Epstein vote shatters Trump's aura of invincibility

Rare for Trump to move where his party was headed, rather than other way round: Expert

- Bhagyashree Garekar

US President Donald Trump was handed a stunning political defeat by his own party on Nov 18, when the US Congress almost to a man voted to release the Epstein files.

The defeat, forced upon him by staunch supporters of his Make America Great Again (Maga) movement, including Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, shattered his aura of invincibility in a party he has dominated since the 2024 election.

He spent months trying to deflect attention from demands for transparency in the case related to Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who hanged himself in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

But the President was forced onto the back foot by revelations on Nov 14 by Democrats on a congressional committee with oversight on the Epstein case. Among them was a 2011 email in which Epstein said Mr Trump was the "dog that hadn't barked" and "spent hours at my house" with a woman later identified as a victim of sex trafficking.

At the same time, it became clear that some Republicans were prepared to defy him and support a Bill to compel the Trump administration to release all the files related to Epstein. Mr Trump relented on Nov 16, asking Republicans to back the vote and claiming it would hurt the Democrats more.

The legislators acceded, in huge numbers. On a day of fast-paced developments, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly - 427-1 - on Nov 18 to pass a Bill that requires the Department of Justice to release all files within 30 days.

The Senate acted even faster. It raised no objections and in a rare move, deemed the Bill as a pass without a vote. With that, the Bill was directed straight to the President's desk. Mr Trump has said he would sign it.