(The Hill) – Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke with Senate Republican leaders Wednesday afternoon and voted in support of an amendment sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) directing the Department of Justice to release all unclassified records and documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Most Republican senators voted to table the amendment, but Hawley’s and Paul’s contrasting votes underscore the deep divisions within the party over how to handle calls from President Trump’s MAGA base for more information related to Epstein.
“This has been my consistent position,” Hawley told reporters after voting. “My position has long been I think we ought to release those files and trust the American people, just like we did with the MLK files and the JFK files. I think this is a similar deal.”
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Hawley noted that Trump said a few months ago that the attorney general should release all the Epstein files that aren’t classified.
“The substance is what it is. It’s a vote on do you release the Epstein files or not,” he explained.
“The president said in his announcement a couple of months ago that he thought the attorney general should release all the files that weren’t classified. I agree with that,” he said.
Hawley was spotted chatting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-N.D.) after casting his vote.
Paul’s home-state colleague, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), is pressing for a vote in the House on identical legislation to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to make public all unclassified records, documents and communications related to Epstein.
Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) are circulating a discharge petition in the House to force a vote on the measure. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has urged GOP colleagues not to sign the petition.
Other Republican senators expressed interest in directing the Justice Department to release more information about Epstein but ultimately decided to stick with their leaders.
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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he voted to table Schumer’s amendment because he thought it would likely be stripped out of the bill anyway and wanted to show party solidarity on a procedural matter.
“At the end of the day, it was a procedural vote because it would have been stripped out,” he said. “Frankly, if there was an amendment on the floor that would have the force of law, I’d vote for it in a heartbeat.”
Schumer offered his amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act while Thune was trying to negotiate an agreement on considering amendments.
The Democratic leader got his amendment considered first because Thune did not immediately fill the amendment tree to block amendments from being offered.
Schumer said the vote shows who’s serious about releasing all Epstein-related documents to the public.
“If Republicans vote no, they’ll be saying the American people should not see the Epstein files. I say to my Republican colleagues, if you vote no … you’ll be saying to the American people should not see the Epstein files, plain and simple,” he said.
