Washington: US President Donald Trump said he has signed a bill compelling the release of the Epstein files, capping a dramatic three days in which he reversed course on one of the most persistent sagas of his second term.
The decision clears the way for the Department of Justice and FBI to make public tens of thousands of records relating to the criminal investigation into deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Donald Trump could have chosen to release many of the files on his own months ago.Credit: AP
Many Trump supporters, believing the files would embarrass prominent Democrats who had associated with Epstein over the years, had clamoured for the full suite of files to be released, and were led to believe that Trump would do so after winning the election.
But the Justice Department and FBI decided in July against publishing any more material, saying there was nothing relevant left to release and no credible evidence that Epstein was murdered or kept a “client” list.
Since then, however, Democrats – joined by many Republicans – put enormous political pressure on Trump to release the files, asserting they were being “covered up” by the White House due to Trump’s own associations with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s.
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The pair were friends and mixed in the same New York social circles, but had a falling out in the 2000s, which Trump has recently said was due to his discovery that Epstein was “taking” or stealing young women staff from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Trump has always denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
In a long post on his Truth Social page, Trump announced he had signed the bill into law and predicted the files’ release would backfire on the Democrats. He named former president Bill Clinton, who has also denied wrongdoing and knowledge of Epstein’s activities, along with other high-profile Democrats and donors.
