By Lauren Burke
At a press conference at the base of the steps of the U.S. House on a cold November morning, just hours before a vote to release the files related to the case of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, there was blunt and direct talk.
“Fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world — even the President of the United States. I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for six years for,” said Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“I gave him my loyalty for free… and I’ve never owed him anything but I fought for him for the policies of America First. He called me a traitor for standing for these women,” Rep. Greene added. The Georgia Republican stood in front of a group of 30 women who identify themselves as survivors of sexual violence perpetrated by the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein died in federal custody under suspicious circumstances on August 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
Less than four hours later, members of the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to make the Epstein files public. The vote was a stunning 427-1. Louisiana Republican Clay Higgins was the only House member to vote against releasing the files. Democrat Ro Khanna of California wrote that, “427-1 is a landslide for survivors,” after the vote.
The chief architect of the effort for the files to be released, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, told reporters in a hallway off the House Chamber after the vote that many of his Republican colleagues were relieved that President Trump suddenly reversed course and called for the files to be released in the last 48 hours.
The test of Trump’s course reversal will come soon. Hours after the U.S. House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the U.S. Senate passed it by unanimous consent after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested passage, and no Republican Senator objected.
The question of the Epstein files now heads to the desk of President Trump to become law, and the files will all be publicly released.
Trump’s whiplash reversal on the question of the files gave Republicans who supported the President cover from critics in the MAGA-controlled GOP. In the end, President Trump went from attacking both Republicans Massie and Greene and then suddenly announcing that he would sign the release of the files into law.
Rep. Greene appears to be in the midst of a major political transition against divisive politics that have grown worse under President Trump. Greene told CNN on November 16 that the murder of Charlie Kirk was part of the reason for her change in thinking on the state of political affairs.
The House floor erupted in loud, prolonged applause after the gavel was struck and the final tally was called by the Chair.
At a press conference earlier in the day, Speaker Mike Johnson put up a chart displaying his reasons as to why he felt the Senate should change the language in the Epstein files resolution passed in the House. Saying that he’d spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Speaker Johnson sounded as if there could be a change coming from GOP Senators. There wasn’t.
The survivors of Jeffrey Epstein who appeared at the early morning presser on the House side of the U.S. Capitol also appeared at an evening event at the tech Rayburn House Office Building after the vote. It was clear that their presence mattered to members of Congress, considering whether the files should be public.
