A screen about the Jeffrey Epstein files is displayed in Times Square, New York City, United States, 23 July 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

Refusal to release files relating to the Department of Justice’s investigation of notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein has become a crisis for the President. Global Insight considers what the scandal says about equal justice under the law – and President Trump himself.

The battle over the Jeffrey Epstein files has become a test of whether the US justice system applies evenly to the powerful, or whether the country’s leaders can control evidence to protect themselves and others. For US President Donald Trump, his refusal to release the ‘Epstein Files’ has grown into a scandal that will not go away.

Trump and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who groomed and sexually abused underage girls, were once close friends moving in the same social circles in Florida and New York. ‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,’ Trump said in 2002. ‘He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’

The files at the Department of Justice (DOJ) relating to its investigation into Epstein reportedly name Trump alongside other wealthy and powerful figures – though being named isn’t evidence of criminal activity, and the President hasn’t been accused of specific wrongdoing in connection to the matter.

Victims of Epstein and some members of Congress want the files released. President Trump has so far refused.

The roots of a scandal

A key episode in the saga came with Epstein’s ‘sweetheart’ plea deal in Florida in 2008, when he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution with a minor in exchange for a light sentence and immunity from federal investigation. Outrage over the deal led to new revelations from survivors.

In 2019, federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors. Denied bail, he committed suicide in prison. His longtime partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted of recruiting underage girls for abuse and is currently serving 20 years in prison.

Epstein’s suicide may have deprived survivors of fully receiving justice. But a new reckoning is building in Washington, with Trump’s presidency caught in the crossfire.

In the years before President Trump’s re-election in 2024, MAGA (Make America Great Again) influencers such as Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer popularised conspiracy theories about Epstein. In 2019, Trump himself reposted a commentator’s unfounded conspiracy theory alleging that former President Bill Clinton is linked to Epstein’s death. MAGA supporters framed the Epstein case as proof of the existence of a corrupt elite that only Trump could expose.

Asked in a television interview whether he would declassify files held by the US government on Epstein, Trump said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I would.’ On a podcast interview he said he would ‘certainly take a look at’ why the Epstein files hadn’t been released, given the opportunity. His campaign amplified the message.

Once in office, President Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi fuelled expectations further, saying in February that Epstein’s client list was ‘sitting on my desk right now.’ She invited a group of MAGA influencers to the White House and handed them binders labelled ‘The Epstein Files: Phase 1’. Disappointingly for the recipients, the contents were already largely public.

The DOJ was ‘following through on President Trump’s commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,’ Bondi said in a statement at the time, promising that more information would be released soon.

After an FBI review of more than 100,000 documents and 300 gigabytes of data, Bondi reportedly warned President Trump privately in May that his name appeared numerous times in the files.

In July, the DOJ announced that ‘no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,’ citing court seals while denying the existence of a ‘client list’. The backlash was immediate.

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan accused the Trump administration of ‘trying to gaslight’ the American public. The late influencer Charlie Kirk, who had used his platform to press for full disclosure, warned that younger conservatives were ‘flaming mad’, adding that they wanted to ‘get to the truth’. Kirk would later tone down his criticism at President Trump’s personal request.

The President tried via social media posts to blame Democrats for the Jeffrey Epstein ‘hoax’, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarifying in September that ‘Democrats view this story as nothing more than an attempt to distract from the accomplishments and the achievements of this administration, and that is what we mean when we call it a hoax.’

Trump also raged online against some of his own supporters, whom he called ‘weaklings’ for doing the work of his opponents by questioning the DOJ’s decision.

Recognising the damage the scandal was doing, the Trump White House quickly sought to regain control of the Epstein narrative with a series of moves designed to project an image of transparency.

The President directed the DOJ to request the unsealing of grand jury transcripts – proceedings that are generally held secret – from the federal investigations into Epstein. Complaining about the ‘ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein,’ Trump posted on social media that ‘This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!’

US District Judge Richard Berman rejected the request and criticised the DOJ’s motion as appearing to be a diversion. ‘The Government’s complete information trove would better inform the public about the Epstein case,’ Berman wrote.

In July, President Trump claimed he had a disagreement with Epstein over the financier’s recruitment of young women from the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent voices in bringing to public attention Epstein and Maxwell’s sex trafficking operation, was recruited by the latter from Mar-a-Lago. Giuffre took her own life in April at the age of 41.

The Trump White House supported the release of Epstein documents through an investigative committee in Congress. In September, the House Oversight Committee released 33,000 pages of documents turned over by the DOJ, as well as additional material provided by Epstein’s estate.

Observers noted that most of the information had already been made public. ‘DOJ has done nothing but send previously released files to Congress in an effort to distract Americans from this White House cover-up,’ Representative Robert Garcia said in a statement on 15 September. ‘This stonewalling is unacceptable.’

Meanwhile, new evidence of Trump and Epstein’s personal relationship began to surface in the media. Epstein attended Trump’s 1993 wedding to his second wife, Marla Maples. Video emerged of Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting ahead of a Victoria’s Secret runway show in 1999.

A ‘Happy Birthday’ letter Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein was released by the House Oversight Committee. It features the outline of a naked woman, with what appears to be President Trump’s signature at the bottom. ‘We have certain things in common,’ says the letter, compiled as part of a celebration for Epstein’s 50th birthday. President Trump has repeatedly denied writing the letter or drawing the accompanying figure.

Congressional pressure

By late July, legislation had been proposed in the House of Representatives to force the DOJ to release the files. To avoid a potentially embarrassing vote, Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House early.

Bondi dispatched President Trump’s former lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, to interview Maxwell. It was an unusual move for the DOJ to send a political appointee for an interview usually handled by career prosecutors with direct knowledge of the underlying case. But Bondi had just dismissed the federal prosecutor in New York who had handled both the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

Maxwell gave Trump’s team what it wanted, saying she never saw the President engage in any inappropriate or sexual behaviour. And she disavowed any knowledge of a client list. After the interview, Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas, known as ‘Club Fed’, which has fewer restrictions on inmates. There’s speculation that President Trump may give Maxwell a pardon.

The White House, meanwhile, was labelling any support by members of President Trump’s own party for the legislation mandating the release of the Epstein files as a ‘hostile act’. Trump called Representative Thomas Massie, the lead Republican sponsor of the bill in the House, a ‘grandstander’. But Massie’s bill, co-sponsored by Representative Ro Khanna, has drawn support from key MAGA rank-and-file Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert.

In the Senate, investigators are pursuing $1.5bn in transactions between Epstein and a list of financial institutions including Russian banks. The August delay and President Trump’s manoeuvres have achieved little in stopping the scandal from gaining steam. Republican lawmakers, who had faced the ire of constituents over the break, returned to Washington only to confront the same dilemma.

The drawn-out clash over the Epstein files underscores a central tension in the US justice system where the wealthy can bend the law, and transparency and accountability don’t always prevail.

In September, nearly a dozen survivors of Epstein’s abuse held a press conference at the Capitol. ‘This is about ending secrecy wherever abuse of power takes root,’ said Anouska De Georgiou. Lisa Phillips announced that the group of survivors would be assembling a list of the powerful people in Epstein’s social circle.

For them, the stakes are larger than President Trump’s political fate. If leaders can suppress or selectively release evidence, it calls into question the very promise of equal justice under the law. ‘There are a lot of questions that the files could answer […] to get the full story behind Jeffrey Epstein,’ said James Marsh, a lawyer for some of Epstein’s accusers, in August.

William Roberts is a US-based freelance journalist and can be contacted at wroberts3@me.com