U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he meets with the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Nov. 17, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday night said he signed a bill ordering the Department of Justice to release its files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The announcement in a lengthy Truth Social post followed the bill’s near-unanimous passage in Congress.
“I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!” Trump wrote in the 390-word post, which painted the notorious financier as a “lifelong Democrat” who “was deeply associated with many well-known Democrat figures.”
Trump, a former friend of Epstein’s, also stressed that he had asked Republican leaders in the House and Senate to pass the bill — even though his administration had reportedly opposed the push to release the files. After the vote on the bill was scheduled in the House, Trump on Sunday night abruptly urged Republicans to back it.
“Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage,” Trump wrote Wednesday night.
The bill instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release unclassified records relating to Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, among other information, within 30 days of its signing.
But the legislation contains exceptions, including for information containing victims’ personally identifiable information or child sex abuse materials.
It also includes a carve-out for records that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution.” Bondi, acquiescing to a request from Trump, said last week that she had assigned Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to investigate Epstein’s ties to several of the president’s perceived foes.
The legislation received overwhelming support in the House, with all but one lawmaker, Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, voting for it on Tuesday.
It passed immediately when it was sent to the Senate on Wednesday morning. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had secured a unanimous consent agreement, which allowed the legislation to sail through the upper chamber as soon as it was received.
Despite his sudden shift in stance on the bill, Trump has continued to fume about the focus on Epstein, calling it a “hoax” being pushed by Democrats to distract from his administration’s achievements.
He has repeatedly lashed out at reporters when asked about his connections to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges. Trump and Epstein were friends until the early 2000s, but the two had a falling out years before Epstein’s death.
When an ABC News reporter asked Trump on Tuesday why he has not released the Epstein files on his own — as he has the power to do — the president insulted her and called for ABC’s broadcast license to be revoked.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Trump on the 2024 campaign trail suggested he would release files related to Epstein. In the early months of his second term, officials in his administration signaled they were pushing to disclose those files.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February, for instance, that Epstein’s rumored “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review.” The same month, a group of pro-Trump influencers received binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” at the White House.
But those binders contained little new information. And the DOJ, in an unsigned memo in July, said that a review of its Epstein-related materials “revealed no incriminating ‘client list.'” The memo also included the agency’s conclusion that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
The announcement enraged both Democrats and some prominent voices in Trump’s base.
In subsequent months, scrutiny increased over Trump’s past association with Epstein.
In July, The Wall Street Journal reported the existence of a “bawdy” and cryptic note to Epstein bearing Trump’s signature, which was part of a collection of letters gathered for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter and filed a defamation lawsuit against the Journal’s publisher and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The House Oversight Committee last week released thousands of documents it had obtained from Epstein’s estate through a subpoena, including emails showing Epstein discussing Trump.
In one email thread in 2018, Epstein wrote of Trump, “I know how dirty donald is.” In an April 2019 email to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.” CNBC has not independently verified the emails, and it is unclear what Epstein was referring to.
House Democrats and a handful of Republicans sought to approve a discharge petition that would force a vote in the GOP-majority chamber on the bill to release the Epstein files. That effort was delayed for weeks by the government shutdown, which postponed the swearing-in of a Democratic lawmaker who would provide the last needed signature.
