Who is Clay Higgins, the only House member to vote against releasing the Epstein files?

Washington– Democrats and Republicans alike prepared to vote unanimously in the House on Tuesday to pass a bill mandating the release of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s case files. But in the end, one lawmaker stood alone in opposition: Republican Rep. Clay Higgins.

Higgins, who represents a congressional district in southwest Louisiana in his fifth term, explained in a lengthy statement that he “rejected on principle this bill from the beginning.” He raised some of the same objections to the bill that House Speaker Mike Johnson, another Louisiana Republican, did, but even Johnson said Tuesday he would vote for it because “none of us want to go on the record and be accused in any way of not seeking the utmost transparency.”

For Higgins, an ardent Trump supporter and member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, that was no problem.

He has refused to give in to mounting pressure, both within the Republican base and from survivors of Epstein’s abuse, to pass the bill, even as both President Donald Trump and Johnson have backed away from their opposition to the legislation. He said his concern about the bill is that it “exposes and hurts thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who have made alibis, family members, etc.”

He added: “If enacted in its current form, this kind of widespread disclosure of criminal investigation files, which is disseminated to the frenzied media, will certainly lead to harm to innocent people.”

Higgins suggested he would be open to voting for the bill if the Senate amended it to protect the privacy of those “who have been named but are not criminally involved.” But just hours later, the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent, leaving Higgins the only lawmaker in Congress on record against the legislation.

However, Higgins is no stranger to controversy. As a former law enforcement officer, he faced a series of misconduct allegations and became politically involved after achieving widespread fame by creating rant videos for Crime Stoppers. The media earned him the nickname “Cajun John Wayne,” and he followed up the moniker by challenging people on social media to a fight.

In 2020, Facebook removed a congressman’s social media post — promising to use force against armed protesters — for violating the company’s policies on violence and incitement.

In Congress, he chairs the subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee that issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for the files in the Epstein case. But even as Democrats on the subcommittee convinced several Republicans to vote with them to issue the subpoena, Higgins was one of the few who stood in opposition. He also pushed for the subcommittee to subpoena former President Bill Clinton.

“I’ve never dealt with a subpoena like this,” Higgins said at the time. “It’s amazing stuff.” On Tuesday, he pointed to the work of the committee overseeing the investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case, saying it was being done “in a way that provides all due protection to innocent Americans.”

Last year, Higgins also faced an attempt by Democrats to criticize him for racist comments he made about Haitian immigrants after Trump’s own comments about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.

In a social media post, Higgins described Haitians as “savages. Pet eating, voodoo, ugliest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters.”

But after members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of Democratic lawmakers, confronted him about the post, Higgins deleted it and partially retracted the comments, saying they were intended for gang members.

At the time, Johnson defended Higgins, calling him a “very frank and honest person.”

“He’s also a very principled man,” Johnson added.

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Associated Press writer Sarah Klein in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.