All four members of Utah’s U.S. House delegation voted to release the Epstein files Tuesday, joining a near-unanimous vote after President Donald Trump called on members of his party to support the measure.
And hours later, the Senate passed the measure Tuesday via unanimous consent, which requires the approval of all members, but avoids a roll call vote.
The legislation is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk. Despite previous objections, Trump said he would sign the legislation into law.
The bill — sponsored by California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, among others — will “require the Attorney General to release all documents and records in possession of the Department of Justice relating to Jeffrey Epstein,” the late convicted sex offender.
Utah’s Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Mike Kennedy and Burgess Owens — all Republicans — voted yes, and the measure passed the House 427-1. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., was the sole vote against.
The bill moved through the Senate swiftly following the House vote, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for unanimous consent on the measure.
“The American people have waited long enough,” Schumer told reporters earlier Tuesday. “They want to see what’s in it.”
There were no objections and no debate, meaning that although there was no official roll call vote on the floor, both of Utah’s GOP Senate members, Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, approved the passage.
Spokespeople for Kennedy, Owens and Lee did not respond to a request for comment on the bill’s passage through both chambers.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Maloy said, “Today’s vote to release all unclassified documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation was a clear commitment to transparency. This vote, along with the steps already taken by the Oversight Committee, reflects the ongoing effort to make more information available to the public.”
A spokesperson for Utah’s 1st District representative told The Tribune after the vote, “As Congressman Moore has said since July, he supports transparency while protecting the information of victims and innocent individuals. He has supported the Oversight Committee’s diligent work to issue subpoenas and release documents, and he believes this next step will augment that work.”
Lee and Curtis — who referred The Tribune to his previous comments on the files — have both previously expressed support for the disclosure of the files.
All four of Utah’s House members previously voted to block the release of the documents, and changed their position on the House resolution after Trump said he would support the legislation.
“Under our @HouseGOP majority, @GOPoversight has released 65,000 pages of documents, released the Acosta interview transcript, subpoenaed the @TheJusticeDept‘s records, and issued subpoenas to the Epstein Estate and Ghislaine Maxwell,” Owens wrote on X after Tuesday’s vote.
The legislation will require the Department of Justice to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice” related to Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s former girlfriend and co-conspirator — and “[i]ndividuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity or plea agreements, or investigatory proceedings.”
It would also require the DOJ to release flight logs related to Epstein, any information about entities with ties to Epstein, any immunity deals related to Epstein and any documentation related to Epstein’s detention and 2019 death in prison.
The sudden passage Tuesday through both chambers came after months of fighting in Washington over the release of the files. Despite promising during his campaign to release them if elected, Trump, once in office, changed his tune. On Sunday, however, with a floor vote looming, he made a U-turn and called on Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.
“[W]e have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote in a social media post over the weekend. “It’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’”
Trump’s comments came after House Democrats on the Oversight Committee released emails last week from Epstein mentioning Trump, including one in which Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.” Trump called the emails a “hoax” and, when Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey asked what Epstein meant by the comment, Trump responded, “Quiet, piggy.”
Prior to Trump changing his mind, only four Republicans — Reps. Massie Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado — supported the discharge petition to force a House floor vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday morning ahead of the vote that he had “been opposed to it all along,” but ultimately supported the measure. “None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency,” he said.
Last week, prior to Trump’s new stance on the issue, Curtis said he was in favor of releasing the Epstein files “as an exercise in transparency.”
“There need to be some guardrails, making sure that we’re protecting some of the victims,” Curtis said, “so let’s check that box, but let’s be transparent. And if there’s nothing there, let’s put it to bed.”
Lee has previously pushed for the Epstein files to be released, writing on X in February, “Who else hasn’t forgotten about the need to release the Epstein files?”
Lee has demurred, however, in recent months, and said during a podcast interview in July that he would support Maxwell testifying in front of Congress, though he did not go so far as to say he supported the release of the files.
In September, Lee posted, “Prediction: leftists will soon lose interest in Jeffrey Epstein.”
Note to readers, 8 p.m. • This story has been updated to include a statement from Reps. Celeste Maloy and Blake Moore and Sen. John Curtis.