Six months of sordid revelations and unusually stubborn MAGA resistance reach a major milestone Friday, with the Justice Department’s deadline to release the Epstein files.
Pam Bondi explains Justice Department’s plans to release Epstein files and open new investigation
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would release the Epstein files within 30 days of President Donald Trump signing the transparency bill.
The backlash was swift. After key figures in President Donald Trump’s inner circle spent years stoking expectations about what government records would reveal about Jeffrey Epstein, the second-term Republican administration sought to close the case over the summer. Maga was furious.
“Why would Pam Bondi’s Justice Department cover up the crimes and murders of Jeffrey Epstein?” conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said of the U.S. attorney general on July 8, referring to popular conspiracy theories about the money manager Epstein, who committed suicide in prison at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
A day earlier, Justice Department officials had released a memo reaffirming that Epstein committed suicide in 2019 and declaring that no further documents related to his case would be released. This is the beginning of one of the most notable episodes of President Trump’s political career, six months of Republican accusations, salacious revelations, and unusually determined resistance from within MAGA, and Friday, December 19th marks another major milestone in the Justice Department’s deadline to release the Epstein files.
Former Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton said the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein scandal created a tumultuous drama that engulfed the Republican president’s second term and the Republican-led Congress. “The failure to address this problem only made it worse, spread it, and metastasized into a problem that took over everything else,” Upton said, arguing that it contributed to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and weeks of paralysis in Congress.
Mr. Epstein also exposed the limits of his considerable influence over Mr. Trump’s supporters. This factored in two major rifts between the president’s close allies, billionaire Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). And the Epstein file was the only issue on which key congressional Republicans were poised to back down and rebel before President Trump passed and supported a bill to release government records from the case.
“Having worked for Trump, it always seemed like he was coated with Teflon. Every scandal that hit him just bounced back onto him, and the Epstein file didn’t have the stickiness that we saw,” says Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary in Trump’s first administration but resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and has criticized the president ever since.
White House press secretary Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s handling of the Epstein issue. “The Trump administration has done more for victims than Democrats have ever done,” she said.
The Epstein bill requires the Trump administration to release all government records on Epstein within 30 days, with a Dec. 19 deadline. The issue of term limits that has dogged President Trump throughout his first year in office is now coming to a head.
“No one can defend this.”
Although the Trump administration initially resisted releasing the documents, a steady stream of revelations has emerged since the summer as Congress intensifies its efforts to obtain records. They spotlight the relationship between Trump and Epstein. The two had been friends for many years. Epstein attended Trump’s second wedding, but Trump said they broke off because his friend “stole the people who worked for me” at his Mar-a-Lago club.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a birthday letter to Epstein said to be signed by Trump that was outlined with a drawing of a naked woman, as well as an email in which Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls.” President Trump hit back at the release of the records, suing the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on the subject. The president said he did not write the birthday letter and that he knew “nothing” about what Epstein mentioned in the emails about Trump. President Trump also called the entire Epstein scandal a “hoax.”
When the issue flared up again in July, President Trump claimed on social media that Epstein was being used to taint his administration and that his supporters “shouldn’t waste their time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, who no one cares about.”
But many Americans don’t buy it. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month found that 52% of American adults disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the Epstein scandal. A majority also believe the government is hiding information about Epstein, including his death and information about potential sex-trafficking clients.
What makes Epstein such a big problem, he said, is that “no one can defend this. No one.” Upton served 18 terms in southwest Michigan, retiring in 2023 after standing out among Republicans for voting to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Upton highlighted elements of the Epstein case, adding, “Sex islands, underage women, sex trafficking, it’s just terrible.” “No one can defend it.”
“Epstein’s list needs to be released.”
Mr. Trump’s insistence on withdrawing from Epstein also contradicts what many in his circle have been saying for years, fanning interest in the case. After Epstein committed suicide in 2019, conspiracy theories arose that he was actually murdered. There is also speculation that Epstein may have trafficked underage women to his major clients, prompting calls for his “client list” to be made public.
Then Sen. “Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. It’s important,” Ohio Republican J.D. Vance told a podcaster shortly before the end of his 2024 presidential campaign.
The idea of exposing elites who are escaping accountability fits into President Trump’s populist, anti-establishment, swamp-draining political message.
“President Trump has campaigned against the Epstein class, but this controversy is perhaps a bit of a litmus test, or a red line,” said Arkon Huang, a professor of civil rights and autonomy at the Harvard Kennedy School. “Now people are wondering, are you against the Epstein class or are you part of the Epstein class? Metaphorically speaking, I think that’s kind of what’s happening right now.”
After Mr. Trump returned to the White House, Mr. Bondi began making MAGA offers about Mr. Epstein, and in an interview with Fox News, asked about Mr. Epstein’s client list, he said, “It’s on my desk right now for consideration.” So it was a huge disappointment to many on the right that the Justice Department released a memo reaffirming Epstein’s death by suicide, saying no evidence of a client list had been found and no further records would be released.
The issue had been smoldering for months. During a rift with Trump in June, Musk said the Epstein files were not released because the president was “in” them.
But the July 7 Justice Department memo was the spark that lit Epstein on fire. MAGA broke out. President Trump was not satisfied with this, and in a rebuke to some of his ardent supporters, he said those who did not support his handling of the case were “deceived”, “weak” and not needed by Trump.
Epstein problem won’t go away
But Trump seems unable to sway Epstein. Matthews, a former aide during President Trump’s first term, said he was surprised by the staying power of the Epstein case.
“I think it’s largely because of how they mishandled this case,” she said, adding, “They built up so much about how they released these files and exposed these people for Pam Bondi at the time to completely drop the ball.”
Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said in a Dec. 16 interview with Vanity Fair that Bondi “completely missed” his initial response to the issue.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s usual methods of trying to calm the situation are not working. A pressure campaign to get Republicans to oppose the file disclosure bill failed as Trump’s top politicians, including Rep. Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), resisted.
With the bill ready to move forward, Trump flipped and supported it. “This is the first visible issue that shows the major rift in support for Trump in Congress,” Huang said.
Ms. Greene said her stand against Mr. Epstein led to a conflict with Mr. Trump, who publicly criticized her. She subsequently announced that she would resign from parliament on January 5, 2026.
The issue is a sensitive one for Republicans. Asked recently about Epstein on the steps of the Capitol, Boebert said, “Honestly, I’m done with Epstein,” adding that reporters should “find something more to talk about.”
But the revelations continue. A recent document dump from Congress includes photos of Mr. Epstein’s home on a Caribbean island and photos of President Trump and former President Bill Clinton with Mr. Epstein. It all begs the question, “What’s next?”
Contributor: Zachary Schermele
