Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it
for months
[November 20, 2025]
By SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed legislation Wednesday
that compels his administration to release files on convicted sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to political pressure from his own
party after initially resisting those efforts.
Trump could have chosen to release many of the files on his own months
ago.
“Democrats have used the ‘Epstein’ issue, which affects them far more
than the Republican Party, in order to try and distract from our AMAZING
Victories,” Trump said in a social media post as he announced he had
signed the bill.
Now, 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 in a federal prison in 2019, within 30
days. It allows for redactions about Epstein’s victims for ongoing
federal investigations, but DOJ cannot withhold information due to
“embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.”
It was a remarkable turn of events for what was once a farfetched effort
to force the disclosure of case files from an odd congressional
coalition of Democrats, one GOP antagonist of the president, and a
handful of erstwhile Trump loyalists. As recently as last week, the
Trump administration even summoned one Republican proponent of releasing
the files, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, to the Situation Room to
discuss the matter, although she did not change her mind.
But over the weekend, Trump did a sharp U-turn on the files once it
became clear that congressional action was inevitable. He insisted the
Epstein matter had become a distraction to the GOP agenda and indicated
he wanted to move on.
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Gary Rush, College Park, MD, holds a sign before a news conference
on the Epstein files in front of the Capitol, Tuesday, Nov. 18,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the
Victories that we’ve had,” Trump said in a social media post Tuesday
afternoon, explaining the rationale for his abrupt about-face.
The House passed the legislation on a 427-1 vote, with Rep. Clay
Higgins, R-La., being the sole dissenter. He argued that the bill’s
language could lead to the release of information on innocent people
mentioned in the federal investigation. The Senate later approved it
unanimously, skipping a formal vote.
It’s long been established that Trump had been friends with Epstein,
the disgraced financier who was close to the world’s elite. But the
president has consistently said he did not know of Epstein’s crimes
and had cut ties with him long ago.
Before Trump returned to the White House for a second term, some of
his closest political allies helped fuel conspiracy theories about
the government’s handling of the Epstein case, asserting a cover-up
of potentially incriminating information in those files.
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