President Donald Trump announced he signed legislation Wednesday night mandating the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, triggering a 30-day timeline for the Justice Department to make unclassified documents publicly available.
The president announced that he signed the bill in a lengthy Truth Social post on Wednesday night.
“I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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 favour of passage.”
In the post, he stated that “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 also took credit for the bill to release the files, which passed Congress overwhelmingly.
This comes after the bill, dubbed The Epstein Files Transparency Act, swiftly passed Congress on Tuesday evening. The House voted 427-1 to pass the bill. Only one lawmaker, Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, voted against it.
Although there were speculations that Speaker Mike Johnson would make changes, such as amendments to the bill, it cleared Congress as written.
“This bill is a command for the president to be fully transparent, to come fully clean, and to provide full honesty to the American people,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York stated Wednesday.
It remains unclear exactly when the files will be released.
The bill directs the attorney general to make all unclassified documents related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell publicly available within 30 days of being signed into law. The bill will also compel the Justice Department to produce all internal communications on Epstein and his associates.
However, redactions can be made to the documents to protect the identities of victims.
Furthermore, Epstein was deemed to have died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019. The bill will trigger the release of information related to his death, which has been under scrutiny by those who urged the files to be released.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters on Wednesday she would comply with the law regarding the release.
“We will continue to follow the law with maximum transparency whilst protecting victims,” Bondi stated in a news conference on Wednesday when asked about releasing the files.
However, the bill allows the Justice Department to withhold any information that would interfere with any investigations or prosecutions.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who publicly broke with Trump over the release of the files, remains cautious about how the Department of Justice will handle the release.
“The real test will be, will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations?” Greene stated.
Much of the attention around releasing the files deals with naming those who are accused.
Representative Thomas Massie, who co-sponsored the bill, wants to read the names of those who are accused. Greene would also like to do this on the House floor.
The push for the release of the files comes after the Justice Department released documents following online influencers being promised more information about Epstein by the DOJ.
Bondi then stepped back from her promise and stated there was no so-called Epstein “client list” after she suggested the document was on her desk. This caused an uproar.
In September, the Epstein estate handed over a copy of his 50th birthday book that included letters from individuals he associated with. Some of the letters included lewd information and one allegedly had Trump’s signature. However, the president denied ever signing the document.
The House Oversight Committee also released thousands of documents, including emails that featured Epstein and Maxwell. These emails mentioned the president.
