Congress overwhelmingly passed a measure to compel the Department of Justice to release its investigation files on Jeffrey Epstein, but lawmakers have few tools to enforce their legislation.
The House and Senate passed a bill Tuesday calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all unclassified information and files related to the sex trafficking investigation into the disgraced financier, who was found dead in prison while awaiting trial in 2019, but it’s not clear how or when she will respond, reported the Washington Post.
“The Justice Department so far has continued to say nothing about how it would respond to that demand,” the Post reported. “There are many reasons to doubt that a bulk release of the files is imminent. If President Donald Trump wanted Bondi to release all of the Epstein files, he could have ordered her to do so at any point in the past six months. He didn’t.”
The president ended months of opposition to a House vote on the procedural motion after it became clear he would be unable to block it, but his order last week to Bondi to launch federal investigations into prominent Democrats with ties to Epstein, including former President Bill Clinton, could complicate the matter.
“That investigation could become a reason for the Justice Department to block release of many files,” the Post reported. “Bondi and her deputies have previously said they cannot release information about active investigations. Other information could be covered by grand jury secrecy rules. The bill Congress agreed to pass does not explicitly waive those.”
The attorney general has already stated that much of the evidence cannot be publicized because it contains private victim information or child sex abuse materials, for which the legislation carves out exceptions, and the bill contains no enforcement provisions requiring DOJ to turn over the files.
“If the House decided to issue a subpoena demanding the materials, and the Justice Department refused, the chamber’s leaders could refer officials for criminal prosecution,” the Post reported. “But it would fall to Bondi to decide whether to prosecute herself or her deputies, rendering that threat potentially empty.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) expressed confidence that Bondi would willingly comply with such an overwhelmingly passed measure, saying that could “really backfire,” but some Democrats are skeptical.
“It would be naive of any of us to think that Trump has really had a conversion,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT). “He does not want the information out.”
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