Following a historic 427-1 vote from the House of Representatives to release the Epstein files, President Trump signed off to release the Epstein files on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
The signing came off the heels of a recent release of over 20,000 emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and a rarely seen bipartisan push to release the files after President Trump as well as other major politicians’ names were indicated in connection to Epstein.
Both parties co-sponsored the bill with Democrat Representative Ro Khanna of California and Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky leading the efforts to get the Epstein Files Transparency Act to the House floor for a vote.
“I think Trump realized he lost it. I mean, there’s no way that he could go up against Congress because he tried to delay it, or say that we need to investigate the Democrats so that you can keep delaying the release of the files, even that strategy didn’t work. So right now the White House is in a major panic mode” said University political communications professor Satish Kolluri.
A panic mode that spanned several months back as the American public began an outcry of calling for a deeper investigation into who was involved with Epstein’s criminal enterprise.
Especially following the death of Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre in April, Trump loyalists as well as Republican party members became eager to know what went on between the President and his former friend.
Throughout recent months, President Trump, as well as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, had publicly refuted and refused to acknowledge the existence of the files, but as calls increased for the release, both ultimately relented.
“From what we’ve already seen, Trump looks like he’s running scared. It looks like he must know that there’s stuff in there that he doesn’t want anybody to see. Now, he’s got Bondi [Attorney General] as his puppet. He’s got Kash Patel [FBI Director] as his puppet. You know, these people will do his bidding. The question is, how much can you keep concealed, hidden under the rock?” said University professor and former prosecutor Bennett Gershman.
With the transparency act passed and now sitting with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the question shifts to: when will the files be divulged to the American masses and how exactly does the act transpire the release of these documents?
“Congress makes the laws, and the law applies to the executive branch, and if they say to the executive branch, release the files, the executive branch has to follow the law and chances are, if you look at the law very closely, you’ll probably find that there are provisions in there dealing with ongoing investigations, no disclosure,” stated Gershman.
Following a large blue resurgence in the 2025 elections, the calls for the release reflect a changing tide in the overwhelming support of President Trump and whether the Epstein files may be his as well as his party’s achilles heel.
“There’s some something going on, and they know the results in Virginia, in New York City, which is a shocker with Zohran Mamdani, in Mississippi, the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania flipping Democrat all the local elections, not just in blue states but also in red states and that, I think, set off a panic,” Kolluri said.
Kolluri continued, “MAGA is definitely going to be impacted. There will be names in the Democratic establishment. Because this is non-partisan. This guy, Epstein, didn’t care which party you belong to. He was more than happy providing services to everyone, and so lack of trust in government definitely is going to happen. The thing I fear the most is the vindictiveness and the tone of retribution that might set in on the part of Democrats once the elections are over next year.”
“The fact that they have this bill, and Trump’s going to sign the bill, and everybody’s going to applaud, and I would say, hold your breath. Don’t feel too quickly that this is the end of the story. I mean, it’s just the beginning”, Gershman stated.
Although a monumental step towards a public disclosure of accountability and giving victims of Epstein some solace in knowing the files are one step closer to ultimate transparency, it may be far longer than anyone wants before the files are officially released to the public.
