The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill requiring the Department of Justice to release all remaining records in the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of trafficking minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation, CNN reported.
The House of Representatives passed the bill almost unanimously just hours earlier.
The bill will be sent to US President Donald Trump for signature immediately after it is received by the House. Trump himself previously wrote on Truth Social that “he doesn't care when the Senate passes the bill“. The American leader urged Republicans to vote for the measure, although he had previously strongly opposed the full release of the records, criticizing his party members who had demanded it.
Jeffrey Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to organizing prostitution and was convicted of raping a minor, was arrested again in the United States in the summer of 2019 and charged with trafficking girls, including 14-year-olds, and soliciting them for prostitution. In August of that year, the 66-year-old billionaire committed suicide in prison before his trial. His girlfriend and accomplice, British citizen Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding and abetting human trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Epstein's clients are believed to have included influential and wealthy individuals, including politicians and businessmen. Because of his ties to Epstein, King Charles III of Great Britain stripped his brother Andrew of his royal titles and ordered him expelled from his Windsor residence.
According to The Washington Post, Trump and Epstein had known each other since the early 1980s, when they lived next door in Florida. The two often appeared together in public, and Trump flew on Epstein's plane many times. They had a falling out at the turn of the century. The American leader himself has repeatedly denied any friendship or ties to the financier.
Trump promised to declassify all materials on the Epstein case during his election campaign. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February that she had the financier's "client list" on her desk, but later said she meant the case files as a whole. The Justice Department and the FBI have said that the "client list" does not exist.
However, due to allegations that Trump was involved in the files, both Democrats and Republicans have continued to push for their declassification. Interest in the case waned during the prolonged government shutdown, but after that, and with the release of Epstein's emails, which allege that Trump "knew about the girls", attention to the issue has been renewed.
Poitico reported that Epstein's emails also contained proposals to share information about Trump with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart in 2018.
The documents were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. This was criticized by both Republicans and Trump himself, who called the Democrats' actions a "hoax" designed to distract from his successes as president.