Virginia Giuffre’s brother chokes back tears as Congress votes to release Epstein files

Washington: The US Congress has overwhelmingly voted to release the so-called Epstein files, with a bill to compel their publication now set to make its way to the desk of President Donald Trump.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed with near-unanimous support from 216 Republicans and 211 Democrats in the House of Representatives, with just one Republican voting “no”.

Cheers erupted from the gallery as the bill passed, and some members of Congress on the floor joined in the applause.

The Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, subsequently agreed by unanimous consent – meaning no vote was required – to consider the bill passed when it arrives from the House. That will happen on Wednesday local time, Senate leader John Thune told CNN. The bill will then go to Trump, who has indicated he will sign it into law.

The flurry of agreement took place after Trump reversed course on the weekend and told Republicans to vote to release the files, after months of resisting attempts by lawmakers to make the records public.

As the Senate made its decision, Trump posted on social media: “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.”

Earlier, Sky Roberts, wearing a light blue shirt with a butterfly pin, fought back tears as he spoke about the abuse suffered by his sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, at the hands of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Epstein and Maxwell didn’t just abuse her. They trafficked her to a network of the rich and powerful,” he said, the Corinthian columns of the US Capitol rising behind him. “She was manipulated, coerced and threatened – forced into complicity in her own devastation.”

Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, killed herself in Western Australia earlier this year at the age of 41. When Roberts spoke of his sister’s legacy, he began to break down. “You didn’t just make a small dent. You made a monumental impact,” he said.

Roberts was among about a dozen survivors and family members who fronted the cameras in the morning as the US Congress prepared for the milestone vote.

For survivors, families and friends, the vote is a watershed moment in a decades-long fight for justice that saw them pitted against not just Epstein, his money and his powerful friends but, at times, the US government and justice system.

One survivor, Annie Farmer, said her older sister Maria had tried to report the abuse they both suffered at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell to the FBI in 1996, but their attempts went nowhere.

At numerous junctures and under various administrations, justice was denied, Farmer said. The most recent example she gave was the Trump Justice Department’s decision not to release more files, and the transfer of Maxwell to a less restrictive prison where she has reportedly received special treatment.

“This is not an issue of a few corrupt Democrats or a few corrupt Republicans,” Farmer said. “This is a case of institutional betrayal.”

Three members of Congress – Republican Thomas Massie, Democrat Ro Khanna and former MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene – joined the news conference on Capitol Hill. Greene and Roberts embraced when the conference concluded.

Greene said the survivors had fought some of the world’s most powerful men, including the president of the United States, referring to Trump. The two former allies have spectacularly fallen out – for several reasons, including Greene’s demands to release the Epstein files. Trump now calls her “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene”.

“I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for six years for,” Greene said. “Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me.”

Greene said the real test for the bill would be whether the Department of Justice actually releases the files, or whether new investigations into Epstein’s links to prominent Democrats – ordered by Trump last week – would stymie the process.

“The list of names that these women privately hold – and they hold it because of the fear in their heart of what would happen to them if they released it on their own – will that list of names come out?” Greene asked.

Massie said the Epstein records were so extensive the Justice Department would not be able to open enough investigations to prevent all of them being released.

Later, Sky Roberts said it was time for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, to come to the US to testify before Congress. Democrats on the House oversight committee have sought his evidence, although they cannot compel him to appear.

“He should come to the US and answer,” Roberts said. “I think the UK is doing far more than the United States in the sense of holding people to account. He needs to answer for the actions he has created. I believe my sister.”

Roberts said he wanted to make sure his sister’s voice was heard. “This is the moment she fought for,” he said. “She should be here. Not me. In some way, I feel like she’s screaming down to us right now, poking ’em on the back, just saying, ‘I’m doing it guys, I’m still here’.”

With AP

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