US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has signed a bill mandating the release of government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The legislation directs the Department of Justice to make all information from its Epstein investigation public within 30 days, although certain details may be withheld if they concern ongoing investigations or risk violating personal privacy.
With Trump’s backing, the bill passed both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate by overwhelming margins on Tuesday.
After initially facing criticism from Epstein’s victims and some members of his own Republican Party, Trump reversed his previous opposition to releasing the files last week.
Until recently, Trump had dismissed the need to release the documents, recently calling it a Democrat-led “hoax” to “deflect” attention away from his party’s work.
“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!” he wrote.
Although a congressional vote was not required to release the files – Trump could have ordered the release on his own – lawmakers in the House passed the legislation with a 427-1 vote. The Senate gave unanimous consent to pass it upon its arrival, sending the bill to Trump for his signature.
The Epstein files subject to release under the legislation are documents from criminal investigations into the financier, including transcripts of interviews with victims and witnesses, and items seized in raids of his properties. Those materials include internal justice department communications, flight logs, and people and entities connected to Epstein.
The files are different from the more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate released by Congress last week, including some that directly mention Trump.
Those include 2018 messages from Epstein in which he said of Trump: “I am the one able to take him down” and “I know how dirty donald is”.
Trump was a friend of Epstein’s for years, but the president has said they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
