D-day for the publication of the Epstein file

(Washington) In 2024, Donald Trump campaigned with the promise of publishing the Epstein file. Back at the White House, he urged his base to turn the page but the American president, cornered by Congress, must finally keep his commitment on Friday.

After having been reluctant to comply until the final deadline provided for by law, the government of the Republican billionaire is supposed to publish during the day the documents in its possession in this affair, which has agitated the United States for many years.

“We hope the government will honor this commitment,” said Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives. “But if the Department of Justice does not comply with what is now federal law, there will be a strong reaction” from both Democrats and Republicans, he warned.

For the public and the victims, the publication of the file constitutes the best opportunity to shed light on this scandal.

The death of financier Jeffrey Epstein, found hanged in his cell in New York on August 10, 2019 before his trial for sex crimes, has fueled countless conspiracy theories that he was murdered to cover up a scandal involving high-profile figures.

If he had promised shocking revelations during the campaign, Donald Trump then took his supporters on the wrong foot by urging them to move on, describing the affair as a “hoax” exploited by the Democratic opposition.

The American president, however, was unable to prevent Congress from adopting a law aimed at providing greater transparency in this matter and had to promulgate it on November 19. The text gave the government 30 days to comply. A deadline which expires on Friday.

“Create a diversion”

This law requires the Department of Justice to publish all unclassified documents in its possession on Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence, and all people involved in the legal proceedings.

The extent of the revelations to be expected remains unknown.

“The truth is that we don’t know what the Department of Justice will do tomorrow,” elected Democrat Robert Garcia told CNN on Thursday.

“What we know is what they have done in the past: they tried to cover up, they tried to create a diversion.”

In July, the Department of Justice and the FBI announced in a memorandum that they had discovered no new elements that would justify the publication of additional documents or new prosecutions. The announcement ignited Donald Trump’s MAGA base.

The expected documents could embarrass a number of personalities, particularly from the world of business, politics or entertainment, who gravitated in the financier’s orbit. Including Donald Trump, long close to Jeffrey Epstein until their falling out in the 2000s.

“Democratic friends of Epstein”

The billionaire, then also a figure of the New York jet set, has always denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal behavior and claims to have broken up with him well before he was concerned by the courts.

Last week, opposition elected officials published a new series of photos in which we see Jeffrey Epstein in the company of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates or Richard Branson, or even the filmmaker Woody Allen.

Donald Trump also appears there, in the company of women with obscured faces.

“It is time for the Department of Justice to publish the file,” these elected officials launched Thursday, after making public 68 new photos obtained from Jeffrey Epstein’s legatees.

The White House argued last week that “the Trump administration (had) done more for Epstein’s victims than Democrats ever did, releasing thousands of pages of documents and calling for new investigations into Epstein’s Democratic friends.”

The opposition, for its part, is concerned about possible manipulation of the file before its publication.

Two Democratic senators called in an open letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general for an “independent audit” to ensure that nothing was “neither manipulated nor concealed.”