Senate Democrats are trying to use a little-known law to get their hands on the Jeffrey Epstein files as the Trump administration struggles to control the fallout over its handling of the case.
Donald Trump has been haunted by questions about his relationship with the convicted sex offender and what the files may contain ever since the Justice Department reversed course on releasing documents earlier this month, sparking fury with the president’s base.
Democrats have seized on the crisis that has ensnared the White House and have taken multiple steps in their push to release the files on the disgraced financier who died in prison in 2019.
On Wednesday, the Senate Democrats on the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee invoked a century-old law known as the “rule of five” to compel the Justice Department to release the full files.
Under the federal law, all it takes is five senators on the committee to call on the executive branch to release documents, and they must comply.
The request from Senate Democrats covers all documents and evidence in the Justice Department and the FBI’s possession related to the case.
“The public has a right to know who enabled, knew of, or participated in one of the most heinous sex trafficking operations in history,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“It’s not a stunt, it’s not symbolic, it’s a formal exercise of congressional power under federal law,” he said, standing alongside a poster of Epstein with the president that included a 2002 quote from Trump calling the disgraced financier “terrific.”
Schumer insisted that, should the Trump administration not respond and release the files, they can challenge them in the courts. He also indicated that Democrats are urging fellow Republicans to join them in a bipartisan effort. Democrats are demanding a response from the Justice Department by August 15.
It was the latest in a series of steps members of Congress from both parties have taken in regards to getting more information about the Epstein case.
Last week, the chair of the House Oversight Committee issued a July 23 subpoena for testimony from Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking. Her lawyer responded on Monday with a list of demands for her to share what she knows with Congress, including immunity, which the committee rejected.
At the same time, members of a House oversight subcommittee held a last minute vote before leaving town on recess one week ago to demand the Justice Department turn over the Epstein files, as the Republican House leadership refused to hold a vote on a bipartisan resolution for the files to be released.
The subcommittee motion to get the files passed with bipartisan support, but GOP House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has dragged his feet so far on issuing that subpoena.
“Chairman Comer has been clear that subpoenas will be issued in the near future,” a committee spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
The committee is preparing eleven subpoenas related to the Epstein case, including depositions from Bill and Hillary Clinton, former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, and six former attorneys general from both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The vote to subpoena the Epstein files took place the same day as the House wrapped up business in Washington and members left town for six weeks, so it will take additional time before it is formally issued.
The subpoenas all require Comer’s signature.
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