Trump Can Still Block Epstein Files | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump made a surprising eleventh-hour reversal over the weekend, encouraging House Republicans to vote in favor of laws to launch the total Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata, an effort he beforehand sought to quash.

But a provision included within the invoice might nonetheless allow the president to dam the publication of the paperwork, together with these pertaining to himself and his relationship with the late sexual predator.

While the House handed and the Senate authorized the invoice Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a loyal supporter-turned-target of Trump, mentioned the “real test” lies forward.

“The real test will be, will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations? Will the CIA release the files? Will … a judge in New York release the information?” she requested Tuesday.

Trump might have already requested Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch the total trove of paperwork the Justice Department holds on Epstein.

“The whole notion that a piece of legislation or a bill is necessary to release the files is, it’s really a farce, because the DOJ can release the files on its own, or it can fight and refuse to release the files,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and present president and cofounder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, advised HuffPost.

While Trump has instructed he would signal the laws into regulation if it cleared each chambers of Congress, that doesn’t imply the total recordsdata can be made public. Bondi might use a provision included within the invoice to dam their launch, a priority voiced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of many cosponsors of the laws.

“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released,” Massie advised ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “So this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations, to open a bunch of them to, as a last-ditch effort, to prevent the release of the Epstein files.”

Massie made an obvious reference to Trump’s request on Friday to have Bondi examine the ties outstanding Democrats, together with former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, needed to the late intercourse offender. Bondi swiftly complied, saying that she’s tasked Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to steer the probe.

The House invoice’s carveout provides Bondi appreciable latitude to withhold paperwork, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade advised MS NOW.

“That gives Attorney General Pam Bondi a huge exception to hide behind for withholding certain documents, possibly even documents that pertain to Trump,” McQuade added.

Jeremy Paul, a regulation professor and former dean of Northeastern University’s School of Law, agreed, telling HuffPost it is a “real possibility.”

“I think it is naive to expect that the Trump administration will release any information that’s damaging to President Trump,” Paul mentioned, until it’s completed “inadvertently.”

“In other words, if he discloses things that don’t seem to him or his lawyers as if they are damaging, but when subject to public scrutiny, they suddenly become damaging,” Paul continued. “That’s the only way that I can see this leading to anything that really will ultimately be harmful to President Trump.”

During his second presidency, Trump has pushed the bounds of government energy, together with together with his option to order the Justice Department to not implement the TikTok ban, a regulation that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump has already prolonged the deadline for ByteDance to adjust to the regulation requiring it to divest from TikTok or see the favored platform get banned within the U.S. 4 instances since he was sworn in to workplace.

Rahmani mentioned there’s a “legitimate concern” that Trump might act equally on this case.

“If there’s a law on the books that isn’t enforced, there’s not a whole lot Congress can do to compel the executive branch to enforce the law,” Rahmani added.

Rahmani, although, predicted the recordsdata would in the end be made public of their entirety. However, he expressed doubt that their launch would “move the needle” legally.

“Even if there’s some very serious political consequences and reputational harm, I don’t think the release of the Epstein files will result in any criminal prosecution or civil liability, without a new victim that we’re unaware of,” Rahmani mentioned.