US Senate unanimously agrees to send Epstein files bill to Trump’s desk once it’s received from House
The US Senate has unanimously agreed to pass the House-backed bill forcing the Justice Department to release its Epstein case files, as soon as it is received from the chamber.
The Senate, having adopted it by unanimous consent, will not have to take any further action, and the bill will be transmitted to President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as it arrives to the Senate.
It was not immediately clear when the legislation would be received in the Senate.
In this July 30, 2008, file photo, Jeffrey Epstein, centre, appears in court in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)Donald Trump had a long-running friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. (AP)
It generally takes a bit of time — sometimes a few hours — to transmit legislation from one chamber to another.
And House Speaker Mike Johnson, should he choose, could slow walk the transmission of the legislation up to the first week of December – when the discharge petition in the House would have ripened.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made the request on the floor, and since no senator objected, it was passed without the Senate needing to take a roll call vote.
“The Senate has now passed the Epstein bill — as soon as it comes over from the House,” Schumer announced.
The speed with which the bill moved through both chambers of Congress today marked a stark reversal from recent months when Trump and GOP leaders worked furiously to quash it.
But Trump ultimately decided to allow his party to back the measure as pressure mounted within the GOP.
Trump previously said he would sign the measure if it reached his desk.
The president said he would sign the bill if Congress passed it, after months of calling the issue a “Democratic hoax”.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, centre, is joined by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Representative Lisa McClain. (AP)Jeffrey Epstein in court in West Palm Beach. He died by suicide in 2019. (AP)
Trump on Monday said he would sign the bill if it passes both chambers of Congress, adding, “Let the Senate look at it”.
Sky Roberts, the brother of prominent Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, said Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to “a network of the rich and powerful princes, prime ministers, politicians, financiers and lawyers” who “committed unspeakable acts against her”.
“My sister is not a political tool for you to use. These survivors are not political tools for you to use. These are real stories, real trauma,” he said, clearly emotional.
“We will not let Virginia’s fight be in vain together. We will not let the predators win together.”
Giuffre, whose posthumous memoir was released last month this year after her death on her farm in Western Australia in April, has long alleged former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor assaulted her multiple times when she was a teenager, a claim the royal has strenuously denied.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, outside the US Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Long-time Trump supporter Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene stood with some of the abuse survivors outside the Capitol on Tuesday morning (early Wednesday AEDT).
“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight, and they did it by banding together and never giving up,” she said.
“And that’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the President of the United States.
“In order to make this vote happen today, I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for five, no, actually, six years for, and I gave him my loyalty for free.”
A separate investigation conducted by the House Oversight Committee has released thousands of pages of emails and other documents from Epstein’s estate, showing his connections to global leaders, Wall Street powerbrokers, influential political figures and Trump himself.
Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein years ago, but tried for months to move past the demands for disclosure.
On Monday, he told reporters that Epstein was connected to more Democrats and that he didn’t want the Epstein files to “detract from the great success of the Republican Party”.
Still, many in the Republican base have continued to demand the release of the files.
