Nov. 19 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate formally approved the bill to force the Department of Justice to release the files from the criminal case against convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday.
The move was a formality, as the chamber approved the bill on Tuesday. The Senate unanimously approved the measure hours after the House voted 427-1 in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The bill will now go to President Donald Trump, who has said he will sign it.
On Tuesday, the Senate agreed unanimously to declare the bill passed by the Senate as soon as it was sent over by the House this morning. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said it would then be sent to Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it a “good victory for victims, for the American people, for transparency.”
“Democrats fought and fought and fought to have this happen. It took too long, but we persisted and persisted and got it done,” Schumer said.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was disappointed that the Senate didn’t change anything about the bill.
“I made clear for months that I thought there were serious flaws in the underlying bill. And I had hoped that the Senate would work to fix and correct those. They decided to go a different direction. That’s their prerogative. I was surprised and disappointed by that,” he told reporters.
“But overall, I mean, the bill has passed. Congress has spoken, and, you know, we did what was necessary. I hope it brings comfort to the victims and the survivors,” he added. Johnson fought against the bill for months.
Haley Robson, Epstein survivor and Republican, told CNN’s Pamela Brown that she lost respect for Johnson when he delayed swearing in Rep. Adelita Grijalva to prevent the bill from passing and called Democrats’ actions a political show.
“Well, I was present in the room when they were doing the votes, as well as all the survivors. And I can say the only theatrics I saw was from him,” Robson said. “This is not a hoax. There is no theater coming from us or the survivors on our end. I’m appalled by him in general, and I’ve lost a lot of respect by him.”
Robson also was critical of Trump and lawmakers who campaigned on releasing the files, and then didn’t.
“You lose all credibility when you go back on your promises to the American people and the survivors that you campaigned on in 2024. You lose all credibility when you play the flip-flop game and you start intimidating people in your own party, like [Representatives] Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, that are on the right side of things,” she said.
Epstein abuse survivor Alicia Arden told CNN that the passage of the bill made her feel “vindicated.” She filed a report against Epstein in 1997.
“I feel a little vindicated and very, very happy to see that that passed 427 to 1,” Arden told CNN’s Kate Bolduan, saying that she hopes Trump signs it into law Wednesday.
She said she felt a “weight lifted” for her. “I wasn’t even thinking it was going to go that far,” she said.
Survivor Annie Farmer, who was 16 when she suffered abuse from Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, told CNN that having a large group of survivors and supporters has helped her.
“Every time a large group gathers, it completely changes the dynamic and the experience,” she said. “It really does move us from feeling fearful to feeling like we are feared. We have power together.”
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