The vote represents a major step in the years-long effort to make government documents on the late sex offender public.The United States Congress has approved a bill to release government documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clearing the way for making the files public.The House of Representatives adopted the measure in a 427-1 vote on Tuesday, sending it to the Senate, which swiftly agreed to pass it by unanimous consent even before it was formally transmitted to the chamber.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listOnce the bill is formally approved, it will go to the desk of President Donald Trump, who said he would sign it into law.The case of Epstein – a financier who sexually abused girls and young women for years – has sparked intrigue in the US for years, given his connections to powerful people in the media, politics and academia, including ties to Trump.Trump initially opposed releasing the files, calling the controversy around the late sex offender a “hoax” before reversing course this month.The president and his Department of Justice do not need to wait for Congress to pass the legislation to release the files. They have the authority to make them public.Before the vote on Tuesday, members of Congress who have been leading the bill – Democrat Ro Khanna and Republicans Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene – spoke alongside survivors of Epstein’s abuse outside the US Capitol.“We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win. They’re on our side today, so let’s give them some credit as well,” Massie told reporters.Jena-Lisa Jones, one of the survivor …
