About Clay Higgins, the Only House Rep to Vote Against Releasing the Epstein Files

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the U.S. House of Representatives almost unanimously voted for The Epstein Files Transparency Act. The one dissenter was Clay Higgins, who represents Louisiana's third district. Clay's bio touts him as an army vet, law enforcement officer, and someone who is committed to furthering "constitutionalist principles."

Clay resigned from his sheriff job when offensive comments he made drew backlash from the American Civil Liberties Union, according to The Hill. He later wrote terribly racist comments about Haitian immigrants on X (formerly Twitter).

Clay said he's always voted no against the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but he also leads the oversight committee for the Epstein investigation, per his website. So why did he vote no?

Essentially, Clay Higgins voted no against releasing the Epstein files because he said that releasing the files would expose the personal information of victims and witnesses. He wrote on X, "As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc."

"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 continued. He argues that the Oversight Committee has already released some of the files and will continue to do so over time, in a way that protects "innocent Americans."

However, per NBC News, the attorney general will redact any identifying information about victims before the files are released, so his fears are unfounded.

Many are wondering whether Clay Higgins himself is included in the Epstein files. That information is not available yet. However, according to a Mother Jones investigation piece published in 2024, Clay was friends with former police officers "accused of severe wrongdoing." Some were accused of being in a sex trafficking ring, and another was accused of incest.

One of these friends, Leon Boudreaux, was the founder of a motorcycle group that Clay was a part of. Leon was convicted of incest after being accused of sexually assaulting and raping a family member from when she was 14 to 18 years old, per Mother Jones.

A year after Leon was convicted, Clay posted a photo of himself clasping Leon's hand. Leon confirmed that he and Clay were longtime friends.

Clay did not respond to Mother Jones' request for comment on the friendship.

Under the X post about his vote, on X user wrote, "What a weird f--king hill to die on, you creep." Another wrote, "The victims asked for the bill to be passed. You're on the wrong side of history here."

Yet another wrote, "The Epstein victims fully endorse their release — but you knew that and chose to protect Trump and other powerful, rich men — pedophile enabler."