Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stated Monday that the Trump administration ought to launch the entire recordsdata associated to the disgraced late-financier Jeffrey Epstein, and that Congress ought to intervene to power that launch if the administration doesn’t act by itself.
Jeffries stated there’s no good purpose for the Justice Division to maintain these particulars beneath wraps except officers have one thing to cover — a veiled nod to hypothesis that Trump, who had crossed paths with Epstein in years previous, is within the recordsdata.
“The American people deserve to know the truth,” he advised reporters within the Capitol. “What, if anything, is the Trump administration and the Department of Justice hiding?”
Epstein died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, the place he was awaiting trial after his arrest for the intercourse trafficking of minors. However his case has been a rallying cry for right-wing conspiracy theorists — lots of them avid Trump supporters — who’ve alleged that the federal government is in possession of Epstein’s “client list,” however hasn’t launched it to guard highly effective “elites” in excessive locations of presidency and enterprise.
A few of these voices have since been promoted to highly effective posts within the Trump administration — together with U.S. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel — resulting in excessive expectations from the MAGA devoted that Trump would launch the complete trove of Epstein recordsdata in his second time period.
In February, Bondi fueled these hopes when she stated she had Epstein’s shopper checklist on her desk “right now” and was able to launch it.
Final week, nevertheless, the DOJ issued an unsigned memo asserting that the company has no proof that Epstein saved a shopper checklist or tried to blackmail highly effective figures who may need engaged in unlawful sexual actions.
“We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the memo reads.
The DOJ additionally caught by its earlier evaluation that Epstein died by suicide — one other element that angered lots of Trump’s supporters, who’ve suspected there was foul play to silence Epstein.
The memo infuriated lots of Trump’s supporters and severed a MAGA motion that’s virtually outlined by its steadfast loyalty to the president.
Jeffries stated solely two eventualities surrounding the Epstein saga are doable: Both Trump and a few of his most distinguished supporters — together with Bondi and Vice President Vance — “intentionally lied to the American people for years” to bolster their warnings that sinister “elites” run the nation. Or the DOJ is now concealing proof of that plot to guard the president’s pursuits.
“Option One: They lied for years. Option Two: They’re engaging in a coverup. At this point it seems reasonable that it can only be one of the two things,” Jeffries stated. “And so it is Congress’s duty, in a bipartisan method, to ask the questions and attempt to get solutions on behalf of the American individuals.”
Trump has sought to defuse the interior MAGA outcry, defending Bondi and urging his supporters to maneuver on, whereas additionally falsely blaming Democrats for fueling the conspiracies surrounding Epstein.
“Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and more … created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier,” Trump posted Saturday on Reality Social, the media outlet he owns.
Jeffries rejected that argument on Monday, noting that the Epstein conspiracies have lengthy been a celebrated reason behind the suitable.
“Democrats didn’t put the Jeffrey Epstein thing into the public domain,” he stated. “This was a conspiracy that Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, and these MAGA extremists have been fanning the flames of for the last several years, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.”
A number of Democrats on Capitol Hill have already launched laws designed to power the administration to launch all of its Epstein recordsdata. Jeffries stated he hasn’t examined these resolutions, however voiced sturdy assist for the idea.
“I believe transparency and daylight for the American individuals is at all times the higher plan of action,” he stated.
