US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a bipartisan bill requiring the Justice Department to publicly release its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and used the moment to launch a political broadside against the Democratic Party. In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump portrayed the disclosure order as a victory for transparency that he personally championed, despite earlier efforts by some Republicans to stall or dilute the measure. He also sought to spotlight Epstein’s alleged connections to prominent Democratic figures, framing them as the true targets of the impending document release.
In his post, Trump emphasised that Epstein had been charged during his own administration in 2019, not under Democratic leadership, and characterised the disgraced financier as a “lifelong Democrat” who donated heavily to Democratic politicians. He specifically invoked former President Bill Clinton, ex–ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and billionaire Reid Hoffman, asserting that their relationships with Epstein would finally come under scrutiny. Trump declared that the truth about these associations “will soon be revealed,” announcing that he had just signed the legislation compelling the Justice Department to release the files.
The bill, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed the House in a sweeping 427–1 vote and moved through the Senate by unanimous consent, underscoring broad political support for public disclosure. Trump quietly signed it in the Oval Office, but later used his social media platform to cast himself as the driving force behind the move. Under the new law, Attorney General Pam Bondi must release all unclassified Epstein-related records within 30 days, although she may redact material that could interfere with ongoing investigations.
Trump used the signing to intensify partisan rhetoric, accusing Democrats of weaponising the issue to distract from what he described as the “accomplishments” of his administration. He claimed that the Biden administration “did not turn over a single file” regarding Epstein and suggested that Democrats are more vulnerable to fallout from the disclosures than Republicans. Calling the scrutiny a “Democrat hoax,” he insisted that the attempt to highlight Epstein’s connections would ultimately “backfire,” as he asserted previous controversies had.
His commentary came after weeks of renewed focus on Epstein’s extensive networks. The House Oversight Committee’s Republicans recently released more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, following the release of Epstein emails by Democrats that referenced Trump himself. The issue has long been fraught for Trump, who had socialised with Epstein in the early 2000s and later faced questions about his own proximity to the disgraced financier. Epstein’s death in 2019, officially ruled a suicide, fuelled conspiracy theories that Trump often amplified, further dividing his MAGA base.
Trump abruptly shifted from scepticism to full support of the bill last weekend, publicly urging House Republicans to pass it and insisting that his administration had “nothing to hide.” Many of his supporters, however, remain convinced that powerful political figures across both parties benefited from a cover-up surrounding Epstein’s activities. With the new mandate for disclosure, the Justice Department’s files could offer fresh insight into Epstein’s associations with high-profile individuals, including Trump, and reignite long-standing questions about how much the government knew and why accountability has remained limited.
