Republican lawmakers have warned President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi that withholding any documents relating to the Jeffrey Epstein case “would add fuel to the fire.”
The warning comes as Trump caved to pressure and signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act Wednesday evening, while Bondi fumbled her way through questions on how the Justice Department would proceed now that it has 30 days to release the files.
Bondi has changed her stance on the matter a number of times this year, prompting fierce criticism from the MAGA base and beyond.
There are concerns from both sides of the aisle that she could cite the ongoing investigation into Epstein’s ties to Democratic associates, ordered by Trump last week, as a reason to withhold the files.
“You can adjust for whatever investigations are going on but if you do a blanket hold, I think that they’re going to have a lot of people angry,” GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told The Hill.
Tillis, who is on the Judiciary Committee, told the outlet that the overwhelming support the bill received in the House and the Senate is a signal of how strongly the public feels about the issue.
“I think they would do well to figure how to release as much as possible and then have a very well-articulated reason for that which they can’t,” he said of the Justice Department. “It would add fuel to the fire if they don’t produce something meaningful.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also warned that people “will feel like they’ve been duped” if Bondi and her team claims “we can’t release anything because we have an active investigation,” she told The Hill.
“I don’t think that that will help calm the suspicions many have harbored for a long while on this,” she said.
“I think it’s not only congressional intent, it’s overwhelming,” the GOP senator added. “When was the last time you saw a vote like that in the House?”
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who is also on the Judiciary Committee, said it would be a “mistake” if the Justice Department failed to meet expectations of Epstein survivors and lawmakers in producing the documents.
“Obviously, it would be a mistake because Congress has spoken,” he said. “I fully expect the Justice Department to release all the documents. It will take a while but I believe they’ve started on it right now.”
He added that he hoped to see the first tranche of documents after Thanksgiving.
At a press conference Wednesday about an international criminal organization, Bondi was grilled by reporters about her handling of the Epstein files.
A reporter asked Bondi what had changed since the Justice Department and FBI issued a joint memo in July, stating that no further documents would be released any a review of the files did not suggest any additional investigation of third parties was warranted.
“Information that has…information,” Bondi replied. “There’s information, new information, additional information, and again we will continue to follow the law to investigate any leads.”
Bondi added that her department has already released over 33,000 documents in the case.
“We’ll continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency,” she said.
