GOP Senators Say Trump Should Release Epstein Files — Even If He’s Named in Them: ‘We Deserve to Know’

AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

In the wake of President Donald Trump ordering the declassification of the federal government files regarding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., many people have called for him to issue a similar order regarding deceased registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — including several Republican senators.

Epstein was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008, and served only 13 months in jail under a controversial plea deal that granted him broad work release freedoms. He was arrested again in 2019 for allegedly sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York and was found dead in his cell a little more than a month later; the medical examiner ruled his cause of death was suicide by hanging. Epstein’s case ended with his demise, but his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted and sentenced for her part in Epstein’s schemes in 2021 and is currently in prison.

The horrific stories about Epstein’s sex trafficking schemes, ongoing suspicions about his death, and his long-running associations with many other rich and powerful men have spawned countless conspiracy theories, especially in light of reports that he kept extensive video, photo, and document files as “blackmail” to wield over his famous pals.

Trump was among those Epstein friends for years until they had what Trump described as a “falling out,” generating a trove of photos and video clips frequently used by the president’s critics to openly speculate if Trump had been involved in the sex trafficking and abuse of underage girls. During a podcast last September, Trump did say that he’d have “no problem” with releasing the Epstein files.

But materials related to Epstein were not included in Trump’s first-week executive order releasing information about the King and Kennedy assassinations.

The Bulwark’s Joe Perticone tracked down several Republican senators to ask them about the release of the Epstein files, including explicitly asking them if their answer would change if anything in the files implicated Trump in any misconduct.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said he would “like to see them,” and added he didn’t know why Trump didn’t include Epstein when he ordered the other files to be released. “If I talk to him, I’ll ask him, but I’d like to see them. I’ll be the first in line.”

Kennedy stuck by his answer even if Trump was mentioned in the files. “I don’t care if he’s named in them,” he said. “The American people are entitled to know the truth. The man’s dead as Jimmy Hoffa—he’s gone—and his sidekick’s in jail. We’re entitled to know what he did, who he did it with, and whether he broke any laws.”

Texas’ junior senator took a similar tack, saying the president should “absolutely” declassify the Epstein documents. “I have long called for the administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, and also the P. Diddy files,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “We deserve to know who is implicated in abusing children.”

Perticone described some hesitation from Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) on the topic, but he too answered in the affirmative:

“Yes,” said Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) when I asked if Trump should release the documents. Daines balked when I then asked, “Even if he’s named in them?” After a long pause, he said, “I think they should be released.”

Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV), the state’s former governor who was just sworn into the Senate earlier this month, dodged the question, but Perticone noted that his tone suggested “there’s a strong possibility that Justice was unaware of who Epstein was; that’s often the case when a senator gives such a general answer to a straightforward question.”

“Well, to be perfectly honest, there’s a whole lot about that, and I still need to get up to speed on [it],” Justice said. “But I do really believe that President Trump is really moving fast and moving the proper way, and it’s different and everything, but we’ve got to absolutely give him his chance to really perform.”