11 19 25 ABC News Steven Portnoy on passage of house bill to release Epstein files

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The yeas are four hundred and twenty seven, the nays
are won two thirds being in the affirmative, The rules
are suspended. The bill is passed lopsided, and momentums votes
on Capitol Hill as both chambers of Congress passed the
bill to force the Justice Department to publicly release all
of its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

(00:22):
Joining us now on the KWA Common Spirit Health hotline
is ABC News National correspondent Stephen Portnoy, Steven, appreciate your
time as always. Okay, so let's just walk through a
little bit of this here. Despite both the House and
Senate passing the bill yesterday, it's still not on the
President's desk. Correct. In fact, did it even make it
over to the Senate yesterday?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
It didn't, But that's not out of the ordinary. There
is some degree of paperwork. There was a long day
of votes in the House yesterday, and the Clerk has
to certify and the Speaker has to sign, and that
will happen probably this morning. The Senate yesterday, by unanimous consent,
agreed that once that bill is handed from the Clerk
of the House to the Secretary of the Senate that

(01:02):
it will immediately be deemed past and be sent to
the White House for the president's signature. And that means
that of the five hundred and thirty five members of
the House and the Senate, there's only one registered objector,
and that was Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, who said in
a statement that he had a principled objection to it

(01:22):
because he believed it upended two hundred and fifty years
of jurisprudence when it comes to how the rights of
unnamed or i should say, unindicted people are treated by
the Justice Department. Because what he has expressed alarm about,
and so has the Speaker of the House, is the
idea that there'll be people's names and these files who

(01:44):
haven't done anything wrong. And nevertheless, that has been the
push for people who want to see the release of
the Epstein files for years, including those who have propagated
conspiracy theories who are now serving in the highest ranks
of the Trump administration.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Stephen, why was all this done to begin with, Because
technically could have Trump just avoided Congress altogether and just
order the release of the files immediately.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
He still can before signing the bill into law, he
said yesterday on social media. He doesn't care when the
bill arrives at his desk. What he wants is for
Republicans to move on from all this and talk about
the great things that he and his allies in Congress
have done. The idea here in the law is that

(02:30):
once it's signed, the Justice Department has thirty days to
post all the Epstein files online. There are limited redactions
that relate to the names of victims that contain, for example,
what's been described by the Justice Department as child pornography.
The Justice Department is permitted, under the law or under

(02:53):
the bill, to set that stuff aside and prevent it
from becoming public. But what the bill says the Justice
Department cannot do is withhold or delay any information that
could embarrass or cause reputational harm to those who are
named in the files. One of the reports were reading
this morning indicates that as much as the White House
and congressional Republican leaders have urged against this, the White

(03:16):
House may be interested in pointing quickly and loudly to
any Democrats named in the files.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Any idea of how quickly we could see these signed
and made public. I know you say the thirty day window,
but as President Trump pretty much expected to sign it today, the.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
White House has given us an indication that he'll sign
it as soon as he gets it. The President himself
has said he'll sign it, and he's also said he'll
implement it, So I guess we'll see.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
ABC News National Correspondent, it's Stephen Portnoy's Stephen, thank you,