Congress votes to release Epstein files. Where did North Carolina lawmakers stand?

For months, Rep. Virginia Foxx helped most Republicans block from reaching the House floor a vote on the release of the Department of Justice’s files on convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

But Tuesday on the House floor, Foxx, a Republican from Banner Elk, said she supports the release.

Her statement came less than two hours before the House voted 427-1 to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the release of the federal government’s Epstein files. The Senate quickly agreed to send the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk, without objection from any senator and without a recorded vote, the New York Times reported. Trump has said he will sign the bill.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, called the passage “a victory for every person, man or woman, boy or girl, who’s been victimized sexually in this country. ”

He told lawmakers before the vote every victim of sexual abuse is “waiting and watching to see what they do.”

Rep. Clay Higgins, a Republican from Louisiana, was the lone lawmaker who voted in opposition to the bill.

All 14 House members from North Carolina voted for release of the files.

How did we get here?

A week ago, getting near-unanimous support seemed impossible. But on Sunday night, Trump, who has ties to the late Epstein, relented on a months-long pursuit of preventing the bills’ passage and said he had nothing to hide.

The case involving Epstein, a convicted child sex offender and accused child sex trafficker, has been at the center of controversy in Trump’s second term after the president’s reelection campaign accused Democrats of withholding a list of Epstein’s rich and powerful clients.

Trump said during his campaign he would release the files, but in July his administration contradicted statements it made earlier in the year and said a client list didn’t exist, and it would not be releasing further information. Trump doubled down, calling the files “a big hoax” and “a scam.”

The announcement led to a splintering in the Make America Great Again movement and distrust of the Trump administration from some of his supporters.

North Carolina’s response

Since July, Republicans had avoided dealing with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, until a discharge petition signed by 218 lawmakers forced House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the bill to a floor vote.

The statement Foxx, chair of the House Committee on Rules, made on the floor Tuesday drew a retort from the committee’s top Democrat, who was standing at the podium opposing her.

“The gentlelady doesn’t oppose this,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said. “Boy, you have a funny way of showing it. I gave the gentlelady nine opportunities in the Rules Committee to bring this measure to the floor — nine opportunities — and every time I brought up an amendment, she voted it down. Nine opportunities. So to say that somehow this is always what you wanted, I don’t know. That doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Foxx wasn’t the only North Carolinian to offer thoughts on the bill.

Rep. Brad Knott, a Republican from Raleigh, raised concerns about other names that could be released in the file of people who were not involved in Epstein’s crimes. He said an amendment process should have been allowed to clean up the bill.

That didn’t happen.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, North Carolina’s Democrats — Reps. Alma Adams, Don Davis, Valerie Foushee and Deborah Ross — made their support known, signing the discharge petition to ensure the bill made it to a floor vote.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican from Hendersonville, said he would not block any measure to make the Epstein files more transparent.

“After nearly six years of being swept under the rug and termed a “conspiracy theory” by the prior administration, it is finally time for the American people to get answers about who the perpetrators of these heinous acts were, and for the victims to receive justice,” Edwards said in a news release. “I look forward to seeing the truth come to light and holding those involved accountable.”

McGovern said Republicans lost control of their story, and don’t have “the luxury of pretending they were ever on the right side” of the Epstein files.

“This bill is about making sure powerful men are held accountable,” McGovern said. “It’s about demanding truth and transparency for the American people.”

Who was Jeffrey Epstein?

Epstein worked in finance and banking but was convicted in 2008 of sexually abusing young girls. In 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting another trial on allegations of sex trafficking minors.

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse are believed to number more than 1,000.

Epstein was known for his high-profile associates including Trump, President Bill Clinton, the former Prince Andrew of the British royal family and billionaires Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, among many others.

Epstein’s death set off a host of conspiracy theories that Trump’s campaign leaned into, ranging from how Epstein died to his “client list” allegedly being used to blackmail powerful people.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel and Donald Trump Jr. all called for the release of the Epstein files during the campaign, with Trump Jr. accusing the Biden administration of “protecting pedophiles.”

In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Epstein’s client list was on her desk for review. So in July, when officials with the FBI and the Department of Justice announced that client list didn’t exist, and no further details would be released, MAGA reacted, with several burning their Trump hats.

Discharge petition

A week after the FBI’s announcement, Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, introduced, on July 15, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where it was never taken up.

So in September, Massie filed a discharge petition to force Johnson to bring the bill to the floor.

To get a bill around a committee or the House speaker, a lawmaker must collect 218 signatures showing the majority of the chamber agrees a vote should be taken. The person who filed the discharge petition then has to wait a week to move the bill to the floor and the speaker then has two days to schedule a vote.

Four Republicans, including Massie, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, worked with Democrats to get the petition to 217 signatures.

All three women reportedly faced physical and political threats in response.

“I had caricatures of Rep. Greene and Rep. Massie and Rep. Mace, but what I saw is they cared as Americans and human beings, and they stood with courage, and they looked at this not from politics,” Khanna said on the House floor Tuesday afternoon. “They looked at this as what is right. And I’m proud today to be a member of Congress. I’m proud to work with them, and I’m proud of what we are showing this country is possible, that if we actually care about American values, maybe we can overcome some of the bitter divides in this country if we don’t care about just getting the credit and maybe work together.”

Foxx defended Republicans Tuesday.

“Those of us who did not sign the discharge petition are just as concerned about the victims, or as some are calling them, survivors, as our colleagues who signed the discharge petition,” Foxx said. “We share contempt for anyone who abused anyone else.”

Foxx, though, had worked with Republicans in the Rules committee to prevent the bill from reaching the floor.

Lawmakers knew with the September special election of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, they would secure the last signature needed. But during the federal shutdown Johnson stalled on swearing her in for 50 days, until the government reopened, despite having the ability to do so.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration applied pressure to Boebert to get her to remove her name from the petition, and Trump publicly feuded with Greene on social media and withdrew his endorsement of her 2026 reelection bid.

On Friday, traveling to Mar-a-Lago, Trump responded to a female reporter asking a question on Air Force One about the release of the Epstein files by saying, “Quiet, piggy.”

Then, on Sunday night, Trump did a complete about-face, writing on Truth Social, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this ... in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’”

What now?

The bill stipulates that if signed into law, the files must be declassified and released within 15 days.

This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM.

Danielle Battaglia

McClatchy DC

Danielle Battaglia is the congressional impact reporter for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leading coverage of the impact of North Carolina’s congressional delegation and the White House. Her career has spanned three North Carolina newsrooms where she has covered crime, courts and local, state and national politics. She has won two McClatchy President’s awards and numerous national and state awards for her work.