“I just signed a bill to make the Epstein files public!” »wrote Donald Trump, Wednesday, November 19, in a long message on his Truth Social network, once again accusing his Democratic opponents of hiding the truth. After a long period of opposition, he announced a law forcing his government to make public all the authorities’ documents on the Epstein affair. However, the extent of the expected disclosure remains unclear.
The text voted on Tuesday in Congress gives the Justice Department one month to provide all classified documents it has about the New York financier, who died in prison in 2019 before being tried for sex crimes, about his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence, and about everyone involved in related legal proceedings. Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide in his cell has sparked countless conspiracy theories, which suggest that the financier – who had extensive connections in politics, business and entertainment – was murdered to prevent him from speaking out.
After promising shocking revelations during the 2024 election campaign, Donald Trump, since returning to power, has urged his supporters to turn things around, describing the affair as ” joke “ highlighted by the Democratic opposition. Recently, he repeated that he did not “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein”call it “sick pervert”.
Both figures from the New York jet set, these two businessmen were close from the late 1980s, until their dispute in the early 2000s. This was before legal proceedings were launched several years later against the financier, who was accused of organizing a network of sexual exploitation of underage girls.
The American president, who has never been charged by court in the case, has for months opposed proposed legislation on “transparency in the Epstein files”. But on Sunday, when it became clear that the bill would be adopted without incident in Congress, Donald Trump publicly made changes.
The bill was ultimately approved on Tuesday with 427 votes in favor and 1 against in the House, and the Senate used a special procedure to approve it without debate and unanimously. By enacting the law, Donald Trump began a thirty-day countdown. Previously, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned against taking any action “Donald Trump’s scheme”caller ” apply “ text after signing.
“Smoke screen”
Republicans, pointing fingers at the opposition, ordered Justice Secretary Pam Bondi last week to open an investigation into ties between the financier and certain Democratic figures, including former President Bill Clinton. The latter confirmed on Wednesday that they were justified by “new information”while the Federal Ministry of Justice and Police (FBI) announced in July that they had not yet done so “no evidence has been found to form the basis of an investigation into persons who have not yet been tried” in this case.
New laws passed by Congress give the Justice Department authority to withhold or redact documents from such cases under certain circumstances, including to preserve victims’ privacy or for certain reasons.“ongoing federal investigation or prosecution”. Republican-elect Thomas Massie, one of the authors of the bill and a frequent critic of Donald Trump, said he feared the investigation would fail. “smokescreen” and one “last chance to prevent publication of Epstein files”.
However, on Wednesday in ” temporary “ and limited. Pam Bondi himself emphasized that his services would respect the law “maximum transparency, while protecting victims”.
