Why We Won’t See the Epstein Files During Trump’s Presidency

Even if Republicans in both the House and Senate join Democrats in voting to release the Epstein files, the documents still won’t come out.

Because of Donald Trumps demands that the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate a long list of people and companies connected to Epstein, the DOJ will now reject any release by claiming the records are tied to “active investigations.” Attorney General Pam Bondi immediately confirmed the DOJ would follow Trumps orders and open new investigations.

Trump specifically named Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, and JPMorgan Chase while adding on the more open-ended “many other people and institutions” as targets to investigate. That sweeping directive ensures that the DOJ will always be able to say they are following new leads, meaning that the investigations won’t conclude while he remains in office.

This enables the DOJ to rely on its long-standing policy of not commenting on active investigations if it refuses to cede to Congressional demands. This also gives Republicans political cover to not join Democrats in voting for the files’ release.

Even if overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress still demand the documents, the DOJ will fight and stall. Lawsuits will follow. Those cases will climb to the Supreme Court, who will inevitably side with Donald Trump by ruling that the files can’t be released because they are part of active investigations.

It won’t mean anything that the DOJ has already held this material for five or six years. It won’t mean anything that Pam Bondi claimed she reviewed the findings of the investigations and closed the Epstein matter, finding no grounds to further investigate or charge anyone in connection with Epstein. It won’t matter to Elon Musks vast legions of followers that Musk claimed to know that Trump was in the Epstein Files.

It won’t even matter how exhaustively the FBI claims to have already investigated the matter. Reopening or expanding the investigations effectively freezes everything.

This was the ace Trump had up his sleeve. He may not have realized it earlier, or he likely would have played it long before Congress prepared to vote. The game has been interesting to watch, but at this point, this disfavorable outcome seems nearly inevitable.

That’s my prediction. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not feeling particularly optimistic.

Still, the House Oversight Committee has one arrow left in its quiver: it can subpoena Mark Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, to testify in public.

If we can’t get a full release of the files, the least we deserve is for Mark to explain who “Bubba” is, how Trump came to be “blowing,” and why Vladimir Putin would end up with photos.

Inquiring minds want answers. And Mark has made it clear he knows them—especially since he insists that the “Bubba” Trump may or may not have been involved with is definitely not Bill Clinton.