Who is the only congressman who voted against releasing the Epstein files? Meet Clay Higgins

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that supports the release of documents tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The vote was a rare moment of bipartisanship in Congress, with a landslide vote of 427-1 returned by lawmakers. But there was one hold-out, a single Republican who voted against releasing the infamous ‘Epstein files’. That vote came from Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who insisted that he was sticking to his principles.

“What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today,” Higgins wrote on social media, after the bill had been approved. “It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America.”

“As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc,” he continued. “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.”

Higgins has been the representative for Louisiana’s third district since 2017, winning a runoff election against fellow GOP candidate Scott Angelle. He is considered one of the most right-wing members of Congress and has appeared at events organized by the Oath Keepers, a far-right group that was heavily involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

He made headlines last year when he described Haiti as “the nastiest country in the western hemisphere” and called Haitians “slapstick gangsters”. He was subsequently censured by his own party in the House but allowed to keep his seat.

Before a career in politics, Higgins was a member of Louisiana’s St Landry’s Parish Sheriff’s Office. He was forced to resign in 2016 after publishing a video which showed himself brandishing a rifle and making violent threats against gang members.

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