“It would add fuel to the fire”: Congress pressures Bondi not to delay releasing Epstein files

Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing calls from both Republicans and Democrats to not delay the release of the government’s trove of documents on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, warning that holdups could anger a weary public.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed yesterday by President Donald Trump, requires the Department of Justice to release all Epstein files within 30 days, with redactions in place to protect survivors of Epstein’s abuses.

Co-sponsor Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he and his Republican counterpart, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., “awakened Congress” to send the bill to Trump.

“We shook it up to stand up to Trump. He caved and signed our bill. The survivors won,” Khanna wrote in a social media post. Massie said he and Khanna successfully “forced” the bill through Congress. 

“@AGPamBondi now has 30 days to release the files,” Massie wrote on X.

Bondi stated that the DOJ will comply with the new act and would provide “maximum transparency.”

“We will follow the law. The law passed both chambers,” Bondi said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We will continue to follow the law, again, while protecting victims but also providing maximum transparency.”

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., warned that Trump’s signature on the bill was “no guarantee” that the files would be released. Schiff, a longtime Trump opponent, said he was “not at all confident” in a full release.

“What we can expect is more stonewalling, more cover-ups, in artful ways of explaining why they’re covering up,” Schiff told MS NOW on Wednesday.

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Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., demanded that the DOJ release all files and documents on Epstein, “regardless of any federal investigations.” Trump had previously instructed Bondi to open an investigation into Democrats mentioned in the files.

“Even if Pam Bondi tries to slow down the bill passed by Congress, she CAN’T do the same on our subpoena. Release the files, NOW,” Garcia wrote on X.  

The Oversight Committee’s subpoena of the Epstein files requires the DOJ to turn over documents—regardless of any federal investigations.

Even if Pam Bondi tries to slow down the bill passed by Congress, she CAN’T do the same on our subpoena.

Release the files, NOW. pic.twitter.com/zfgZrBEwAW

— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) November 19, 2025

Republicans joined Democrats in pressuring Bondi not to delay the release. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., called the bill’s passage a “positive development.”

“I think I’ve been seeing for a long time that all the credible information that can be released should be released,” he told reporters on Wednesday.  

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told The Hill that delaying the release would “add fuel to the fire.”

“You can adjust for whatever investigations are going on, but if you do a blanket hold, I think that they’re going to have a lot of people angry,” he said.