WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the Justice Department has “done its job” in releasing records from Jeffrey Epstein’s case and that it was “time to end” the push for more transparency.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump attacked Democrats and charged that they did “nothing” about Epstein “while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his Island, and take his money!” Trump was friends with Epstein for years, though he said in 2019 — after the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking arrest — that they had “a falling out.” Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019, and conspiracy theories about his death and criminal case have flourished in the years since.
Trump said Democrats “knew everything there was to know about Epstein, but now, years after his death, they, out of nowhere, are seeming to show such love and heartfelt concern for his victims. Does anybody really believe that?”
“The Department of Justice has done its job, they have given everything requested of them,” he continued. “It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing.”
It’s not just Democrats, however, that want the Trump administration to release more Epstein documents. Several Republican members of Congress have been outspoken in calling for that as well, including Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Nancy Mace of South Carolina; and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have been circulating a discharge petition that would force a floor vote in the House to require the Justice Department to hand over documents to Congress.
The petition needs 218 signatures to pass and the group expressed confidence this week that it would secure them by the end of September.
Massie and Khanna didn’t immediately return requests for comment about Trump’s post on Friday.
The Justice Department has only turned over about one-third of the Epstein files to the House Oversight Committee. The files total about 100,000 pages, and the panel has said it obtained more than 33,000 pages and was expecting to get more, but didn’t indicate when.
The committee on Tuesday released 33,295 pages of records, many of which were already public.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, several victims spoke about the sexual abuse they suffered while working for Epstein. One of the accusers, Chauntae Davies, said of Epstein, “His biggest brag forever was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump,” Davies said. “He had an 8-by-10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them, like they were very close.”
In response, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that day, “This is a Democrat hoax that never ends. … I understand we’ve given thousands of pages of files, and I know that no matter what you do, it’s going to keep going. … Really, I think it’s enough.”
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The controversy surrounding the federal government’s Epstein records has been dogging Trump all summer after an unsigned Justice Department memo in July concluded that there was no proof of a so-called “client list” or evidence that would lead to further criminal charges.
Trump had tried to tamp down calls for more information, even as those calls grew from within his MAGA base. The president ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi in July to release “pertinent” grand jury testimony from the Epstein case.
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