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Lawmakers warn Trump administration against heavily redacting ‘Epstein files’
They fear justice department could seek to withhold sections of documents as deadline approaches
Published 7 Dec 2025
Lawmakers and legal experts have warned the US Department of Justice against heavily redacting files linked to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a Congressionally-mandated deadline approaches for their release.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, enacted last month, ordered US attorney-general Pam Bondi to hand over all unclassified material in the Epstein case by December 19. It contains a provision for “permitted with-holdings”.
“If her motive is to protect Trump either from embarrassment that his name is in the files in ways that still haven’t been revealed, or to protect him from criminal exposure . . . she’s got some leeway based on the exemptions that the law allows to continue to protect him,” said Paul Butler, professor at Georgetown Law.
The furore intensified after emails released last month by Democrats on the House oversight committee included a note by Epstein saying Trump “spent hours at my house” with a woman later identified as a victim of sex trafficking. Trump has vigorously denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes and has accused Democrats of having ties to the financier.
Trump has been criticised by some in his Maga movement for failing to release the so-called Epstein files after pledging to do so during his campaign. Bondi in February told Fox News the financier’s client list was “sitting” on her desk.
The furore intensified after emails released last month by Democrats on the House oversight committee included a note by Epstein saying Trump “spent hours at my house”with a woman later identified as a victim of sex trafficking. Trump has vigorously denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes and has accused Democrats of having ties to the financier.
The 30-day deadline to release the DoJ files is a test for the Trump administration as it tries to contain dissent among its most loyal backers. The issue led to the resignation of Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of the president’s loudest supporters.
The pushback came to a head last month when Congress passed the Epstein bill almost unanimously after Trump reversed his opposition to the release of the files to avoid an embarrassing congressional defeat.
“The bill requires DoJ to declassify information to the fullest extent possible,” Ro Khanna, the Democratic lawmaker who co-sponsored the bill, told the Financial Times.
“Anything that is redacted has to be accompanied by a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress. We will be watching this closely.”
Pressure grew this week when Khanna and other supporters of the bill, including Republicans Thomas Massie and Lisa Murkowski, sent Bondi a letter seeking to discuss new information she said underpinned recently announced investigations into Democrats linked to Epstein.
A spokesperson for Murkowski said the senator had signed the letter “to help ensure compliance with the legislation”.
“The senator and her colleagues clearly outlined their expectations,” the spokesperson said. “They trust the Justice department will follow the law and fully release the files, while protecting the names and identities of any survivors.”
According to the statute, Bondi may withhold or redact records that identify victims, contain child sexual abuse material or images of death.
She can also withhold information that, according to an executive order, should be “kept secret in the interest of national defence or foreign policy”.
Trump has signed a flurry of orders since returning to the White House in January, including sweeping tariffs implemented via emergency powers whose use the administration has justified on grounds of national security.
There are international links to the Epstein affair. The former Prince Andrew, brother of King Charles, has given up his royal titles over his relationship with Epstein and a woman who claimed she was abused by both men, an accusation he denies.
But issuing an order to limit a disclosure that received near-full congressional support may be politically thorny for the president.
The White House said in a statement that Trump “has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files — by releasing thousands of pages of documents, co-operating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and . . . recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends”.
The law also exempts material that would harm ongoing federal investigations or prosecutions — a provision some fear may be exploited after Bondi, at Trump’s directive, last month launched investigations into ex-president Bill Clinton, his Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers and others.
“It’s not far-fetched to think that Bondi could find an argument that even materials that specifically pertain to Donald Trump might be included [in this exemption] as an active federal investigation of others,” said Butler.
Even some Republicans are sounding the alarm.
“For anyone hoping to use ‘ongoing investigations’ as a reason to withhold Epstein files, please read the language of the bill,” Massie warned in a social media post, quoting the provision that orders these with-holdings be “narrowly tailored and temporary”.
When asked whether the new investigations targeting Democrats would affect the files’ release, Bondi last month stressed she would comply with the statute: “So we have released over 33,000 Epstein documents to the Hill and we’ll continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency . . . while protecting victims.”
The DoJ did not respond to a request for comment.
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