Live updates: Epstein files release bill heads to Trump’s desk as Senate confirmed to automatically pass it

Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who co-sponsored a bill to release government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has responded to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s calls to amend the legislation.

Despite Johnson voting for the bill, he insisted that the Senate amend it. The speaker has argued that the bill doesn’t do enough to protect Epstein survivors.

“Amending this is a fool’s errand. I know why the Speaker’s doing that. He’s trying to save face,” Massie said Tuesday, per NBC News’ Sahil Kapur. “He just voted for a bill that he’s spread lies about for five months in order to try to kill it. And then he had to vote for it because the president told him to. And so he has to pursue some kind of amendment in order to save face.”

The Senate ended up not amending the bill. Instead, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s request for unanimous consent to immediately pass the legislation once it was delivered to the Senate was granted.

After the House voted 427-1 Tuesday to approve a bill to force the release of government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested unanimous consent to immediately pass it once it was delivered to the Senate, which was granted.

In response, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I don’t care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future, I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had…”

Trump has promised to sign the bill if it gets to his desk.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin defended Delegate Stacey Plaskett, who reportedly sent texts to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing.

A resolution from Republican Congressman Ralph Norman called for Plaskett to be censured and removed from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“There’s nothing that House Republicans can do to disgrace Stacey Plaskett because House Republicans continue to disgrace themselves,” Jeffries of New York said on the House floor Tuesday.

Raskin of Maryland said Plaskett was simply “taking a phone call from her constituent,” adding, “I don’t think there’s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing.”

Plaskett represents the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island known as Little St. Thomas.

Read more about the Plaskett-Epstein texts:

The Senate will pass the House bill to force the government to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for unanimous consent.

Once the bill comes to the Senate, it will pass automatically and then be brought to President Donald Trump’s desk. Trump has promised to sign the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he will ask for unanimous consent for the upper chamber to pass the House bill to release government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“As soon as the House sends us the Epstein bill, the Senate should move without delay to pass it unamended and send it on to the president’s desk to be signed into law,” the New York Democrat said on the Senate floor. “We should pass this bill as soon as possible, as written, and without a hint of delay.”

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation compelling the Department of Justice to make public all of its files on the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. But when, or if, the files will ultimately be released remains unclear.

Read more from Eric Garcia:

Senators Rand Paul, Chuck Grassley, Bill Hagerty and Markwayne Mullin are among the Republicans who have said they would support the release of the Epstein files in the Senate immediately.

Haggerty said on X that he would support the release of the files just as President Donald Trump does.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene applauded her colleagues for passing the bill to release the Epstein files nearly unanimously and said she would read the names of the individuals named in the files if they are fully released by the Senate and president.

“Americans are done being lied to. These survivors deserve full transparency. Every document, every truth, every name,” Greene wrote on X.

“And if those names reach me, I will read them on the House floor.”

Annie Farmer, a woman who survived abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein when she was a teenager, applauded the House of Representatives for passing the bill that could compel the Justice Department to release the remainder of the Epstein files.

“My sister, Maria Farmer, first reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to federal authorities nearly three decades ago. Since then, survivors – myself included – have been left in the dark about how our reports were investigated, who was involved in our abuse and trafficking, and why Epstein and Maxwell were able to get away with inflicting pain on so many women and girls for years,” Farmer said in a statement.

Farmer thanked Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, who introduced the bill.

“But today’s actions are only part of the solution — Maria’s lawsuit, which aims to hold the federal government accountable for their mismanagement of her reported abuse, is still ongoing. We hope her suit finally brings much deserved transparency and accountability for all those implicated,” Farmer added.