“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 on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT).
In the post, Trump took credit for the move, even though he has fought it for months. He changed course on Sunday, Washington time – when it was clear the bill had the numbers to pass the House of Representatives – and told Republicans they should vote for it.
The bill requires the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death, within 30 days.
It allows for redactions about Epstein’s victims for ongoing federal investigations, but the department cannot withhold information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity”.
There are concerns that the release of some, perhaps many, documents could be stymied by the fact that Trump last week ordered Attorney-General Pam Bondi to open new investigations into Epstein’s links with high-profile Democrats, including Clinton and Clinton’s treasury secretary, Larry Summers.
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Bondi immediately tasked a US attorney in New York, Trump appointee Jay Clayton, to lead the investigations and said he would act “with urgency and integrity”.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spectacularly fallen out with Trump over Epstein and other issues, said on Wednesday: “Will the Department of Justice release the files or will it all remain tied up in investigations … will that list of names come out? That’s the real test.”
At a news conference, Bondi said she and her department would follow the law while protecting victims and providing “maximum transparency”.
Even before the bulk of the so-called Epstein files have been released, documents obtained by the US Congress from his estate have humiliated high-profile individuals who maintained their friendship with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
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For example, email exchanges between Epstein and Summers, some of them containing comments and jokes about women, featured prominently in the 20,000 pages of documents released last week.
On Thursday (AEDT), it was confirmed that Summers would immediately take leave from his teaching post at Harvard University, where he holds the highest professorial distinction, while administrators investigated his ties to the disgraced financier.
Just a day earlier, Summers had told students he intended to continue teaching, despite expressing his shame and regret. He said his decision to continue communicating with Epstein was misguided and recognised the pain it had caused.
Leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI also announced Summers had quit the firm’s board. “We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the board,” OpenAI said.
The two congressmen who led the charge to release the files, Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna, welcomed Trump’s fast signature on the bill.
“The survivors stood up to the Epstein Class and won,” Khanna said on X. “[We] showed Congress can force Trump to bend to justice.”
With AP
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