On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed a bill that directs the Department of Justice declassify and release files related to the prosecution of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. TASR informs about it according to the reports of world agencies.
- President Donald Trump signs law to release Epstein files.
- The files will be declassified by the Ministry of Justice within 30 days.
- The White House did not adopt the proposed changes to the law during the Senate debate.
- Republican congressmen voted against President Trump’s position.
- The public is confused about Epstein’s death and his clients.
Trump announced the signing of the law on his social network Truth Social. In the post, he repeatedly highlighted Epstein’s alleged ties to leading Democrats as well as the fact that his predecessor Joe Biden did not release any of the files.
“Jeffrey Epstein, who was indicted in 2019 by the Justice Department during the Trump administration (not the Democrats!), was a lifelong Democrat, donated thousands of dollars to Democratic politicians, and had close ties to many prominent Democrats,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Remember – the Biden administration has not released ONE file… The Democrats used the “Epstein” case, which affects them far more than the GOP, to try to distract from our AMAZING victories…. This latest scam will backfire on the Democrats just like all the others!” he added in the post.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday, before Trump signed this law, that her department will release documents from the Epstein case investigation within 30 days, as required by law, Reuters reported. “We will continue to comply with the law and promote maximum transparency,” Bondi said, adding that the department will protect the identity of all victims of sexual abuse whose names appear in the files.
The legislation was previously approved unanimously by the Senate and nearly all congressmen in the House of Representatives. A group of congressmen from both parties prepared the bill back in July. The AP agency states that initially this legislative initiative nthey gave great chances of success. Trump knew Epstein, his name is said to be in the files, and therefore refused to publish the documents.
But on Sunday, the president changed his mind after prolonged pressure, including from parts of the Republican Party and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, and urged Republican congressmen to vote yes. However, according to the sources of the Reuters agency, the White House unsuccessfully tried to push amendments into the law at the last minute in the Senate on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the passage of the law points to the limits of Trump’s control over his own party. Despite weeks of pressure from the White House, Republican congressmen decided to vote against the president’s wishes. The agency believes that the public does not agree with the position of the White House on the case of Epstein’s files. According to the latest survey, Trump’s popularity among the public has fallen to 44 percent. At the same time, up to 60 percent of Americans think that the federal government is deliberately hiding information about Epstein’s death, and 70 percent believe that it is withholding information about people paid to commit sex crimes.
Some of the documents were already published last week by the Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives. Trump denies having close ties to a convicted sex offender who allegedly committed suicide in custody in 2019. However, recently released emails and documents suggest otherwise.
According to the investigation, Epstein built an illegal network in which he provided underage girls to wealthy people. Many US citizens and right-wing influencers suspect that the former financier did not actually take his own life, but was murderedso that he could not testify about his prominent clients. During his campaign last year, Trump promised to release all investigative files. However, only a few minor documents were released after the inauguration in January.
