WASHINGTON, Nov 20: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has approved a law that directs the Justice Department to make public every record linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files must be posted online in a searchable, downloadable format within 30 days, as stated in the law, the BBC reported.
Trump had earlier resisted making the documents public, though he shifted course after pressure from Epstein’s victims and from lawmakers in his own party. His backing helped the measure glide through both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday, the BBC said.
In reversal, Trump supports House vote to release Epstein files
Writing on Truth Social, Trump claimed Democrats were using the issue to distract from his administration’s achievements. He added that the release might expose what he called their ties to Epstein, BBC noted.
The House passed the bill 427 to 1, and the Senate cleared it by unanimous consent soon after it arrived. This comes after about 20,000 pages from Epstein’s estate were released last week, including messages where Epstein wrote in 2018 that he could damage Trump and claimed to know compromising information about him, according to the BBC.
Trump and Epstein moved in the same circles for many years, though Trump says the two stopped speaking in the early 2000s. He maintains that he has no connection to any crimes linked to Epstein. Speaking to reporters on Monday night, Trump said Republicans had no link to the scandal and framed it as a problem for Democrats, the BBC stated.
The new law does not ensure that every page will become public. The Justice Department can still hold back portions that may intrude on someone’s privacy or relate to ongoing investigations. Congressman Thomas Massie, one of the bill’s main supporters, said he worries that authorities might cite new inquiries as grounds to keep certain files sealed, the BBC reported.
