Senate votes unanimously to send bill demanding release of Epstein dossier to Trump’s desk

No Senate Republican blocked an attempt to force a vote on a resolution that would compel the release of documents and records related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made good on his promise to force a vote on the resolution just hours after it passed the House, behind a groundswell of near-unanimous support.

Schumer argued that the Senate “should pass this bill as soon as possible, as written and without a hint of delay.”

“Republicans should not try to change this bill, or bury it in committee, or slow it down in any way,” he said. “Any amendment to this bill would force it back to the House and risk further delay. Who knows what would happen there?”

HOUSE VOTES IN HUGE PORT TO FORCE DOJ TO RELEASE JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S FILES

The split image shows Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, right. Thune accused Democrats of downplaying the effects of the current government shutdown, saying millions of Americans are at risk of losing their food stamp benefits and federal workers remain unpaid while negotiations stall. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Now, as soon as the House transfers the bill to the Senate, it will go directly to President Donald Trump’s desk for signing.

The resolution from Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials “publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format” related to the late financier and convicted pedophile and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of signing the bill.

Epstein’s fervor hasn’t had as much impact in the Senate as it has in the House, which has been thrown into chaos by bipartisan pressure to release the files. Earlier this year, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suspended the House to quell the Epstein drama and has since been accused of avoiding a vote on the issue.

KHANNA, MASSIE AND GREENE URGE SENATE TO PASS EPSTEIN BILL UNCHANGED AND WARN OF “RECKONING”

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein’s years of abuse of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans are already mulling the bill through the hotline, where legislation is reviewed by lawmakers before being brought up for debate. Thune said the plan, if the bill authorizes the hotline, would be to introduce it before lawmakers leave for the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of this week.

“We’ll see what the Democrats have to say,” he said. “But it’s probably the kind of thing that maybe could pass by unanimous consent.”

This was ultimately unnecessary, as the bill passed the Upper House without a full vote.

The calculus around the Epstein bill has also shifted in the Senate, given that President Donald Trump, who has railed for months against attempts to release the records, threw his support behind Massie and Khanna’s legislation over the weekend.

He charged that it was a “Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical left-wing crazies to distract from the great success of the Republican Party.”

HOUSE GOP PREPARES FOR EPSTEIN VOTE FILES AS CONCERNS REMAIN DESPITE TRUMP GREEN LIGHT

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 6, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“No one cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive, and if Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our landslide election victory,” he said in an article on Truth Social.

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Senate Republicans, like their House counterparts, wanted more transparency on the issue when the Epstein saga resurfaced over the summer, but cautioned that no records should be released until the victims’ names or identifying characteristics have been reviewed and kept secure.

But, despite Johnson’s calls to amend the bill to include these kinds of safeguards in the legislation, that is unlikely to happen in the Senate.

“I think when a bill comes out of the House 427-1, and the president says he would sign it, I’m not sure it’s an option to amend it,” Thune said.