The “Release” of the Epstein Files
After months of pressure from Americans and Congress for the Trump Administration to release the Epstein files, a promise made when President Trump ran for office, they finally made them available–but they’re not what you may have expected.
The investigation surrounding Jeffery Epstein, notorious for being a pedophile as well as the head of an alleged sex trafficking ring, left questions in the air for years—many of them pertaining to who was associated with him and his crimes. His death in 2019 was reported as a suicide in an N.Y. jail. However, many disagree with the autopsy results and believe that Epstein was murdered to ensure that none of the famous names who could’ve been implicated alongside him would be mentioned in the trial that he was awaiting at the time.
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Epstein was known for being in the loop with many celebrities. In fact, one of his accusers, Chauntae Davies, stated that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his business partner, were "boastful about their famous or powerful friends."
The Epstein Files allegedly contain a list of associates and visitors to his private island, Little St. James, which is a significant reason why a large number of people want access to these documents. According to ABC News, “The House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of pages related to Epstein on Tuesday night, but much of the information released was already publicly available.” This has left many Americans, as well as President Trump’s own supporters, angered by the broken promise that he committed to when running for President—even going so far as describing the pressuring calls for the files to be released as a “Democratic Hoax.”
As a result, there’s been high demand from within Congress to release 100% of these files. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna have been at the forefront of the effort, creating a petition in hopes of forcing a vote on the house floor towards an Epstein Files Transparency Act. Massie’s petition has reportedly received the signatures needed from Congress to be able to compel a vote. "We have the 218 votes, 216 already support it. There are two vacancies that haven't been reported as much, but two Democrats are going to be joining and they are both committed to signing it. That's going to happen by the end of September," Khanna shared on ABC News.
Additionally, survivors of Epstein and Maxwell joined together on Capitol Hill as a group to demand that Massie and Khanna’s Epstein Files Transparency Act be passed, allowing for full disclosure of the files. Haley Robson, one of the survivors, told reporters that “It felt like being gutted from the inside out,” after hearing of Trump describing the scandal as a hoax. Frustration is mutual among the women who gathered on Capitol Hill towards the President for repeatedly trying to undermine Epstein’s case and brush it to the side.
Lisa Phillips, another victim of Epstein, as well as the host of “From Now On,” a podcast about survivors of sexual abuse, even stated, “Us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list.”
The bipartisan effort to release the files has been strong. If Trump doesn’t willingly release the files on his own, they’re bound to make their way out to the public. Whether through the survivors’ own list of names or the Epstein Files Transparency Act, justice will eventually be served.
