UPDATE (Sept. 10, 2025, 7:00 p.m. ET): The Senate voted 51-49 to defeat Sen. Chuck Schumer’s amendment, with Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., joining all Democrats in opposition.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to force a floor vote that would require the Department of Justice to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Schumer filed an amendment Wednesday to the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass defense bill, with language similar to a discharge petition drafted in the House by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. That petition has almost all 218 signatures needed to force a vote in the House to release the files.
It’s not clear when the Senate vote would happen. NBC News notes that any “vote could be on a Republican motion to table or kill the amendment” and that no vote is currently scheduled.
“There has been so much lying, obfuscation, cover-ups. The American people need to see everything that’s in the Epstein file, and my amendment would make that happen,” Schumer said to reporters. The House Oversight Committee this week obtained a new batch of material from Epstein’s estate via subpoena. Included in that material was a copy of a “birthday book,” an album presented to Epstein on his 50th birthday that features personal notes from powerful individuals. Among these is a drawing and typed message that refers to Epstein as “a pal” and features what appears to be Donald Trump’s signature. The White House has said the signature is fake. Trump called public interest in Epstein a “dead issue” and insisted the entire narrative is a “hoax.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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