Topline
President Donald Trump on Wednesday night signed legislation that orders the Department of Justice to release all files linked to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after having previously resisted demands to make the files public and referring to the whole issue as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One.
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Key Facts
The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the Justice Department to publish “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials,” linked to Epstein’s investigation and prosecution.
The DOJ now has 30 days to release these records “in a searchable and downloadable format,” including all details about the investigation into Epstein’s death in federal prison in 2019.
Trump announced his signing of the bill into law in a long Truth Social post, where he attacked the Democrats and claimed this would “backfire” on them.
Trump wrote: “Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed, because I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!”
Citing a massive set of Epstein emails recently made public by the House Oversight Committee, Trump linked Epstein with prominent Democrats like former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman—even though the president’s name also appears several times in the emails.
Trump also pointed out that Epstein was charged when he was in office in 2019 and added: “The Biden Administration did not turn over a SINGLE file or page related to Democrat Epstein, nor did they ever even speak about him.”
What Else Did Trump Say?
Trump, who publicly attacked two members of his own party, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who were backing the bill, also took credit for the legislation’s near-unanimous passage. “As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to pass this Bill in the House and Senate, respectively. Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage,” Trump wrote. Earlier reports also suggested the White House tried to pressure two other Republicans—Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.—to withdraw their support for a discharge petition to move the bill forward. Boebert was reportedly even summoned to the White House Situation Room.