The Justice Department on Friday marks the legally mandated deadline to begin releasing criminal investigative files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The order to release the files comes after months of controversy over the Trump administration’s decision to violate past promises by top law enforcement officials to release documents and other evidence.
In November, Congress overwhelmingly voted to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, and President Donald Trump signed the bill.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years until they had a falling out in the early 2000s, had called the request to release the files a “hoax” by Democrats.
But some of the key voices supporting the release of the documents were his fellow Republicans.
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s serial sexual abuse of underage girls and young women over many years.
The files to be released are related to the years-long federal investigation into Epstein.
The initial investigation concluded in 2008, when he agreed to plead guilty to state charges in Florida related to prostitution of persons under 18. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Epstein, 66, was arrested by federal authorities in July 2019 on child sex trafficking charges.
He committed suicide a few weeks later in a Manhattan jail.
Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was indicted the following year on charges related to recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.
Maxwell was convicted in a 2021 trial and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
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