US lawmakers divided over stalled release of Epstein files ‘linked’ to Trump

Some United States lawmakers, including Republicans, are divided over the President Donald Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, fuelling partisan tensions over transparency and accountability.

 Elon Musk, Trump’s former adviser and billionaire tech mogul, had, in an X post, accused the US president of being in the Epstein files, claiming that was the real reason the files have not been released.

Musk and Trump traded insults after the Tesla chief executive officer (CEO) left his role at the White House.

Musk said he later regretted some of his comments; most of the posts have now been deleted.

But the effects of his assertion have lingered on in the US Congress as lawmakers have begun to put pressure on Pam Bondi, attorney general, to release Epstein’s client list.

Epstein, a wealthy financier, died by suicide in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

He and Trump knew each other, but the US president has never been implicated in Epstein’s charges of abuse of underage girls.

Last week, the US justice department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they have reviewed the files.

The review found no evidence the deceased financier kept a “client list” of associates, and no further charges are expected.

The team noted that they would not release any further information related to the case, but lawmakers have kicked against the move.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Bondi also refused to answer questions from journalists related to the issue.

Trump noted that he received a “very quick briefing” on the review from justice department and the FBI review of the Epstein files.

When asked if he received any information from Bondi and if he was implicated, Trump said no but added that the files were created by some of his political opponents.

“And in terms of the credibility of the different things that they’ve seen, and I would say that these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by Biden—and you know, we went through years of that with the Russia hoax, with all of the different things that we had to go through,” Trump said.

“We’ve gone through years of it, but she’s handled it very well, and it’s going to be up to her,” Trump said of Bondi.

“Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”

Some of Trump’s allies have warned that the issue is not going away and could cost him in next year’s midterm elections.