Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it for months

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump signed regulation 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 various 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 disclosed in a social media post as he communicated 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 inquiry into his death in a federal prison in within days It allows for redactions about Epstein s casualties 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 episode files from an odd congressional coalition of Democrats one GOP antagonist of the president and a handful of erstwhile Trump loyalists As in recent days 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 longed to move on I just don t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we ve had Trump revealed in a social media post Tuesday afternoon explaining the rationale for his abrupt about-face The House passed the bill on a - 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 probe 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 mentioned 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 a few of his closest political allies helped fuel conspiracy theories about the regime s handling of the Epstein circumstance asserting a cover-up of potentially incriminating information in those files