The United States Senate approved a bill that pressures the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release additional information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reported, according to Sputnik news agency on Wednesday (19).
“I have just requested unanimous consent to approve the Senate bill that releases the Epstein files. There were no objections,” Schumer wrote on X.
Schumer added that the bill will be approved immediately after being received by the House of Representatives.
The United States House of Representatives approved on Tuesday (18), almost unanimously, a bill that puts pressure on the DOJ to release additional information related to the case.
US President Donald Trump had criticized Republicans who supported the release of new documents about Epstein. However, he recently changed his position and urged the House to vote in favor of releasing the material, stressing that Republicans have nothing to hide.
On Monday (17), Trump promised to sign the bill if it is approved by Congress.
In 2019, Epstein was charged in the United States with sex trafficking of minors—a crime that could result in up to 40 years in prison—and conspiracy to commit this type of trafficking. Prosecutors stated that he sexually abused dozens of teenage girls between 2002 and 2005, paying them money and using some to recruit others, with victims as young as 14 years old. In July 2019, a Manhattan court denied him bail, and at the end of that month, he died by suicide in his cell, according to Sputnik.
Public interest in the Epstein case has resurfaced in the United States after the Trump administration failed to release new materials, despite Republican campaign promises to declassify the files. A barrage of criticism, including from supporters, fell upon Trump after the FBI and the Department of Justice released a joint statement asserting that Epstein was not involved in blackmailing influential people and that there was no client list.
Source: brasil247.com