Image source, Reuters

US Representative Robert Garcia has just been speaking and says President Trump "has the power to release the files today" but adds that the president "refuses to do so".

The Democratic lawmaker says there are millions of survivors of sexual abuse watching to see if leaders in the US will do anything to tackle powerful abusers.

He says he's often asked by survivors of abuse "what's next".

Garcia says they believe the truth can be found in the bank records of abusers.

He warns leaders in US financial institutions that if they are hiding records then "we will be coming after them".

Image source, Reuters

Democratic senator Mark Kelly is now at the mic, and he echoes Grijalva's remarks by reminding everyone that this bill passing the House today is only the first step.

He calls for leaders in the Senate - the upper chamber of Congress, which will have to review the bill when it passes the House - to promptly schedule a vote once it lands on their desks.

"We've got a little more work ahead of us but my hope is Leader Thune will do the right thing," he says, naming the Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the top Republican in the Senate.

Image source, Reuters

In her address to the media, the newly elected Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva begins by saying survivors are the ones who have forced this vote on the Epstein files.

"Without full transparency, we can't have justice," she says.

The Arizona lawmaker says this is not a Democratic or Republican issue - but a "human rights issue".

Grijalva also stresses that today is "just the first step".

As a reminder, the bill is widely expected to pass in the House of Representatives later today, but it must also pass in the Senate.

The president must then sign it, and the Department of Justice must implement the law "fully and responsibly", Grijalva says.

She calls today "a milestone, not the finish line".

Image source, Getty Images

Back outside the Capitol, we're about to hear from Representative Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who was elected eight weeks ago in a special election in the state of Arizona.

But it took seven weeks for her to be sworn in, with House Speaker Mike Johnson keeping the House out of session for 53 days to increase pressure on Senate Democrats to agree to a government shutdown compromise.

When Grijalva was eventually sworn in, she immediately signed a discharge petition form calling for the release of the Epstein files.

Her signature was the 218th - the final signing needed to trigger a floor vote. Four Republicans joined the bipartisan effort to call for the vote.

Stay with us as we bring you key lines from her address.

Image source, Reuters

Johnson says he will vote in favour of the bill on the Epstein files today despite his "deep concerns" - and that the vote may be close to unanimous.

But he goes on to accuse the Democrats of blocking efforts to bring the bill to the floor last week for a unanimous consent vote.

The Democrats, however, have pushed back against that line of attack, saying they objected to that measure because the votes would have been anonymous - and they want public accountability.

While the current version of the bill can't be amended in the House, Johnson says he and his Republican colleagues have issues that he hopes are raised when it reaches the Senate.

"The Democrats have disregarded all these concerns," he says.

We're going to move away from Johnson's press conference and turn our attention to a separate briefing happening on Capitol Hill, where Epstein survivors and Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva are speaking - stay with us.

Mike Johnson says he has talked with his counterpart in the Senate - Majority Leader John Thune.

He says that after the bill passes the House and goes to the Senate, they will "take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House - amend this discharge petition".

• For context: The House of Representatives - sometimes referred to as the House - is the lower chamber of Congress and is made up of elected representatives from across the country. After a bill passes in the House, it must also be approved by the Senate - the upper chamber of Congress

Several lawmakers used a discharge petition to bring the bill to the House floor, allowing them to go around House leadership.

During his speech this morning, Johnson was complaining about several elements of the discharge petition - including that it fails to protect victim privacy as well as national security concerns - that he hopes the Senate will make changes to.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has just given an overview of what progress has already been made in relation to the Epstein files' release.

He says the House Oversight Committee "is already producing far more than the discharge petition even anticipates".

Johnson continues by saying "over 65,000 Epstein file documents" are out in the public, including tens of thousands of pages from the Epstein estate. He says this includes Epstein's flight logs and daily calendars.

We're continuing to hear from Mike Johnson, the most powerful lawmaker in the House.

On the Epstein files, the Republican says his party and the president support "maximum transparency".

But he cautions that they also have a responsibility towards the innocent people and victims who are not properly guarded by the petition.

"And that is why we are so incensed," about recent efforts to release those files in full, Johnson says.

He urges the process to be undertaken in a way that doesn't violate the privacy of sexual abuse victims, implicate innocent people, disclose the names of whistleblowers, or undermine national security.

Image source, Reuters

Elsewhere in the US Capitol, House Republicans - some of whom have previously been against a vote on the Epstein files - are also holding a press conference.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, the most powerful lawmaker in the House, is now speaking.

He says his political opponents are forcing a "political show vote".

"Democrats are trying to use the Epstein matter as a weapon to distract from their own party's failures," he says. "They're trying to attack President Trump," Johnson says, adding: "he has nothing to do with it."

We just finished hearing from lawmakers and Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill - with Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene leading the charge in her critiques of Donald Trump, demanding he release all the files related to the convicted sex offender.

Here's the latest:

• Greene described how Trump branded her a "traitor" for standing with Epstein survivors, to which she accused the president of ripping Maga (Trump's Make America Great Again movement) apart with his treatment of the Epstein files
• Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips told reporters that she and fellow survivors were launching a political movement she says she hopes will help uncover the systems that have protected predators "for far too long"
• Wendy, a survivor who does not mention her last name, said she and the other women who Epstein abused did not ask to be dragged into political warfare. "Standing on the right side of history is not a comfortable place to be," she added.
• The brother of Virginia Giuffre, Sky Roberts, cried as he told the crowd that Epstein trafficked his sister to a network of rich and powerful people. He says his sister made a "monumental impact" by speaking out about her abuse

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

I’ve just arrived on Capitol Hill as the Epstein presser with survivors and lawmakers was ending.

There’s a noticeable difference between watching the presser on my phone and seeing it in the flesh - the emotion.

As survivors leave the scene, I can see them hugging one another and some are wiping tears from their eyes.

This is a day of politics, but it’s clearly an emotional one, too.

Towards the end of the press conference, Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene returned to address the crowd.

She says the Epstein row has been one of the "most destructive things" to happen to Trump's Maga movement since his election in 2016.

The Republican lawmaker, and former Trump ally, goes on to say she was a "day one" supporter of his, beginning more than a decade ago.

Watching this turn into a partisan fight has "ripped Maga apart", she says.

The press conference of lawmakers and Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill has now ended - but we're continuing to wrap up key lines from their address.

Thomas Massie, continuing to address crowds gathered on Capitol Hill, says it's now time to "pull the band aid off".

He says of the Senate that it might be "tempting for them to get cute" and they could limit the release of the documents.

But he insists that people getting embarrassed by what's released is the whole point - and Senate Republican leader John Thune needs to bring this "to the floor of the Senate".

He adds that he believes the vote today in the House of Representatives will show that.

Image source, EPA

Lawmakers are now taking questions from reporters.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie says House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to "save face", so the speaker will vote today for a bill he has "disparaged for four months".

Massie adds: "However, he wants to come onboard, we need him to come onboard."

In late July, Johnson ended the week early before an August recess after Democrats had forced several votes on releasing the Epstein files.

He then kept the House out of session for almost two months during the government shutdown, which delayed a discharge petition from Republican lawmakers. The petition allows them to go around House leadership to bring a bill - in the case on the Epstein documents - to the floor if a majority of members sign on to it.

In recent weeks, a growing number of Republicans - and once Trump allies, like Marjorie Taylor Green - have been calling for the documents to be released.

Another Epstein accuser, Lara Blume McGee, tells the crowd during her address that this is the first time she's spoken publicly about what she experienced - which she says included being groomed by the convicted sex offender.

"Today, I am here to break that silence," she says. "Sex trafficking and sexual abuse are crimes against human beings - not political talking points."

She urges lawmakers to release all the Epstein files and to allow an investigation to take place unobstructed.

"The government must never side with predators," she said.

Image source, Reuters

Survivor Virginia Giuffre's brother, Sky Roberts, is speaking on behalf of his sister, who died by suicide in April.

Giuffre was one of the most prominent survivors of Epstein's abuse.

Roberts is crying as he tells the crowd that Epstein trafficked his sister to a network of rich and powerful people.

He says his sister made a "monumental impact" by speaking out about her abuse.

He says survivors are "not political tools" for lawmakers to use.

"Vote yes," he says on releasing the files.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

Many victims of Epstein have now spoken here, across from the steps of the Capitol.

One pointed to the statue of a woman on top of the Capitol dome that represents freedom, while saying she does not feel free today.

The victims have all said they think the release of the Epstein files should go beyond politics, and beyond partisan divides.

The vote to release those files is expected in the House this afternoon. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she thinks it will be unanimous.

If that’s true, it may be hard for the Senate to ignore such a strong message. Senate Republican leader John Thune has not committed yet to putting it to a vote.

If he goes forward with that, it would need to pass by a two-third majority to be sent to President Trump’s desk.

He's said he would sign it, but there is still a long road ahead until the public - and survivors - may see these files fully released.

Image source, Getty Images

We are now hearing from Annie Farmer, one of Epstein's accusers and a key witness in Maxwell's sex trafficking trial, who says she and her older sister were abused by the disgraced financier when they were 16 and 25.

She details how the case has been through the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden presidencies.

This is not a partisan issue, she says, it is "institutional betrayal".

"Because these crimes were not properly investigated, so many more girls and women were harmed," she says.

She adds that her sister was repeatedly threatened and "lived in fear" - a consequence of her "bravery" as a whistleblower.

Wendy, a survivor who does not mention her last name, says she and the other women who Epstein abused did not ask to be dragged into political warfare.

"Standing on the right side of history is not a comfortable place to be," she says.

Image source, Getty Images

Before Jena-Lisa Jones made her address, we heard from Lisa Phillips - another Epstein survivor.

She says they are now launching a "survivor-led" political movement, which Phillips says she hopes will help uncover the systems that have protected predators "for far too long".

She says the movement will help re-write "laws that have failed us" and "build protections for our nations' children".

Phillips has previously urged the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to release all the documents and information it has from the Epstein investigation, and has said that many victims are afraid of repercussions if they went public with names themselves.