President Trump said Friday that the Justice Department had “done its job” and called for an end to the push from bipartisan lawmakers for more disclosures in the case of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Democrats for bringing the Epstein case “back to life,” though Republicans in the House have been at the forefront of the push for more transparency.
“The confused and badly failing Democrat Party did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his Island, and take his money!” Trump posted. “They 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 now dying (after the DOJ gave thousands of pages of documents in full compliance with a very comprehensive and exacting Subpoena from Congress!) Epstein case was only brought back to life by the Radical Left Democrats because they are doing so poorly, with the lowest poll numbers in the history of the Party (16%), while the Republicans are doing so well, among the highest approval numbers the Party has ever had!” Trump added.
The president asserted that the Justice Department “has done its job, they have given everything requested of them. It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing.”
Republicans and Democrats in the House have for weeks pressed for more disclosures around the Epstein case. Lawmakers this week hosted press conferences with victims of Epstein to call for more transparency. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has suggested Trump should meet with the victims at the White House.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a frequent Trump foil in the House, has sponsored a discharge petition aiming to force the Trump administration to release all the government files on Epstein. That petition appears poised to receive the necessary support in the coming weeks.
House GOP leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have instead called on lawmakers to support the efforts of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is seeking more disclosures on the Epstein case from the Justice Department (DOJ), the Epstein estate, and former federal law enforcement officials who worked on the case.
The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday made public a batch of files it said it received from the DOJ in response to its subpoena for documents related to Epstein. But critics have argued many of the documents the Justice Department released were already public.
Trump has for months complained about the attention given to the Epstein case, even criticizing many of his own supporters who have clamored for more information after the FBI and Justice Department announced Epstein did not have a so-called “client list” and that he died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Epstein, accused in several cases of sex trafficking young girls, ran in high-powered circles with figures that included Trump, former President Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and a number of other celebrities and ultra-wealthy people. Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been convicted of sex trafficking, and in July spoke with a top Justice Department official.
