The United States House of Representatives voted 427-1 today to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, forcing the Department of Justice to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein. Only one member—Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana—voted against transparency. Everyone else chose the survivors.
Narativ Live assembled an extraordinary panel to cover this historic moment: Vicky Ward, the journalist who first exposed Epstein in Vanity Fair; Lev Parnas, the MAGA insider who understands Trump’s playbook; Dean Blundell; and Wajahat Ali who have rallied behind survivors who have tracked this case for years. Over 4,000 viewers joined the live coverage.
Vicky Ward Recalls The Farmer Sisters
Vicky Ward, who interviewed Maria and Annie Farmer for her groundbreaking 2003 Vanity Fair article (which editor Graydon Carter killed parts of under pressure), described watching Annie Farmer testify on the Capitol steps:
“It’s amazing to watch these women, having come a complete sort of 180, really reclaim their power,” Ward said. “Make no mistake, it’s because of them that they have ultimately succeeded in pressuring Donald Trump to agree to sign this bill when it gets to his desk.”
The survivors stood on the Capitol steps. Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s family was there. And 427 members of Congress voted yes.
Lev Parnas Reveals Trump’s Contingency Plan
While everyone celebrated the vote, Lev Parnas dropped a bombshell: Trump has already initiated his contingency plan to contain the damage.
Pam Bondi just opened an investigation into the Epstein files—but aimed at Democrats. And who’s leading it? Jay Clayton.
“A lot of people might have forgotten who Jay Clayton is,” Parnas explained. “He was chair of the SEC in 2017. But very interestingly, in 2020, Trump and Bill Barr tried to shove Clayton into the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York. That was the same time Jeffrey Epstein was there—there was an ongoing investigation into Rudy Giuliani and yours truly.”
The attempt failed only because then-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman refused to go quietly.
And where did Clayton go after that? Apollo Management—the firm co-founded by Leon Black, who paid Epstein over $150 million.
“So there’s a lot more that’s going on behind the scenes right now,” Parnas said. “Yes, Trump is going to be out there now trying to lie to his base, rally the troops and say release the files. But behind the scenes, what they’re trying to do is control the investigation.”
Translation: Trump’s “investigation” into the Epstein files will be led by an executive from the very firm that enriched Epstein. That’s not transparency—that’s containment.
Dean Blundell: The Pedophile Protection Network
Dean Blundell revealed another stunning development that dropped the same day: Trump interfered in the federal investigation into Andrew Tate, forcing the feds to return the Tate brothers’ phones while they were investigating Tate for trafficking a Florida woman to Romania.
“He is running a pedophile protection network for pay at this point,” Blundell said. “If you’ve ever been drunk, if you’ve ever had an addiction problem, you want everybody else around you to be in that same disgusting boat with you because it justifies your fucking behavior. There’s literally a psychological term for it.”
That’s Trump’s play. Protect everyone so no one can point fingers. Build a network of mutual protection where exposure means mutually assured destruction.
Speaker Johnson’s “Empty Concerns”
The broadcast cut to live footage of House Speaker Mike Johnson on the floor, listing concerns about “grand jury secrecy,” “child sexual abuse materials,” and “national security.”
Zev Shalev cut him off: “His concerns here are quite empty.”
Johnson complained that the bill couldn’t be amended because “under the rules of the House, under a discharge petition, they have to agree to consent for the legislation to be amended, and they’re not doing that.”
Translation: The survivors and their advocates won’t let you water it down, so now you’re complaining about the rules you created.
Johnson’s speech placed the burden on the Senate to amend the bill—setting up exactly the kind of delay and dilution Trump needs.
What Happens Next
The bill now moves to the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority. If the Senate passes it, the bill goes to Trump’s desk for signature.
Trump has said publicly he’d sign it (”sure, I would”), but that was before the 427-1 vote made this a near-unanimous demand from Congress.
The White House is facing questions about why these files weren’t released during Trump’s first term, when the Justice Department was under his control.
The DOJ files would go well beyond the 23,000 estate documents already released, potentially including investigative memos, correspondence, and internal assessments of the full network of enablers and power-brokers who benefitted from Epstein’s operations.
The Survivors’ Message
The broadcast ended with a powerful PSA from Epstein survivors:
“I suffered so much pain. I was 14 years old. I was 16 years old. I was 17. This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein. There are about a thousand of us. It’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It’s time to shine a light into the darkness.”
Dean closed with a call to action, encouraging viewers to subscribe to all the independent journalists who came together for this coverage—because they did it out of their own pockets, their own time, with their own energy.
“Seeing all of those people come together at the same time, you want to have all of those people in your life,” Dean Blundell said. “We did that because we love you. We did that because we are you.”
After thirty years of institutional silence, after five administrations that knew and did nothing, Congress finally voted 427-1 to release the files.
The fight now is to make sure Trump actually signs it—and that Jay Clayton from Apollo Management doesn’t bury what needs to come out.
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