(WASHINGTON) — The House could act as soon as Wednesday to move forward with an effort to strip controversial language in the government funding bill that allows senators to sue the government if their phones are investigated without their knowledge.

Meanwhile, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune continued to be noncommittal about what the Senate will do after the House acts.

The provision was inserted at Thune’s request, ABC News learned, into the massive government funding bill that passed Congress and was signed into law last week at Thune’s request.

The House is expected to pass a measure to repeal the provision with bipartisan support Wednesday night.

The majority leader, who has control over what legislation is voted on in the Senate, did not commit to taking any sort of action in the Senate if the House’s effort to remove the language is successful and offered a defense of the provision.

“You have an independent, coequal branch of the government whose members were, through illegal means, having their phone records acquired, spied on if you will, through a weaponized Biden Justice Department. That to me demands some accountability,” Thune said. “And so, I think everybody is focusing on the private right of action, and whatever the number, you know the number that they agreed on. I think the important thing in all of this is, where’s the accountability, and what is the consequence of bad behavior.”

The legislation that was approved as part of the funding bill gives senators the ability to sue the government retroactively for $500,000 per device accessed as part of an investigation. Eight Republican senators had their phone records subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith as part of his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and would be eligible to sue under the law. 

Many of those eight senators have told ABC News they have no intention of suing under the new rule. Some of those affected, like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., say they would support the House effort to appeal.

“I think it’s a bad idea. I mean listen, I’m all for accountability. I mean, I had my phone tapped so I’m all for accountability, don’t get me wrong. But I think taking taxpayer money is not the right way to do it. The right way to do it is tough oversight,” Hawley, R-Mo., said Wednesday morning.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another senator whose records were accessed by Smith, is digging in. 

Graham told host Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday night that he intends to sue for “tens of millions of dollars” under the new rule.

“I think this was worse than Watergate, an effort to destroy President Trump, charge him with crimes that are just ridiculous, and come after people like me. I’m not going to put up with this crap any more. I’m going to sue,” Graham said.

“I am going to sue. If you don’t sue, they’ll keep doing it. Don’t run away from this Republicans, fight back,” Graham told Hannity.

Attorneys representing Smith sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley in October seeking to correct what they call “inaccurate” claims that Smith wiretapped or spied on Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation.  

ABC News asked Thune Wednesday if he believed it was appropriate for his members to be suing the government for “millions” in taxpayer dollars. 

“I don’t think there is anybody that was targeted for whom the money matters. I think it’s more the principle and making sure there’s a remedy in the future,” Thune said. 

If the House passes its repeal of the language, Thune ultimately controls whether this bill gets put on the Senate floor.

If he allows it to, it would need 60 votes to pass. It’s unclear at this time whether there would be those votes, but there are several Senate Republicans who have signaled that they would support repealing the language. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Shortly after the Senate approved and sent a bill to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files to President Donald Trump’s desk on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi faced questions on how the administration will respond.

“We have released over 33,000 Epstein documents to the Hill, and we will continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency. Also, we will always encourage all victims to come forward,” Bondi said at a news conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other officials on an unrelated law enforcement action.

Bondi told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas that there is “new information” that has come to the Justice Department regarding the Epstein files, but did not elaborate on what the new information is.

Last week, Bondi announced the Justice Department was initiating a renewed investigation into the files and potential ties between high-profile Democrats and Epstein just hours after Trump ordered her to on his Truth Social account. 

ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas pressed Bondi on Wednesday what changed from the department’s memo in July in which they said they planned to make no future public disclosures related to their review of Epstein’s case and no further charges were expected.

“There’s information, new information, additional information,” she said in response to the question from Thomas. “And again, we will continue to follow the law to investigate any leads. If there are any victims, we encourage all victims to come forward. And we will continue to provide maximum transparency under the law.”

It’s unclear whether the DOJ will seek to cite the new investigation as exempting much of the files from public disclosure due to their relevance to the new investigation, despite DOJ and FBI stating unequivocally in a July statement that it uncovered no evidence in a review of the files that would support a predicated investigation against any uncharged individuals. 

It’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.

Earlier Wednesday, the Senate agreed to unanimously approve the bill the House passed on Tuesday, which meant there were no amendments or changes to the bill as House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of his Republican leadership team had urged.

Johnson on Wednesday said he was “surprised” that no amendments were made.

“I made clear for months that I thought there were serious flaws in the underlying bill, and I had hoped that the Senate would work to fix and correct those. They decided to go a different direction. That’s their prerogative. I was surprised and disappointed by that,” Johnson conceded.

Still, the speaker said he does not expect Trump to veto the measure.

“The Congress has spoken,” Johnson emphasized “You know that the president will process that, and there’s no delays in this at all. I mean, it’s moving forward, so I’m going to check the progress right now.”

If the legislation is signed into law, it could compel the release of federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings,” according to the legislation text. Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the bill. 

Trump said on Monday that he will sign the bill should it reach his desk.

“I’m all for it,” Trump said.

But in a post on his social media platform Tuesday afternoon, the president said he doesn’t “care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future,” and that he wants Republicans to stay focused on his agenda.

“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had, including THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, Closed Borders, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everyone, ending DEI, stopping Biden’s Record Setting Inflation, Biggest Tax and Regulation Cuts in History, stopping EIGHT Wars, rebuilding our Military, being RESPECTED by every Country in the World, having Trillions of Dollars INVESTED in the U.S.A., having created the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World, and even delivering a HUGE DEFEAT to the Democrats on the Shutdown,” Trump said in his post.

A senior White House official later told ABC News that the bill will “be signed whenever it gets to the White House.”

Trump did not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.

At a vigil on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, a group of House Democrats and Epstein survivors broke out in loud cheers upon learning that the Senate unanimously approved the bill. 

After New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez made the announcement from the podium, the group broke out in loud cheers, claps and smiles — some of them tearing up.

Democrats were seen hugging the survivors.

ABC News’ John Parkinson, Lauren Peller, Rebecca Gelpi, Michelle Stoddart and Alex Mallin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.