Rep. Ro Khanna said the vote was about: “Are you on the side of America’s children? Or are you on the side of the rich and powerful who have had their thumb on the scales and shafted Americans for decades?”

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted against forcing the Department of Justice to release its full files on deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, just hours after the GOP-led Rules Committee rejected the measure.

The vote was 211-210 along party lines. While nine Republicans—and two Democrats—did not participate, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) voted with his party, after joining Democrats for the Monday night panel vote on Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) amendment, which would require the DOJ to release the records within 30 days while protecting abuse survivors’ identities.

“Wow. Republicans in the U.S. House just voted UNANIMOUSLY to not release the Epstein files. Every. Single. One. Genuinely surprised it was unanimous,” said Nina Turner, who previously ran for Congress as a progressive Democrat in Ohio.

Speaking ahead of the full chamber’s vote, Khanna called out the Rules Committee’s other Republicans, saying that “they voted to protect rich and powerful men who were abusing, assaulting, and abandoning young women. That’s what this vote is about. A nation that chooses impunity for the rich and the powerful at the expense of our children is a nation that has lost its moral purpose.”

“So you ask, Why did they vote this way? Let’s speak plainly,” the congressman continued. “Because these rich and powerful men donate to the politicians in Washington, D.C., play golf with the elites in Washington, D.C. They are foreign leaders who we don’t want to offend. They interact with our intelligence agencies that we don’t want to disobey. There is something rotten in Washington.”

“And this is a question of, Whose side are you on?” he argued. “Are you on the side of the people? Are you on the side of America’s children? Or are you on the side of the rich and powerful who have had their thumb on the scales and shafted Americans for decades?” he asked. Khanna also praised Republicans, including Norman, who have previously supported releasing the files.

Khanna—who has been laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run—emphasized that “it’s not a question just of Epstein, it’s a question of trust in our democracy. It’s a question of restoring a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Khanna pledged Tuesday he “will continue to fight for the release of the Epstein files,” a vow echoed by other congressional Democrats. House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told Axios, “That was probably not the last time that you’re going to see us deal with this issue.”

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) led a Tuesday letter from panel’s Democrats urging Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to investigate how President Donald Trump’s administration has handled the Epstein files. The letter requests that the committee invite—and, if necessary, subpoena—Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino to testify publicly.

“Mr. Epstein reportedly took his own life to escape justice, robbing his victims and the public of an opportunity to hold him accountable for his shocking crimes,” the Democrats wrote. The New York City medical examiner ruled his 2019 death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center a suicide by hanging, but that determination has been met with widespread skepticism.

“In the absence of facts and evidence related to Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise and the ‘vast network’ of underage victims he created, the public will turn to conspiracy theories to fill the void of credible information,” the Democrats warned. “Alas, President Trump and his team, acting out of personal and political self-interest or some other more inscrutable motive, have suppressed the release of information in their possession and, in so doing, fed yet more conspiracy theories and advanced conjecture to explain this about-face.”

After tech billionaire Elon Musk left the Trump administration, he claimed in early June that the president “is in the Epstein files” and “that is the real reason they have not been made public.” The DOJ then released a two-page memo about Epstein and some video footage from the jail where he was found dead. Trump—who palled around with Epstein in the 1980s and ’90s until a reported falling out in 2004—has since encouraged the media and public to stop paying attention to the dead sex offender.

“At this point, the public has no idea if new information on the Epstein case even exists, why it was repeatedly promised to us if not, and if it does, what it may contain or mean for public safety and the victims of the Epstein ring,” the Democrats wrote. “The Trump DOJ and FBI’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter, and President Trump’s suddenly shifting positions, have not restored anyone’s trust in the government but have rather raised profound new questions about their own conduct while increasing public paranoia related to the investigation.”

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  epstein, files, gop, re[ublicans, refusal, release