Trump signs bill to release Epstein files

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

President Donald Trump signed a bill late Wednesday to release federal files related to former financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After fighting the release for months, Trump reversed course over the weekend when it became clear Congress was going to force a vote on the matter. On Tuesday, both the House and Senate passed the measure.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., requires the U.S. Attorney General to release records relating to Epstein.

Trump’s name was frequently mentioned in recent files released by Democrats. In an email from Jan. 31, 2019, Epstein wrote to a journalist that Trump “knew about the girls.”

“Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” the email from Epstein reads.

Trump said Wednesday that he helped bring Epstein to justice, not the Democrats. Authorities said Epstein killed himself while in jail on the child sex offender charges.

“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!,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post. “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. 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,” Trump wrote. “This latest Hoax will backfire on the Democrats just as all of the rest have!”

The bill allows DOJ to redact or withhold material that contains victims’ personally identifiable information; child sexual abuse materials; images of death, physical abuse, or injury; information that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or prosecution; or classified information.

Once signed, the Department of Justice will have 30 days to release all unclassified records related to Epstein.