Extensive redactions and the limited number of documents released related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein angered some Republicans and did little to defuse a scandal threatening the party ahead of the 2026 midterm election.
The Trump administration touted this week’s release of a cache of Epstein-related files as a show of transparency, but a handful of Republican lawmakers and right-wing media figures joined Democrats in blasting Friday’s disclosures as inadequate and possibly in violation of a law that prompted their release.
While the criticism fell short of a broader party backlash, it underscored that the Epstein controversy was far from being put to rest and was likely to linger into next year when Republicans will be fighting to keep control of Congress.
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The release of files, starting on Friday and followed by a second, much smaller batch released on Saturday, is intended to comply with a bipartisan law passed by Congress in November that mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files held by the Justice Department, despite a months-long effort to keep them sealed by US President Donald Trump, who once counted Epstein as a close friend.
The new disclosure represented only a fraction of the total data the FBI and Justice Department have said they possess related to Epstein and was heavily redacted, including several documents of 100 pages or more that were entirely blacked out.
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Also notable was the dearth of references to Trump, who had a well-publicised friendship with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s. Instead, the released files extensively featured former president Bill Clinton, a Democrat and political foe.