Jeffrey Epstein

Nov. 27 (UPI) — A federal judge who oversaw the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday demanded prosecutors explain how they are protecting victims’ privacy after the release of unredacted documents.

New York-based Judge Richard Berman issued the order in response to a letter raising alarm about how the names of some of Epstein’s victims were included in a trove of documents released by Congress earlier this month.

The order comes amid a recent push for more transparency into the investigation of Epstein, a now-deceased financier who had ties to the wealthy and powerful.

However, Bradley Edwards and Brittany Henderson, attorneys representing the victims, wrote in a letter to Berman on Tuesday that transparency cannot “come at the expense of the privacy, safety and protection of sexual abuse and sex-trafficking victims.”

“These women are not political pawns,” the attorneys wrote. “They are mothers, wives and daughters. These are women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and in some instances by others, and who have already had their rights violated in the past by the government.”

The House Oversight Committee has released dozens of documents from the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate that exposed victims’ identities, causing them “significant emotional distress,” they wrote. Victims have already been approached by the press after their names were released, the attorneys wrote.

The attorneys called the situation “absolutely unacceptable and a problem that must be rectified prior to the release of any additional documents.” One victim described being unable to sleep or function after the release.

The Department of Justice unsuccessfully asked Berman to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits in Epstein’s case. However, the victims’ attorneys wrote in their letter that the documents reveal little compared to the department’s investigative files.

Earlier this month, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed a bill directing the DOJ to release files on its investigation into Epstein.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton wrote to a separate judge Wednesday that the department “intends to redact or withhold victim information to the fullest extent permitted” by the recently passed law.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — A Democrat and a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives have co-sponsored a resolution that calls for raising the number of votes needed to censure a colleague from a majority to 60% as a way to force “bipartisan support.”

The two-page resolution introduced by Democrat Don Beyer of Virginia and Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska on Friday comes amid efforts to censure three House members in an escalating numbers of members looking to take action against one another.

“The process of censures and disciplinary measures in the House is broken, and all of us know it,” Beyer said in a joint press release with Bacon announcing the legislation.

“These measures were historically reserved for rare and exceptional cases after a lengthy process that allowed time for investigations and due process, but that precedent has deteriorated,” he said. “Our resolution would break the cycle of censures to help return focus in the House to solving problems for the American people.”

The effort, the duo told colleagues in a letter on Thursday, would fix the problem and raise the level of sanity in the chamber, the New York Times reported.

“A U.S. House ruled by mob mentality cannot function. The institution and American people deserve better than what we’ve seen this week. The vast middle must stand up to the extremes and put commonsense safeguards in place,” Bacon said in the release.

The bill already had 29 sponsors by Friday afternoon, Roll Call reported.

“It has become a political tactic, rather than an action to protect the reputation of the House,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who in past years served as the majority and minority leader, told the Times. “If it becomes common, it will lose its prophylactic effect.”

Since 1832, the House has censured members 25 times and issued reprimands 11 times — and censured members just six times in the 21st century, according to NBC News.

Bacon and Beyer noted in the press release that most censures in history have come “after lengthy ethics investigations that established criminal activity or serious misconduct.”

Expulsion from Congress requires two-thirds approval, with 16 members of the House and five members of the Senate having been ejected from office, according to Congressional records. The vast majority — 17 — got the boot during the Civil War for backing the Confederacy.

The most recent expulsion was former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was later convicted in federal court, although President Donald Trump commuted his sentence after he had served three months in prison.

“The proliferation of resolutions to punish our fellow Members with censure, disapproval or the revocation of committee assignments has become unsustainable, to the point that they now impair our ability to work together to address serious issues. I fear this is inflicting lasting damage on this institution,” Beyer said Friday.

Just this week, there has been a raft of censure efforts introduced in the House, some successful and some not.

On Tuesday, the House rebuked Rep. Jesus Garcia, a Democrat serving Illinois, for hand-selecting his successor after announcing his retirement after the filing deadline for the Democratic primary.

Also on Tuesday, the House voted against censuring Stacey Plaskett, the U.S. delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, amid revelations that she received information via text from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., filed a resolution to censure Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who has been accused of financial misconduct and domestic abuse. In that case, the House voted to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., also threatened to censure, and then expel, fellow Floridian, Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick after she was indicted this week for allegedly stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — House Republicans have called on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify before a committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., issued congressional subpoenas seeking Bill Clinton’s testimony Dec. 17 and Hillary Clinton a day later as the committee investigates the Epstein case, USA Today reported.

“The committee looks forward to confirming their appearance and remains committed to delivering transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein’s heinous crimes and for the American people,” Comer said in a statement.

Comer on Aug. 5 sought the Clintons’ testimonies regarding their relationship with former financier and convicted sex offender Epstein, but their attorney asked Nov. 3 that they be allowed to submit a “written proffer of what little information” they have to share, according to the New York Post.

Comer accused the Clintons of demanding the House committee scrap any plans for them to appear before it when responding to the attorney’s request.

The committee chairman also said the attorney admitted the Clintons have relevant information regarding the matter.

“It is precisely the fact President Clinton and Secretary Clinton each maintained relationships with Mr. Epstein and Ms. [Ghislaine]Maxwell in their personal capacities as private citizens that is of interest to the committee,” Comer told the Clintons’ attorney.

Some legal experts have suggested the Clintons could claim executive privilege to avoid testifying before the committee, but others say the relationships they maintained while in their personal capacities would not be subject to executive privilege, according to the New York Post.

Maxwell unlikely to testify

While the Clintons are scheduled to appear before the House committee next month, Politico reported Maxwell has invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if she were brought before the committee.

“I could spend a bunch of taxpayer dollars to send staff and members down there,” Comer said. “If she’s going to plead the Fifth, I don’t know that that’s a good investment.”

Maxwell is imprisoned for 20 years after being convicted on child-sex-trafficking charges in 2022.

Comer subpoenaed her testimony in July, but Maxwell said she only would testify after the appeals she filed regarding her conviction were addressed.

The Supreme Court since has denied her request to reassess her conviction.

Maxwell also has sought immunity against future prosecutions in exchange for her committee testimony, which Comer said will not happen.

She did participate in a two-day deposition with the Justice Department in July and afterward was transferred from a Florida prison to a minimum-security prison in Texas.

FBI, police protect Epstein files storage

The location where the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation files is being guarded after Mark Epstein, brother of Jeffrey, on Tuesday accused the FBI of scrubbing the files of any mention of Republicans while they are being held at its Central Records facility in Winchester, Va., Bloomberg reported.

Mark Epstein claimed a “credible source” told him the files were being doctored, and his claim was shared on social media. Several people suggested protesting the FBI’s Winchester office and possibly seizing the files.

FBI officials deemed such comments to be viable threats against the facility and the files and enhanced its security at the location. Police officers also are protecting Central Records facility officials and staff.

Summers and wife visited Epstein’s island

While the FBI is more closely guarding the Epstein investigation files, The Boston Globe reported that former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and his wife, Elisa New, flew to Epstein’s privately owned Little Saint James island in the U.S. Virgin Islands 10 days after their 2005 wedding.

The trip was part of their extended honeymoon celebration and was a brief visit, Summers’ spokesperson Steven Goldberg.

Summers and New “have repeatedly expressed their regret for having any association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Goldberg said in a statement shared with the Boston newspaper Friday.

“Mr. Summers and Ms. New spent their honeymoon in St. John and Jamaica in December 2005, which was long before Mr. Epstein was arrested for the first time,” Goldberg said.

“As part of that trip, they made a brief visit of less than a day to Mr. Epstein’s island.”

Flight log records indicate Summers and New flew aboard Epstein’s private plane when they traveled from Bedford, Mass., to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, on Dec. 21, 2005.

They met with Maxwell and Epstein’s personal pilot, Larry Visoski, while on the island and during the same year that Florida investigators began looking into Epstein’s activities.

Despite Epstein’s subsequent arrest and guilty plea to two state charges that resulted in his designation as a sex offender and a year in jail, Summers, who also is a former Harvard University president, continued his friendly relationship with the financier.

That ended when Epstein was arrested in 2019 and later that year hung himself while jailed in New York City.

New also maintained her friendly relationship with Epstein and in 2014 thanked him for a donation that he made to support her academic research as a poetry professor at Harvard.

The financial gift from Epstein was not included in Harvard’s 2020 report regarding his activities involving the university.

New in 2018 also emailed Epstein regarding the novel Lolita, which is about an older man sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl, The Boston Globe reported.

1 of 2 | Larry Summers (R), then-director of the U.S. National Economic Council, pictured Feb. 2010 next to then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at the White House in Washington, D.C. Summers, 70, revealed Monday that he will “step back” from all public duties, but it was unclear if that was to include his role with the artificial intelligence firm. File Photo by Andrew Harrer/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 19 (UPI) — Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from the OpenAI board of directors following intensified scrutiny over emails between him and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he announced Wednesday.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers told CNBC and CNN in a statement.

Summers, 70, revealed Monday that he will “step back” from all public duties, but it was initially unclear if that was to include his role with the artificial intelligence startup.

This week, Summers said he was “deeply ashamed” after emails released last week revealed years of correspondence with the late billionaire financier and convicted sexual predator Epstein.

The AI company said it respected his decision.

“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the board,” the OpenAI board of directors said in a statement.

Summers, former secretary of the United States Treasury under former U.S. President Bill Clinton, was later president of Ivy League Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and director of the National Economic Council under then-President Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill to release the Epstein files.

But it remains to be seen if President Donald Trump will sign the Epstein bill or if the White House will fully comply.

Nov. 19 (UPI) — The House voted Tuesday against censuring Delegate Stacey Plaskett and removing her from the Intelligence Committee following revelations she texted with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing.

The late night 209-214 vote came hours after the House approved a bill directing the Justice Department to release the files from its investigation into Epstein. Three Republicans joined Democrats voting against the measure. Another three Republicans voted “present.”

Leading up to the vote to release the files, the House Oversight Committee began releasing troves of documents from Epstein’s estate that included his texts and other communications.

Those included copies of texts Epstein had with Plaskett as she was about to question Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, during a 2019 congressional hearing, The New York Times reported.

Republicans seized on the revelation, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., introduced the censure resolution accusing Plaskett of having “inappropriately coordinated” with Epstein, receiving suggested lines of questioning and congratulations from him. The resolution also would have directed the House Ethics Committee to investigate her ties to Epstein.

Plaskett, a Democrat, represents the U.S. Virgin Islands as a delegate. That means that while she may participate in many of the chamber’s functions while representing the territory, she cannot vote on the House floor.

She defended herself in a House floor speech, explaining that Epstein was a constituent she had been in contact with to get information, reported Politico.

“I know how to question individuals. I know how to seek information. I have sought information from confidential informants, from murderers, from other individuals because I want the truth,” she said.

Norman, however, told The Washington Post that it was “beyond comprehension” that Plaskett would work with the disgraced financier on House business.

“The American people expect honesty, the American people expect integrity and judgment from their elected officials,” he said in a floor speech, according to the Post. “They expect members of Congress to conduct themselves with one word — decency — not to seek advice from a predator who exploited minor children.”

Nov. 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has withdrawn his support from one of his past closest allies, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, calling her “wacky.”

Greene, who has served in a Republican-dominated House district in northwest Georgia since January 2021, has sided with Democrats on two issues — enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and the release of Department of Justice files involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including Trump’s relationship with him.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Friday night, Trump announced that he is “withdrawing my support and Endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia.”

In a 115-word sentence that highlights his achievements since retaking office, “over the past two weeks … all I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”

Greene quickly responded on X on Friday night, saying in a post that “Trump just attacked me and lied about me.”

Trump noted why Greene is upset with him.

“It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn’t have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement — which she wasn’t about to get!,” Trump wrote.

He also said that Greene was upset that he has not communicated with her.

“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day,” he wrote. “She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors.”

Greene posted a screenshot of texts she had sent Trump about the Epstein investigation, noting that she had not “called him at all, but I did send these text messages today. Apparently this is what sent him over the edge. The Epstein files.”

Trump said he would support a candidate against her in the congressional primary next year.

“I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support,” Trump said.

Greene was reelected in 2024, capturing more than 64% of her district’s vote after 65% in 2022 and 75% in 2020. The district includes parts of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Atlanta metro area.

“I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” she wrote. “But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump. I worship God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve my district GA14 and the American people.”

“I remain the same today as I’ve always been and I will continue to pray this administration will be successful because the American people desperately deserve what they voted for. For me, I remain America First and America Only!!!”

Epstein files

Greene has joined three other House Republicans in signing a discharge petition for the release of documents related to investigations into pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

There are the necessary 218 votes and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has scheduled a vote for next week, but the bill will still need be approved by the Senate, which will require at least 60 votes, as well as Trump’s signature.

Greene wrote “of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next weeks vote to release the Epstein files. It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.”

“But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream. That’s what I voted for,” she added.

Epstein, who had sexual relationships with girls and young women, and trafficked them to other men, was friends with Trump.

“Releasing the Epstein files is the easiest thing in the world,” Greene told Politico on Friday, before Trump’s post.

“Just release it all, let the American people sort through every bit of it, and, you know, support the victims. That’s just like the most common sense, easiest thing in the world. But to spend any effort trying to stop it … just doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

Government shutdown

Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social that “only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

Democrats launched the 43-day government shutdown after Republicans refused to include an extension of the subsidies in bills to reopen the government — a position that Greene broke with her party in support of. Healthcare was the core a federal government shutdown that lasted 43 days.

Greene had been critical of Trump and her party for promising to at least discuss, if not vote, on extending enhanced subsidies for people who buy health insurance through an Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.

The shutdown ended Wednesday night when Trump signed legislation to fund the government through January, with the subsidies still set to expire at the end of the year.

“It’s insanely the wrong direction to go,” Greene said. “The five-alarm fire is healthcare and affordability for Americans. And that’s where the focus should be.”

Greene noted during the shutdown that her adult children are enrolled in health insurance plans through the ACA marketplace and that their premiums are set to double if the federal subsidies expire.

Greene also has blamed Republicans’ election losses earlier this month on going against Trump’s initial “America First” agenda.

“This is me wanting my party to do something, to win and do something good for the American people,” Greene told Politico.

“It’s not me going against, it’s me pushing my party to say, this is what we need to be doing Not only is it the right thing to do for America, but if you want to win the midterms, this is what we need to be doing, deliver for Americans if we want them to send us back in 2026.”

Posters calling for the release of the Epstein files are displayed on a wall in Washington, D.C., in September. On Friday, President Donald Trump announced on social media that he wants an investigation into former President Bill Clinton’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, along with others. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 14 (UPI) — President Donald Trump posted on social media Friday that he wants an investigation into former President Bill Clinton and others mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein emails released this week.

On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a cache of emails between convicted sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and others that talked about Trump repeatedly. The emails were released by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the committee.

“Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking [Attorney General] Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’ Stay tuned!!!”

Summers was Clinton’s treasury secretary and an economic adviser to former President Barack Obama. Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn and donates to Democrats.

JP Morgan Chase issued a statement in response. Spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said in a statement it “ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.”

“The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” Wexler said. “We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”

The White House continued to defend the president.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday, “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

The House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation that demands the government release all files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in a jail cell. The discharge petition has enough signatures now that Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn in. Though it should pass the House, it’s not certain to pass the Senate.

Nov. 12 (UPI) — Adelita Grijalva was sworn in Wednesday afternoon on the floor of the House of Representatives by Speaker Mike Johnson after the Democrat was elected two months ago in Arizona.

Immediately after the ceremony, she became the 218th House member to sign the discharge petition, the bare minimum to approve a floor vote on legislation compelling the federal government to release the case files of Jeffrey Epstein.

Grijalva, 55, won a special election Sept. 23 to fill the vacant 7th Congressional District seat after Rep. Raul Grijalva, her father and fellow Democrat, died March 13. Six days later, Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered dates for the primary and general election.

Democrats now hold 214 House seats to the Republicans’ 2019, with two still vacant.

Wednesday’s ceremony occurred before the scheduled House vote on the Senate-approved measure to fund the federal government so that it can reopen after being shut down for a record 43 days.

Johnson didn’t swear her in while the House was on an extended recess that started Sept. 19 and lasted until Wednesday amid the federal government shutdown.

“What is most concerning is not what this administration has done, but what the majority in this body has failed to do: Hold Trump accountable as a coequal branch of government that we are,” Grijalva told House members.

Grijalva said the delay deprived 813,000 people in southern Arizona of her support while the shutdown endured.

Grijalva didn’t have a working office phone, an office budget or the ability to use government systems. She also couldn’t open office in her southern Arizona district.

“This is an abuse of power,” she said. “One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a duly elected member of Congress for political reasons.”

Johnson earlier said he would swear in Grijalva when the House reconvened, which spurred federal lawsuits accusing the House speaker of delaying the matter.

John was accused of delaying the swearing in so the petition wouldn’t have enough votes to look at the Department of Justice investigation of the financier and convicted sex offender involving minors who committed suicide while jailed in New York City and was awaiting a federal trial on other charges.

Johnson told reporters Wednesday night that the House will vote next week on whether to force the release of documents. He said he would bypass the seven-day waiting period and instead “we’re going to put that on the floor for a full vote next week, as soon as we get back.”

The petition has signatures from all Democrats and four Republicans.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California told reporters Wednesday night: “I believe we’re going to get 40, 50 Republicans voting with us on the release. And if we get that kind of overwhelming vote, that’s going to push the Senate and it’s going to push for a release of the files from the Justice Department.”

Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act in July.

Grijalva signed it with two Epstein survivors watching in the gallery.

“Just this morning, House Democrats released more emails showing that Trump knew more about Epstein’s abuses than he previously acknowledged,” she said. “It’s about time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people.

She added: “Justice cannot wait another day.”

The House earlier released more than 33,000 pages of files from the Epstein case that were redacted only to protect the names of witnesses and block information related to child abuse.

The petition must pass the Republican-controlled Senate before making it to President Donald Trump‘s desk.

Johnson has said the delay in swearing in Grijalva had nothing to do with the Epstein files, which the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating.

House Democrats said Johnson could have called a pro forma session of the House to swear in Grijalva and said he had done so earlier this year to swear in two Republican representatives, The Hill reported.

One vacant seat in Tennessee leans Republican and will be filled by a special election in December, according to CNN.

Another vacancy in Texas has two Democrats as the final two candidates in a runoff election that will be held in January.

Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” and “knew about the girls,” Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of orchestrating sex trafficking of young girls, wrote in private emails House Democrats released Wednesday.

“Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, when Trump was nearing the end of his first term as President.

After months of political bickering over the well-connected sex offender’s documents, dubbed “the Epstein files,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee publicly released some of Epstein’s emails to Wolff and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.

The emails are just a small part of a collection of 23,000 documents Epstein’s estate released to the committee and are sure to revive questions about what the president knew about Epstein’s sexual misconduct with girls and young women.

Trump has denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes and no investigation has tied Trump to them.

“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” California Democrat Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement as he released the documents.

“These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President,” Garcia added. “The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately. The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims.”

Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested and federally charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. A watchdog report released last year found that negligence, misconduct and other failures at the jail contributed to his death.

More than a decade earlier, Epstein evaded federal criminal charges when he struck a plea deal in a south Florida case related to accusations that he molested dozens of girls.

As part of the agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, including soliciting prostitution. He registered as a sex offender and served 13 months in jail but was allowed to leave six days a week to work at his office.

Nov. 10 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate plans a series of votes Monday night to try to end the record-long shutdown as House Speaker Mike Johnson called representatives to return to Washington to be there when a bill reaches them.

Earlier, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said they were in a “holding pattern.”

Late Monday afternoon, the GOP’s whip office told CNN a vote would begin after 5 p.m. p.m. John Barrasso of Wyoming mobilizec members for key votes. A GOP aide confirmed the plans to CBS News.

On Sept. 19, the House approved short-gap spending legislation along party lines 217-213 that doesn’t include healthcare subsidies next year through the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Only a majority is needed in the House, but the Senate needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber.

The Senate is scheduled to go into recess Tuesday for Veterans Day and was seeking to conclude business before then.

Thune said the American people “have suffered for long enough,” and other senators were reasonably optimistic.

“It’s very close,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, who also serves South Dakota. “We’ll work our way through a couple of issues.”

“I’m optimistic, yeah,” Florida Sen. Rick Scott said. “People want to, you know, they want to get — they want to go home.”

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is the only Republican to vote against past funding bills. He wants hemp farming in the agriculture appropriations bill in exchange for allowing the legislation to move quickly. The Senate plans to vote on the amendment.

“If Rand wants to plant his flag and hold the government shut down for over hemp in Kentucky, take that fight on. I think he’ll lose that one pretty hard,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, noting that another senator wants an amendment to withhold pay from members during government shutdowns.

Monday marked the 41st day of the United States’ longest-running government shutdown, which started Oct. 1. It beat the previous longest shutdown of 35 days, which took place in 2018 and 2019 during President Donald Trump‘s first term.

Despite the pending vote, Johnson further pushed against the Democrats’ battle to extend health insurance subsidies. The Senate would vote separately on the subsidies next month.

“There’ll be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us,” Johnson told reporters.

Senators held a procedural vote Sunday in which seven Democrats and one Independent joined Republicans to narrowly advance a funding measure 60-40.

In exchange for the Democrats’ votes, Republicans agreed to hold a vote in the future on extending Obamacare subsidies.

There are more steps to take before senators hold an official vote on legislation to fund the government through January, including a measure on how long the chamber will debate.

All but a few Democrats have voted 14 times against the House stopgap measure out of concerns over a lack of an extension to the ACA tax credits, set to expire end of December. More than 20 million U.S. citizens currently rely the ACA on for health insurance.

“The American people have now awoken to Trump’s healthcare crisis,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said.

“Healthcare is once again at the forefront of people’s minds,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “People now see that premiums are about to skyrocket. They’re terrified about how they’re going to pay for their insurance.”

The new measure would reverse all shutdown-related job layoffs, guarantee federal worker pay during the shutdown, establish a specific budget process and fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through September.

Johnson said he will give a 36-hour notice before any House votes, but did not offer a specific timeline.

The speaker, who has kept the lower chamber out of session since late September, indicated that a vote could occur as early as this week.

Any bill passed by both chambers will require a signature by Trump to become law. Trump said he intends to sign the legislation.

“Well, it depends what deal we’re talking about, but if it’s the deal I heard about … they want to change the deal a little bit, but I would say so,” Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office.

“I think, based on everything I’m hearing, they haven’t changed anything, and we have support from enough Democrats, and we’re going to be opening up our country. It’s too bad it was closed, but we’ll be opening up our country very quickly.”

That includes adhering to a provision that would reverse layoffs of federal workers his administration pushed during the shutdown.

In the House, Johnson plans to swear in Adelita Grijalva of Arizona when the members return, according to a CNN source.

Grijalva was elected Sept 23, but Johnson refused to swear her in until Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government.

Once Grijalva is sworn in, she is expected to become the 218th signature necessary to bypass leadership and force a vote on compelling the release of files in the Jeffrey Epstein sex-abuse case.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that House Democrats would continue to oppose the spending bill that advanced in the Senate this weekend.

“As House Democrats, we know we’re on the right side of this fight, the right side of the American people, and we’re not going to support partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people, and we’re going to continue the fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” he said at a news conference.