Rep. Clay Higgins: The Lone 'No' on Releasing the Epstein Files — Why He Broke Ranks

Rep. Clay Higgins stands alone in opposition to releasing Epstein files

Most members of the House voted to make public case files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana cast the only vote against the measure. A fifth-term Republican and member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Higgins said he was a "principled 'NO' on this bill from the beginning," arguing the bill risked harming innocent people whose names appear in investigatory records.

Higgins has repeatedly said his concern is not secrecy but privacy: "If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt," he said, noting that witnesses, alibi providers and family members could be unfairly exposed. He signaled he might support the legislation if the Senate added stronger privacy protections for those "named but not criminally implicated." Within hours, however, the Senate approved the bill by unanimous consent, leaving Higgins the sole lawmaker recorded in opposition.

In Congress, Higgins chairs a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee that sought Department of Justice files related to the Epstein case. While several Republicans on the panel joined Democrats in issuing a subpoena, Higgins opposed the subpoena vote and pushed the committee to subpoena former President Bill Clinton. At one point he remarked, "I've never handled a subpoena like this. This is some fascinating stuff." He defended the subcommittee's work as being carried out "in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans."

Higgins's public profile has long mixed tough-on-crime posturing with controversy. A former law-enforcement officer, he rose to national attention with brash Crime Stoppers videos that went viral and earned him nicknames such as "Cajun John Wayne." He has challenged individuals to fights on social media and has drawn scrutiny for fiery rhetoric. In 2020, a post promising the use of force against armed protesters was removed by Facebook for violating the platform's violence and incitement policies.

Last year, Democrats moved to censure Higgins after he posted inflammatory remarks about Haitian immigrants following remarks by then-President Trump. Higgins called Haitians "wild" and used other derogatory language; after criticism from members of the Congressional Black Caucus he deleted the post and partially walked back the remarks, saying his target was gang members. Speaker Mike Johnson publicly defended Higgins at the time, calling him "a very frank and outspoken person" and "a very principled man."

This episode highlights the tensions within the GOP and Congress over transparency, privacy and oversight: Higgins has positioned himself as a privacy advocate in this specific instance, even as many colleagues and survivors demanded full disclosure of the files.

Contributor: Sara Cline