Higgins, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the bill would “hurt innocent people” and warned that making the records public in their current form would jeopardise individuals unconnected to Epstein’s crimes.

He argued the legislation would “reveal and injure thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc.” Higgins, now in his fifth term representing a southwest Louisiana district, said in a statement quoted by the AP that he had been a “principled ‘NO’ on this bill from the beginning.”House Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Louisiana Republican, acknowledged sharing some of Higgins’ concerns but said he backed the measure to demonstrate support for “maximum transparency.” Higgins, however, remained firm, telling reporters and posting online that the bill “abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure” and would cause harm to innocent people if the material were released to the media.The legislation follows renewed public pressure for disclosure of all documents linked to Epstein, the financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.