2 weeks ago
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Democrats and Republicans alike anticipated a clean, unanimous vote connected Tuesday to unit the merchandise of Jeffrey Epstein’s lawsuit files. But 1 subordinate did not articulation the consensus: Republican Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana.
His lone dissent highlighted his past of staking retired positions connected the utmost borderline of the Republican Party.
The United States House approved the measurement by an overwhelming borderline of 427, including 216 Republicans. The measure past moved to the Senate, which unanimously approved it, clearing the mode for it to beryllium sent for President Donald Trump’s signature.
Here is what we know:
Who is Clay Higgins?
Higgins has represented Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District since 2017. He is known arsenic 1 of the astir far-right members of the House and often takes positions that autumn extracurricular the Republican mainstream. He is besides a beardown Trump supporter.
Higgins has drawn nationalist attraction for years, often due to the fact that of controversy. Before helium entered Congress, helium worked successful instrumentality enforcement, wherever helium faced respective misconduct complaints. He aboriginal became well-known online for his dramatic, tough-talking Crime Stoppers videos, which went viral and helped motorboat his governmental career.
His outspoken benignant has continued successful Washington. In 2020, helium posted a connection connected Facebook threatening the usage of unit against equipped protesters, alongside a photograph of Black demonstrators carrying agelong guns. “If we recognise menace … you won’t locomotion away,” helium wrote. Facebook aboriginal removed the post.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Higgins was openly sceptical astir the microorganism and claimed that the Chinese Communist Party had created and weaponised it.
In 2021, Higgins claimed that “ghost buses” – unmarked vehicles helium said carried undercover agents oregon provocateurs – were sent to the US Capitol connected January 6 to spark the violence. January 6 was the time a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to halt certification of the 2020 election. No grounds has ever supported the Higgins claim.
US Representative Clay Higgins during a league successful 2018 [File: Edmund D Fountain/Reuters]Higgins again drew backlash successful 2024 aft helium made violative comments astir Haitian immigrants, echoing remarks Trump had made astir the Haitian community successful Springfield, Ohio, including the president’s unsubstantiated assertion that Haitian immigrants were eating pets.
Higgins called Haiti “the nastiest state successful the Western Hemisphere”. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus confronted him, aft which helium deleted a station connected Haitians eating pets and said helium was referring to pack members, not each Haitians.
Even earlier entering Congress, Higgins was acquainted with nationalist criticism. He resigned from the St Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office successful 2016 aft facing backlash implicit 1 of his hardline anticrime videos.
Higgins is the seventh of 8 children. He was calved successful New Orleans, and his household moved to Covington, Louisiana, erstwhile helium was six.
In 2017, he said helium was moving 16- to 18-hour days and that helium sometimes slept connected an aerial mattress successful his Washington, DC, office.
Higgins has been joined 4 times. He presently lives successful Port Barre, Louisiana, with his 4th wife, Becca.
Why did Higgins oppose?
Higgins had antecedently voiced his enactment for the probe by the committee and was a pb investigator.
But successful a post connected X, Higgins explained his reasons for opposing the measure, saying the files could inadvertently entangle guiltless radical if they are released, and claimed that helium had been opposed to making the documents nationalist from the start.
“I person been a principled ‘NO’ connected this measure from the beginning. What was incorrect with the measure 3 months agone is inactive incorrect today. It abandons 250 years of transgression justness process successful America. As written, this measure reveals and injures thousands of guiltless radical – witnesses, radical who provided alibis, household members, etc,” Higgins wrote. “If enacted successful its existent form, this benignant of wide uncover of transgression investigative files, released to a rabid media, volition perfectly effect successful guiltless radical being hurt. Not by my vote.”
His worries were akin to those voiced by House Speaker Mike Johnson and different lawmakers. Supporters of the measure pushed back, saying those fears were unfounded and that safeguards were already included to forestall immoderate delicate details from being released.
“The Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough probe that has already released good implicit 60,000 pages of documents from the Epstein case. That effort volition proceed successful a mode that provides each owed protections for guiltless Americans. If the Senate amends the measure to decently code [the] privateness of victims and different Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated, past I volition ballot for that measure erstwhile it comes backmost to the House,” helium added.
In reality, however, the measure to merchandise the files includes redactions of portions that would different uncover the identities of witnesses, victims, their families and whistleblowers.
After the vote, Higgins appeared to rise his telephone and instrumentality a photograph of the House voting committee listing his dissenting ballot conscionable earlier votes closed.
I person been a principled “NO” connected this measure from the beginning. What was incorrect with the measure 3 months agone is inactive incorrect today. It abandons 250 years of transgression justness process successful America. As written, this measure reveals and injures thousands of guiltless radical – witnesses,…
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) November 18, 2025
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