The China Mail - US lawmakers set for explosive vote on Epstein files

After weeks of resistance, behind-the-scenes pressure and frenzied lobbying against making the material public, the president threw in the towel on Sunday as it became clear that as many as 100 Republicans in Congress were poised to defy him.

The House of Representatives now looks all but certain to advance the Epstein Files Transparency Act, compelling publication of unclassified documents detailing the investigation into the disgraced financier's operations and 2019 death in custody.

Lawmakers say the public deserves answers in a case with over 1,000 alleged victims, while pro-Trump activists insist the files will expose Democrats and other powerful figures long shielded from scrutiny.

Trump can still try to block the files, but killing the bill in the Senate or vetoing it after a lopsided House vote would be awkward to defend, with the midterm elections looming and the public overwhelmingly in favor of transparency.

The saga has exposed rare fissures in support for the Republican leader, who ran on releasing the files but backed off after taking office, accusing Democrats of pushing a "hoax" and attacking politicians who called for their release.

In a late Sunday Truth Social post walking back his opposition, Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the files "because we have nothing to hide."

"I'm all for it," Trump added in the Oval Office on Monday when reporters asked about signing the bill into law if it passes the Senate.

But his about-face landed as a face-saving retreat, and a rare occasion when a revolt from Trump's own rank-and-file had forced his hand.

All Democrats and four Republicans signed a "discharge petition," an extraordinary procedural maneuver forcing the vote, despite the party's House leadership battling hard to block it.

- Last-minute appeals -

At the time of his death, ruled a suicide, Epstein was facing federal trial over an alleged sex trafficking operation said to have exploited underage girls and young women, following a 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution.

Trump's attorney general and FBI director said in July they had completed an "exhaustive review" of the case file that threw up "no basis to revisit the disclosure" of any Epstein materials.

Later that month, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early for summer amid a brewing revolt over Epstein, and kept it out of session for almost two months from mid-September.

He also delayed for weeks swearing in a newly elected Democratic lawmaker who would eventually be the decisive 218th signatory of the discharge petition, although he denies any of these moves were motivated by Epstein.

The White House last week escalated its efforts to avoid the vote, as the president and his allies made last-minute appeals for a rethink from two of the Republican signers of the discharge petition.

The rupture widened when Trump pulled his endorsement of marquee loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene in a stunning break that she said "has all come down to the Epstein files."

"I have no idea what's in the files -- I can't even guess -- but that is the question everyone is asking, is why fight this so hard?" she told CNN.

Trump, who has denied wrongdoing and says he cut ties with Epstein years before the wealthy financier's arrest, has tried to redirect attention toward Epstein's connections with Democrats, including Bill Clinton.

But fresh disclosures -- such as newly surfaced emails from Epstein suggesting Trump "knew about the girls" -- have revived scrutiny of the pair's long association.

If the bill clears the House, Democrats plan an aggressive campaign to pressure Republicans to bring it to the Senate floor.

Passage there would require 60 votes -- meaning at least 13 Republicans crossing over. Even then, Trump could veto the measure, forcing a potentially elusive two-thirds override in both chambers.

W.Cheng--ThChM