WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday accused the Trump administration of “breaking the law” by ignoring his demand for government files on the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The Democrats’ letter gave Attorney General Pam Bondi an Aug. 15 deadline for the material, but the Justice Department has not responded to the request.
“It’s August 15th, the deadline for Trump and Bondi to release the Epstein files to us under the Rule of 5,” Schumer said Friday on social media. “They’re now breaking the law to hide the files.”
A spokesman for the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Epstein, a financier and former friend of President Donald Trump, was first arrested on charges of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2006. He pleaded guilty to state charges in a deal that let him off the hook for federal offenses. The Justice Department brought charges in 2019 after the extent of Epstein’s crimes came to wider attention, but Epstein died by suicide in his prison cell not long after he was arrested.
Bondi and other Justice Department officials said earlier this year they would release the Epstein files, long the subject of speculation about who else might be implicated in Epstein’s crimes, but last month said no more information would come out. Trump’s name is reportedly mentioned in the files repeatedly, though not necessarily in connection with wrongdoing. The refusal has infuriated some members of Trump’s support base.
Schumer and other Democrats have accused Trump of doing anything he can to distract from the Epstein matter, including Trump’s takeover of the D.C. police department in response to a dubious “crime emergency.”
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Schumer’s letter is probably the least of the Trump administration’s Epstein headaches. On Tuesday, the Justice Department faces a deadline to give the material to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee in response to a subpoena, and a bipartisan group of House lawmakers is trying to force a vote in September on legislation demanding the Epstein documents.
As with a subpoena, if Senate Democrats want to force the administration to comply with their request, they can sue in federal court, though the legal process can take years. Schumer demanded Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appoint a lawyer.
“If he chooses complicity—we’ll take them to court ourselves,” Schumer said.