On the marketing campaign path, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance promised their supporters that they’d launch the Justice Division recordsdata associated to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein if elected.
Donald Trump listens as first girl Melania Trump speaks at a signing ceremony for the “Fostering the Future” government order within the East Room of the White Home on November 13, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs
Since then, nevertheless, the administration has been reluctant to disclose extra particulars concerning the investigation or launch the entire recordsdata, angering some Republicans and Democrats and elevating questions on Trump’s previous connections to Epstein.
Here’s a timeline of the key occasions surrounding the Epstein recordsdata saga since Trump returned to workplace.
Feb. 21, 2025
In an interview with Fox Information, Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi was requested concerning the record of Jeffrey Epstein’s shoppers and if the Justice Division was planning to launch them.
Bondi responded, “It’s sitting on my desk proper now to evaluate.”
On this Aug. 25, 2025, file picture, Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi speaks throughout a information convention in New York.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs, FILE
The lawyer basic clarified in July that she was referring to the Epstein case recordsdata, and never an alleged consumer record.
Feb. 27, 2025
The Justice Division invitations conservative bloggers and influencers and shares with them binders labeled “The Epstein Information: Section 1.” Many of the proof had already been launched to the general public.
On this Feb. 27, 2025, file picture, political commentator Rogan O’Handley, aka DC Draino, TikToker Chaya Raichik, conservative activist Scott Presler, commentator Liz Wheeler and conservative political commentator Chad Prather carry binders bearing the seal of the US Justice Division studying “The Epstein Information: Section 1” as they stroll out of the West Wing of the White Home in Washington, D.C.
Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Photographs, FILE
Bondi and her staff didn’t inform White Home officers prematurely that she deliberate to distribute the binders, sources with details about the occasion instructed ABC Information.
Might 8, 2025
The Home’s Activity Power on the Declassification of Federal Secrets and techniques demanded the discharge of the Epstein recordsdata in a letter to Bondi.
Bondi didn’t reply to the request earlier than the Might 16 deadline.
July 7, 2025
The DOJ and FBI released a joint statement that said a evaluate of its holdings uncovered no proof of any consumer record stored by Epstein or different proof that might predicate a felony investigation of any uncharged events.
The division additionally launched hours of purported footage as a part of its evaluate, which officers say additional confirmed Epstein died by suicide whereas in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019.
The video from the Bureau of Prisons exhibiting the moments earlier than Epstein’s dying was later decided to have been lacking footage. A number of conservative influencers slam Bondi and the Justice Division over the memo.
July 12, 2025
Trump defended Bondi in a social media put up amid the pushback from some in his MAGA base over the dealing with of the Epstein probe.
Trump praised Bondi for doing a “incredible job” and urged his “boys” and “gals” to cease criticizing her.
July 15, 2025
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna seek a Home vote for a discharge petition to launch the Epstein recordsdata.
Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson walks from the chamber to talk with reporters after the ultimate vote to deliver the longest authorities shutdown in historical past to an finish, on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The identical day, Home Speaker Mike Johnson referred to as on Bondi to “come ahead and clarify” her dealing with of the probe.
Signatures for the petition proceed to develop, nevertheless, don’t attain the 218 wanted to maneuver ahead.
Requested what Bondi instructed him concerning the evaluate of the Epstein recordsdata and if his identify appeared in any respect, Trump responded, “No, no, she’s given us only a very fast briefing,” earlier than making baseless claims that the recordsdata had been created by a few of his political foes.
“No matter she thinks is credible, she ought to launch,” Trump stated.
July 24-25, 2025
Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche, Trump’s former private lawyer, interviewed Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year sentence for her 2021 conviction on intercourse trafficking and different prices associated to Epstein’s illicit actions.
Members of the family of Virginia Giuffre communicate throughout a rally in assist of the victims of disgraced financier and intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein outdoors the U.S. Capitol, on Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs, FILE
Maxwell initiated the assembly, a number of sources instructed ABC Information.
A month later, the Justice Division released a transcript of the interview, which was not beneath oath, the place she claimed there was no consumer record.
Aug. 1, 2025
Maxwell was transferred from a federal jail in Florida, which is labeled “low safety” to a federal jail camp in Texas, which is labeled “minimal safety,” the Justice Division introduced.
Sept. 8, 2025
Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee released a 238-page PDF doc of the 50th birthday e-book to Epstein that features a prologue by Maxwell and a web page allegedly written by Trump.
On this Sept. 17, 2025, file picture, Rep. Jamie Raskin references an alleged drawing by Donald Trump made for Jeffrey Epstein’s fiftieth birthday, as FBI Director Kash Patel testified throughout the Home Judiciary Committee listening to titled “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” in Rayburn constructing in Washington, D.C.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Photographs, FILE
Trump’s web page incorporates a typed letter written inside a doodle of a lady’s physique, together with his signature positioned in a provocative spot on the physique.
The president denied that he wrote and signed the letter.
Nov. 12, 2025
Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee released emails that had been a part of greater than 20,000 from the Epstein property.
A number of the messages present Epstein speaking about Trump, together with one the place he claimed Trump “spent hours at my home” with one of many sex-trafficked victims.
On this Sept. 8, 2004, file picture, Jeffrey Epstein is proven in Cambridge, Mass.
Rick Friedman/Corbis through Getty Photographs, FILE
The White Home accused Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee of releasing “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a pretend narrative” about Trump.
Later that night, Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into workplace, a month after she gained a particular election, and have become the ultimate signature on the discharge petition to get it over the 218 threshold.
Johnson announced that he would deliver a invoice to launch the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata to a vote on the ground subsequent week.
