NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke, says she voted in support of the United States (US) House of Representatives seeking the release of files linked to the alleged sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the vote on Tuesday night ends a “long struggle to stall, impede and obstruct the Epstein Files Discharge Petition”.

After an almost-unanimous vote in the House of Representatives, with just one Republican objection, the US Senate concurred to expeditiously clear the measure for President Donald Trump’s signature.

Jeffrey Epstein was a very prominent financier, reportedly very close to Trump, who committed suicide in a jail in Manhattan as he awaited trial in 2019 for allegedly sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.

“Following Donald Trump and House Republicans’ long struggle to stall, impede and obstruct the Epstein Files Discharge Petition by all means available to them…I voted unanimously alongside my Democratic colleagues to release the files,” said Clarke.

“We should have had the opportunity to do so months ago,” said Clarke, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Despite the Trump-ordered heel turn at the 11th hour, their role in delaying the petition outweighs any superficial part they played in its passage,” she said, adding that it was only when Trump recognised “how severely he was losing this fight and how poorly his opposition reflected upon him that he instructed his Congressional puppets to adjust their course”.

“This was a tactical retreat, not a meaningful reversal. While my colleagues may have changed their votes, their goal remains the same: to cover up heinous sex crimes in service of the most powerful, most despicable men in America.

“That truth is best reflected in their master’s refusal to release the Epstein files, despite campaigning on that very promise,” she added. “If Donald Trump is innocent, he has all the power to prove it.”

“Given his unwillingness to do so, he has evidently decided the only way to clear his name is to wipe all the dirt off it first, no matter how many criminals elude accountability along the way. His party is more than willing to assist him in that malicious mission. They all will fail.

“When they do, both the paedophiles they protected and the victims they abandoned will know justice,” Clarke said.

Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the Dominican Republic-American representative for the 13th Congressional District in Harlem, also told CMC that he was supportive of the measure.

“Let’s be clear, this is a White House cover-up, and Donald Trump and his Republican allies have done everything in their power to block the truth, and it’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows.

“Today, I stood with House Democrats to vote in favour of the Khanna-Massie Resolution, which would force the DOJ (Department of Justice) to release the files to the full House and public,” said Espaillat, the first Dominican Republic-American to serve in the US House of Representatives.

“This effort marks a long overdue step toward justice for Epstein survivors and sends a strong message to his evil allies that we will hold them accountable,” he added.

US Senate Democratic Leader Charles “Chuck” Schumer of New York said, “This is about giving the American people the transparency they’ve been crying for.”

“This is about holding accountable all the people in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle who raped, groom, targeted and enabled the abuse of hundreds of girls for years and years,” he added.