When will Epstein files be voted on and why does Trump now want them released?

US President Donald Trump has urged Republicans in Congress to vote to release more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a sudden change of position after previously opposing efforts to make the documents public.

Trump faced a possible revolt this week after a growing number of Republicans signaled they would vote for the release of the files despite his opposition.

While the measure is likely to pass the House of Representatives, it is far from certain that it will pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

And even if it passes the Senate, it is still unclear when the files could be released and whether they would satisfy ardent activists.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday on a measure that would require the Justice Department to make all files related to Epstein available to the public “in a searchable and downloadable format” within 30 days.

Voting and procedural discussions are expected to begin at 10:00 EST (15:00 GMT) and continue for many hours.

Several Epstein victims are also expected to spend the day at the Capitol, advocating for the bill’s passage and holding press conferences with reporters.

In theory, the releases could also include files related to Epstein’s imprisoned co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as people, including government officials, named in the case. It could also include internal documents from the justice department.

The vote will come just two days after Trump wrote in Truth Social to encourage Republicans to vote in favor of the measure. In the post, he argued that “we have nothing to hide.”

The measure is likely to be approved. Even before Trump took office, some House Republicans had made clear they were willing to break ranks with the president and House Speaker Mike Johnson to vote yes.

If approved, it still faces an uncertain future in the Senate, which has no obligation to approve the measure.

It is not yet clear whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune will do so, but the Republican is under enormous pressure from both sides of the American political spectrum.

He had previously suggested that while he was “not hearing” much desire from fellow Republicans to push for the documents’ release, a successful House vote could change that.

“I just hope John Thune does the right thing,” Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie told ABC News over the weekend.

Another Republican, Senate Majority Leader John Barrasso, would only say on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Senate will “take a look” at the bill if it passes the House.

“We’ll see what he says,” Barrasso said. “We all want accountability and transparency. But to me, this is not about the truth. This is not about justice.”

“This is an attempt by Democrats to make President Trump an outgoing president,” he added. “And I’m not going to aid or abet them in their efforts to do so.”

Only after the Senate passes the bill will it be presented to President Trump, who has said he will sign it into law.

However, there are obstacles to the records being released even if it does.

The text of the document to be presented to the House, for example, notes that the Attorney General could withhold or redact portions of records containing personal information that “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

“Simply letting something out could reveal a lot of private information that is not relevant or appropriate for public consumption,” Jonathan Entin, a constitutional law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, told the BBC.

“There may also be some issues about law enforcement techniques that the Justice Department may not want to be in the public domain,” he added.

The proposed House bill also notes that the Justice Department can withhold any document that “jeopardizes an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, as long as such withholding is temporary and specific.”

That could cause delays, given that President Trump said in his post that he would call for an investigation into Epstein’s alleged ties to prominent Democrats, such as Bill Clinton and Larry Summers, “to determine what was happening with them and with him.”

“That’s a potential obstacle,” Professor Entin said. “If, in fact, this is a serious investigation, presumably prosecutors won’t want it all to come to light while they decide whether to press charges.”

Doing so, he added, “could create some damaging publicity about the objectives of the investigation” that could ultimately lead to intense litigation if allegations are brought forward.

For those who have campaigned for the release of the files, anything less than full disclosure is likely to raise more questions and even outrage.

“I think the country deserves transparency in these files,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who is now in a public dispute with Trump over the files, told CNN on Sunday.

“I have no idea what’s in the files. I can’t even guess,” Greene added. “But that’s the question everyone is asking: Why fight this so hard?”