President Donald Trump said he has signed the bill — the Epstein Files Transparency Act — to release the files related Jeffrey Epstein, ending months of resistance to making the records public.
Just one day after Congress swiftly passed legislation to compel the Justice Department to release files related to the late convicted sex offender, the president announced that he had signed the bill on Wednesday evening.
“Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged by the Trump Justice Department in 2019 (Not the Democrats!), was a lifelong Democrat, donated Thousands of Dollars to Democrat Politicians, and was deeply associated with many well-known Democrat figures,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post. He mentioned several Democrats who appeared in a tranche of emails from Epstein’s estate that the House Oversight Committee made public last week, including Bill Clinton and Larry Summers.
“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!” the president wrote.
“At my direction, the Department of Justice has already turned over close to fifty thousand pages of documents to Congress. Do not forget — The Biden Administration did not turn over a SINGLE file or page related to Democrat Epstein, nor did they ever even speak about him,” he continued.
Trump accused Democrats of using the Epstein Files to distract from Republican victories.
“For years our Great Nation has had to endure RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, IMPEACHMENT HOAX #1, IMPEACHMENT HOAX #2, and many other Democrat created Witch Hunts and Scams, all of which have been so terrible and divisive for our Country, and have been done to confuse, deflect, and distract from the GREAT JOB that Republicans, and the Trump Administration, are doing,” the president said. “This latest Hoax will backfire on the Democrats just as all of the rest have!”
The president said Monday he has “nothing to do with” Epstein after the recently released batch of emails included messages from the disgraced financier claiming that Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours at my house” with a victim of sex trafficking. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and says his friendship with Epstein ended decades ago.
The stunning emails were made public before Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into office by House Speaker Mike Johnson following a 50-day delay since she won her congressional race. Grijalva provided the 218th — and final — signature on a House discharge petition that ultimately forced a vote on the DOJ’s files.
Demands for transparency around the Epstein files have long plagued the Trump administration, especially after Trump campaigned on exactly that.
Attorney General Pam Bondi released “Phase 1” of the Epstein files in February to MAGA influencers, but faced backlash after it was discovered most of the information was already publicly available.
Uproar mounted after the Department of Justice released a memo in July stating that Epstein, whose 2019 death in a jail cell was the subject of many conspiracy theories, died by suicide. The memo also said no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted” and that there was no evidence to support the existence of a so-called “client list” of people involved in his heinous crimes.
In September, survivors said they would compile their own list and “seek justice on our own.” In October, Nobody’s Girl — the posthumous memoir of survivor Virginia Giuffre — provided new revelations about a “client list,” alleging that the sex offender videotaped bedrooms and bathrooms in his homes to give him, what Giuffre called, “power over others.”
This month, as the House neared its 218th signature, Trump administration officials met with Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room to reportedly discuss removing her name from the discharge petition. Boebert was just one of four Republicans who had signed it.
Last week, Trump ordered Bondi to investigate Epstein’s "involvement and relationship" with Democrats who were named in the tranche of Epstein emails. Hours later, Bondi assigned a prosecutor to lead the case.
After it became clear that the House was poised to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act with wide bipartisan support, Trump abruptly switched his position and urged the GOP to support the bill while simultaneously casting the entire matter as both a “hoax”.
Writing on Truth Social late Sunday, he said House Republicans “should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”
On Tuesday, Jena-Lisa Jones, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, told CNN that she believes survivors should have been present when Trump signs the bill.
“He owes us that much. He owes us an apology. I think that would be one way of showing some remorse for this drawn-out process that didn’t need to be,” Jones said.
