The only 'no' vote on releasing Epstein files

Nearly every Republican in the US House of Representatives voted on a bill to compel the release of documents tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The lone "nay" came from the Republican lawmaker from Louisiana, Clay Higgins, who defied his party saying his vote was a principled "NO".

"What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today," Higgins wrote on X. "It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America."

The resounding vote in favour of the Epstein bill, 427-1, marks a rare moment of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. Hours later, the US senate too approved the legislation, clearing the way for the final act - President Donald Trump's signature.

For Higgins, safeguarding the personal information of Epstein's many victims was the primary issue with the legislation.

"As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc," he wrote on X. "If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt."

Higgins said he would support the bill if it were to be amended by the Senate, which Republican majority leader John Thune had already suggested was unlikely.

"When a bill comes out of the House 427 to 1 and the president said he's going to sign it, I'm not sure that amending it is in the cards," Thune said before the Senate's unanimous approval for the bill on Tuesday.

Prior to the House passing the legislation, only four Republicans had joined all Democrats in signing a petition to force a vote - Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But it achieved overwhelming Republican support after President Trump dropped his opposition to a vote.

Higgins has represented Louisiana's third district since 2017 and is widely regarded as one of the most conservative members of Congress, according to his website.

His holdout vote in the wake of 200-plus members of his party voting otherwise is not the first time he has taken an unorthodox stance.

In 2024, House Republicans voted to censure Higgins for offensive remarks he made on social media after he called Haiti "the nastiest country in the western hemisphere" and referred to Haitians as "eating pets" and "slapstick gangsters".

"All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th," Higgins wrote.

Facebook removed two posts from Higgins in 2020, after he wrote he would "drop any 10 of you where you stand", referring to any armed protesters that might attend a Louisiana demonstration against police brutality.

Facebook told Business Insider at the time the posts "were removed for violating our policies against inciting violence".

Before Congress, Higgins was a member of Louisiana's St Landry's Parish Sheriff's Office. He resigned in 2016 amid backlash about a controversial anti-crime video where he was seen holding a rifle and making threats against gang members.

The BBC has contacted Higgins's office for comment.