The Senate May Vote on Epstein Files Release TONIGHT

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated on Tuesday that the Senate may vote on the bill to order the Department of Justice to release documents pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein case as soon as this evening.

Thune’s comments came shortly after the House of Representatives passed the legislation in question by a margin of 427-1, with Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) being the only one to vote against it.

CNN’s Manu Raju reported on the development from Capitol Hill:

This is huge news. The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, indicating that this bill, just passed the United States House by a 427 to 1 vote, now could pass the Senate as soon as tonight. In fact, that is what he just told reporters just moments ago. He said that it could move, quote, “fairly quickly” in the United State Senate, and that there would not be any changes because of the fact that it was approved by such a large margin. And remember, the Speaker of the House wanted changes in this bill. He resisted a vote in the House to begin with. The White House also resisted a vote for many months here, this president ultimately coming to the side of where his party was going to support this bill, to say that it should pass the United States House and now for the first time we are getting a clear indication from John Thune himself that they indeed will try to quickly pass this bill.

So here are some of the mechanics in order to pass this bill tonight. He needs to have all 100 senators on board and essentially greenlight this process from advancing. One Senator, Republican or Democrat, if they were to object, he or she could go to the floor and say, “I object,” and this bill would not pass. It seems unlikely that would happen given the way the momentum has totally shifted here on this issue that has completely divided the Republicans for months, and has bogged down House action for months as well. But John Thune making a clear calculation here that he does not want this to bog down his chamber, because Democrats plan to make this an issue day after day after day if they were not to get a vote on this plan.

Thune himself just a couple of weeks ago indicated very little interest in scheduling a vote on this bill. He said a number of documents, thousands have been released, he didn’t see a need for it. At that time he was in line with the White House’s position, but as we’ve seen the White House shift, as we see the Speaker shift, we are seeing Senate Republicans shift as well. And now John Thune indicating that this bill could be on its way to the president’s desk tonight — a stunning shift here in Washington on an issue that has divided Republicans for months.

Watch above via CNN.