All four members of Utah’s House delegation voted this week to block the release of the Epstein files as controversy around the documents related to the late financier and sex offender grows.
The measure, proposed by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, was rejected on the House floor Tuesday in a party-line vote of 211-210. All Republicans present — including the members of Utah’s all-GOP House delegation — voted to block the amendment. All Democrats present voted in favor of it.
Utah Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Mike Kennedy and Burgess Owens did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment on their votes. Utah’s Republican senators, Mike Lee and John Curtis, also did not respond to a request for comment on whether they believed the files should be released.
Lee has, however, pushed for some disclosure of information related to Epstein, and said in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson this week that he would be in favor of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking along with Epstein, testifying before Congress.
“If she were to testify, it would answer a lot of questions that would put this into perspective,” Lee said. “There is a way to satisfy the public.”
Lee also shared a post from Johnson alleging that federal law enforcement officers were pushing for a special counsel and “full press briefing” — though not the public release of the files — on Epstein and wrote, “Giddy up! The American people deserve answers regarding Jeffrey Epstein. Answers are apparently on their way.”
The floor vote Tuesday was Khanna’s second attempt to force the release of the files after he attached an amendment to a procedural measure related to a cryptocurrency bill and a defense measue. Khanna pushed again for the same measure on the House floor Tuesday.
“The attorney general shall retain, preserve, and compile any records or evidence related to any investigation, prosecution, or incarceration of Jeffrey Epstein,” Khanna’s proposed amendment reads. “Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this act, the attorney general shall release and publish any records or evidence related to any investigation, prosecution, or incarceration of Jeffrey Epstein on a publicly accessible website.”
Republican members argued after both votes that Khanna’s amendment was not germane to either the crypto or defense bills and that voting in favor of it either in committee or on the floor would have hurt their ability to tackle the two pieces of legislation, according to Axios.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while in jail, as he faced charges of sex trafficking minors, and Tuesday’s floor vote came amid an increasing scandal related to the release of the papers, which President Donald Trump repeatedly promised to release. But the president changed his tone in recent weeks after former adviser Elon Musk alleged that Trump is included as a client of Epstein’s in the papers.
“@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk wrote on social media last month, as the two former allies descended into feuding over the president’s budget bill. Musk has since deleted the post, and Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Now, though, he faces a revolt from his base.
Last week, the Department of Justice and FBI announced that no client list existed, and in a Wednesday post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump railed against his own supporters, calling the Epstein investigation a “hoax” and labeling people who believed the conspiracy theories “weaklings” who were falling for Democratic lies about him.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull----,’ hook, line, and sinker,” he wrote Wednesday. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work,” he added, “don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
In a break with Trump, however, some House Republicans — including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — have said they support the release of the Epstein files.
“I’m for transparency,” Johnson said during a podcast interview earlier this week. “It’s a very delicate subject. We should put everything out there, and let the people decide it.”
