted.
Those materials include internal justice department communications, flight logs and people and entities connected to Epstein.
But the bill also gives Bondi the power to withhold information that would jeopardise any active federal investigation or identifies any victims.
