The entire Texas congressional delegation voted Tuesday to require the Justice Department to release all of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the Texas Tribune reported.
The House passed the measure nearly unanimously after months in which President Donald Trump had urged Republicans not to support a discharge petition that would have forced a vote. That petition ultimately gained the backing of all House Democrats and four Republicans, none from Texas, prompting leaders to advance the bill without it.
The House vote came days after the Oversight Committee released documents linking Trump to Epstein, including emails from Epstein that referenced him. As bipartisan support for releasing the files grew, Trump reversed course.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote that Republicans should support the measure because they have “nothing to hide,” stating that he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.
The Senate later passed the bill unanimously on Tuesday, sending it directly to the president.
Every Texas Republican ultimately voted to release the files, despite none joining the petition that pushed the issue forward. The only member of Congress to vote against the bill was Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana.
Among the late conversions was Rep. Troy Nehls, who on Friday posted on X that he would vote no on what he called the “Epstein Hoax.”
“The Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax to distract us from the winning of President Trump and his administration,” said Nehls. “My message to my Republican colleagues: Don’t let this noise keep us from delivering on the mandate the American people gave us.”
By Monday, he echoed Trump’s new position, telling reporters the files would clear the president and declared that if Trump instructs Republicans to “jump three feet high and scratch your heads,” they comply.
The Texas Tribune reported that other Texas Republicans, including Rep. Keith Self, said they had always supported releasing the files but believed internal House efforts were progressing well enough without the petition.
Rep. Chip Roy, spoke on behalf of the House and stressed the need for openness, saying a “united Republican Party and a bipartisan super majority” was acting to increase transparency about Epstein’s abuses.
On his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz supported releasing the records but said he expected the material to be more damaging to Democrats, stating that “the bulk of the evidence, from everything we know, is going to be evidence that is a real, real problem for, I suspect, a significant number of Democrats.”
The bill now heads to Trump, who has pledged to sign it.
