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The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill to force the justice department to publicly release its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The move is a remarkable display of approval for an effort that had struggled for months to overcome opposition from US president Donald Trump and Republican party leadership.

When a small bipartisan group of House legislators introduced a petition in July to manoeuvre around speaker Mike Johnson’s control of which bills reach the House floor, it appeared a hopeful effort – especially as Mr Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a “hoax”.

But both Mr Trump and Mr Johnson failed in their efforts to prevent the vote, and it will now go forward to the US Senate. View 2 Images

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