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'Truth will be revealed': Donald Trump signs bill to release Epstein files
US president Donald Trump has signed the bill to approve the release of the Epstein files.
US president Donald Trump has signed the bill to release files on Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday. This move comes as Trump faced immense political pressure in the past few months to release the files regarding the disgraced financier and sex offender, reported AP.
After giving his assent to the 'Epstein Files Transparency Act', Trump took to Truth Social and said the only reason he has approved the release of these files is due to Epstein's deep associations with Democrats.
"Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed, because I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES! As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this Bill in the House and Senate, respectively. Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage. At my direction, the Department of Justice has already turned over close to fifty thousand pages of documents to Congress," Trump wrote.
Trump's assent to the release of the Epstein files comes days after both the Senate and House of Representatives held an overwhelming vote, calling for the release of the files.
Also Read | US Senate unanimously passes bill to force release of Epstein files, pending Trump's assent
In the Senate, the bill was passed by unanimous consent, meaning without any vote. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the bill was passed with a majority of 247 to 1 votes.
Rep Clay Higgins was the only person to reject the release, saying that the release of Epstein files to the public will "absolutely result in innocent people being hurt".
Last week, Trump has also called on Republicans to vote to release the files, stating that “it's time to move on.” Trump's long post on Truth Social came after a new email between Mark and Jeffrey Epstein regarding Donald Trump surfaced.
In an email to Steve Bannon dated 2018, Mark speculates whether Russian President Vladimir Putin has a photo of "Trump blowing Bubba."
The email chain between the brothers starts off with a regular exchange in which Jeffrey reveals he is with Steve Bannon. Bannon at the time served as a chief strategist in the first Trump administration.
What are the Epstein files?
The "Epstein files" refer to documents collected as evidence in the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and other associates.
The files are stored as over 300 gigabytes of data, plus other media, in the FBI's case management system.
In the database, Jeffrey Epstein's "client list" was also released which namedropped several government officials such as Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, Andrew from the British royal family and more.
