U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn both voted against releasing the Epstein files. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas joined a majority of Senate Republicans in squashing an amendment Friday that would have compelled Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files.

The measure was presented by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, a procedural move to force a vote on the release on the files relating to alleged sex trafficker and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was once a friend of President Donald Trump.

The motion to table the amendment barely passed with a 51-49 vote. All of the Senate’s Democrats voted to advance the amendment, which needed 50 to pass.

Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, were the only two Republicans to break rank in voting against tabling the amendment.

Earlier in the week, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy — whose district includes parts of Austin and San Antonio — also voted against the release of the Epstein files when it came up for a vote in the House Rules Committee.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

This article appears in Sep 3-17, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.