Final Trump assent awaits as US Congress approves release of Epstein files; how it unfolded out and its likely effects?
The release of the Epstein files has come to dominate the US political discourse in a way that many would never have imagined. It has become a major point of contention between not just Trump and Democrats, but between Trump and a majority of his own support base as well.
New Delhi: In a major and surprising move, the US Senate House on Tuesday approved a bill directing the Justice Department to release all files related to the investigation surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. The near-unanimous vote was sudden and resulted in dismantling months of Republican efforts to curtail the release of the files.
After the vote, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, won unanimous agreement for the Senate to pass the measure as soon as it arrived in the chamber. This clears the bill to be passed on to the President, Donald Trump. Trump, who had himself been part of derailing the bill, in a major turnabout, has now said that he would be clearing it once it reaches his office.
A momentous decision
The US Senate unanimously passed the bill by a vote of 437-1, termed the, it requires the federal government to release all documents relating to the investigations surrounding convicted sex-offeneder Jeffery Epstein. The house-backed bill will effectively force the Justice Department to release all documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case files as soon as it is received from the chamber.
In the house, the unprecedented 427-to-1 vote saw Representative Clay Higgins, a far-right Republican from Louisiana as the only lawmaker to vote "no”. The bill will now be sent to President Donald Trump for him to sign, the Senate’s work being complete in the matter.
The vote came out of months of efforts by Republicans to halt it, and the Democrats to have it passed. Eventually coming about after three Republicans signed a petition that made it possible for the supporters of the bill to circumvent leadership and force it for a floor vote, which took place eventually.
While Trump hounded the three Republican Party members, all significantly women, who supported the bill, his efforts eventually were unsuccessful. Meanwhile many have castigated Trump for not releasing the Epstein files himself, saying he did not need a Senate vote for it. "Donald Trump could release these files on his own,” accused Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts.
Major repercussions for US polity
The fact that the bill came about only after intervention from Republican defectors shows how vehemently the issue has fractured the US political establishment.
Even as they voted for the bill and the release of the files, many Republicans were still of the opinion that the measure was a "political show vote” undertaken by Democrats to incur damage on Donald Trump. Nonetheless, there exists a part of the Republican faction and many others in Trump’s voter base who have been in support of releasing the Epstein files.
The issue has been of importance even during Trump’s Presidential campaign where he, and many of his closest supporters, promised the American public that they would release the Epstein files. Trump's eventual hesitance to not release the files after getting elected was seen as a betrayal by many.
A Reuters/Ipsos four-day poll released on November 18, has also found that President Donald Trump's popularity dipped to the lowest in his second term for reasons including his handling of the cost of living and the Jeffery Epstein files. Trump is known for sticking to, and acting on, his convictions, at least those that mirror the ones of a large part of his vote base. The Epstein files remained as one of the few issues where despite the insistence of his voter base, Trump was seen as laxing in action. The release now might be imminent and whether Trump wanted it or not would not matter, its findings though can go either way for the President when he signs on the bill.