US justice department expected to release Epstein files | BBC News

Welcome to the Global News podcast where. we go behind the headlines of a story. and why it really matters. On this. episode, we are discussing the US. Justice Department and its order to. release the files on Jeffrey Epstein. Donald Trump first promised during his. election campaign he would release the. so-called Epstein files. But then, President Trump has spent his time in. office blocking all efforts to release. them to the anger of many. Now, American. politicians have cleared the path for. the Justice Department to release them. marking a major U-turn for Donald Trump.

over the issue, who says he will sign. the legislation as soon as he gets it. I'm joined by our chief North America. correspondent, Gary O'Donn. Gary, so. first up, just tell us where we're at. with the process of these Epstein files. and when they might get released. So. where we're at with the process is that. Congress, in other words, the House of. Representatives, uh, the lower house if. you like, and the Senate, the upper. house have both approved this. legislation. I mean, overwhelmingly in.

the case of the House, 427 votes to one, a handful of people not voting. Then in. the Senate was effectively nodded. through without any discussion, amendment or anything like that. I mean, it happened in a in a matter of moments. in the Senate. So this bill, what. happens to it before it can become law? It goes to the president and he has to. sign it and he has a choice. He can sign. it like that as they do and you've seen. many of those signing ceremonies where. they use multiple pens, you know, and.

the president signs the first letter and. hands one of the pens to someone who's. been involved and another one hands. another a pen. So he could do all that. with a lot of sort of rasmataz. or he could simply do it behind closed. doors. But the other option he has as. president is to veto um that bill and. then it would require to go back to. Congress and then a sub substantial. majority 2/3 of Congress would have to. vote to pass it to override that veto. Now, we don't think or I don't think.

there's much chance of a veto, but there. is a slim chance because some. Republicans, including the the the. speaker of the the House, Mike Johnson, wanted changes made it to that bill in. the Senate. Uh and that didn't happen. Uh and so, there may be some Republicans. trying to get in the presidency to say, "Look, you know, veto it and send it. back and we can make some changes.". We'll see. We'll see what happens. What. all we've heard from the president since. that happened is one of his social media. posts where he says, "I don't care when.

the Senate passes this. I just want. Republicans to focus on our victories.". And then he gives a whole load of list. of things that he regards as the. administration's victories. So that's. where we are in the process right now. >> If there aren't any delays, we could. possibly see the files released in the. next 30 days or so um from the time of. recording. So, what could we expect? Because a lot of people are maybe. expecting explosive details to come out. of these files. They've been long. awaited.

>> We we have no idea what they've got. We. know they've probably got quite a lot. because there were a lot of federal. investigations into Epstein stretching. back, you know, but back way into the. early 2000s, etc. Um, and we know that. quite a lot of material has already been. released, some of it from the Epstein. estate. Um, some of it from. investigations as well, some of it from. the uh what the uh congressional. committee that's been looking into this.

has uh taken in terms of evidence and. depositions and all that kind of thing, but there could be an awful lot. And. you're right, it's a 30-day deadline. that DOJ have. There are some caveats in. the bill. Uh there's some protections, for example, for, you know, ongoing. prosecutions, for example, material. relating to those. Ironically, of. course, just days ago, the president. ordered the DOJ to start looking into. Democrats involvement with Jeffrey. Epstein. So, ironically, um, for those. Republicans who believe there was a a.

lot of political possibilities in. exposing Democrats connections to. Jeffrey Epstein, some of that might be. protected under the very bill they've. just passed. So, we'll see how that. plays out. And there are some. protections for privacy issues around. invasion of privacy particularly for. survivors of Epstein. But those will be. tested and they have to be justified and. then it has to be made available as you. say 30 days in what they describe as a. searchable and downloadable form. And.

what that seems to mean is that unlike. with a lot of material which kind of is. scanned documents, pictures of emails. that takes hours to sift through, people. can start sticking in names, sticking in. places, sticking in dates, sticking in. anything they like to this stuff and. coming up with potentially uh more. revelations about Epstein's. relationships with people who he knew, who hobnobbed with him, who spent time.

with him, who went to his private. island, used his private jet, uh what. his connections were, and when these. people broke off those connections, if. they did, and uh what they knew about. what he was up to. So, there is a huge. potential for really this story to. continue. So far from this legislation, even though it's a 180°ree turn on the. part of the president, he was opposed to. it last week, he's for it this week, it. doesn't necessarily lance the boil of.

the Epstein story in terms of the fact. that it is occupied so much political. oxygen in this town that the president. has been frustrated, angry, furious, I. would say, that he hasn't been able to. get out on the front foot on other. things where he thinks he and his. administration are doing really well. >> It certainly caused some political. problems for him, Gary. Um, within his. own Republican party and within his own. MAGA supporter base, too. >> Yeah. And and you have to say, I think.

some of this of his own making. Um, it. was a very convenient rallying cry on. the campaign trail. We knew that a lot. of his supporters believed that the. whole Epstein affair had been sort of. covered up by the establishment. And it. became emblematic of establishment, deep. state coverups, protecting the rich, the. powerful, the wealthy, which is, you. know, one of those kind of key sort of. backbone issues for MAGA that they.

believe there is this conspiracy going. on against ordinary people. And it came. to to symbolize that. Uh, and he played. on that during the campaign. Said, well, you know, we're going to release all the. stuff, etc., etc. He's uh some of the. key people in his administration now. were saying that loud and clear on the. campaign as well. And then come January. this year when he takes up the the post, the presidential post and gets into the. White House, he kind of does a bit of a. vault fast on that and says, "No, no, no. We don't need to do this. This is a.

Democrat hoax. It's a distraction. Move. on, guys." Uh and the problem is the. base did not move on. And a number of. people in his own party in Congress did. not move on. and we got this. investigation. Now, the the Justice. Department has attempted it did go to a. judge and asked to be able to release. some grand jury testimony which is. barely ever released quite honestly that. failed. So, they have turned around and. said, "Look, we have tried to release. some stuff and we have released some.

other stuff and um but the bulk of it. doesn't seem to be have been released.". And so, that is what everyone will be. focusing in the next 30 days. Will the. release of the Epstein files close the. chapter or will there remain speculation. about further information that hasn't. come to light? >> I mean, I think it's become such a thing. for one element of the Republican base. and and this has in some ways been. fueled by Democrats who now see a.

political opportunity in all this. Of. course, the Democrats didn't release any. of this stuff while Joe Biden was. president. They could have done. they. didn't. Um, so I think this has become. such a thing that there will be elements. that will always think that they're not. being told enough about the rich and the. powerful. You know, the rich and the. idea of the rich and the powerful, you. know, getting away with it, playing by. different rules to to the little guy, to. the little guy trying to make a ends.

meet for his family, uh, trying to put. his kids through college, etc. It's an. incredibly powerful and central theme to. the whole MAGA appeal. This is something. Donald Trump understood. People who feel. they were being left behind. economically, feel they were being left. behind socially, feeling that a lot of. their values were being sort of trashed. if you like um by you know modern day.

life. um a lot of them uh bought into. this this thing that this was the. establishment and the deep state that. was undermining the American way of life. and and it's going to take an awful lot. to to persuade them. And the problem for. Donald Trump, of course, and we've got. midterm elections next year is that he. was their he was their champion. He was. the he was the guy who got it. Uh and. some of them now, you know, are starting. to feel that he doesn't get it. Thanks.

to Gary in Washington. And a reminder, if you want more on this story and other. world news, then please download our. Global News podcast. You can find that. from wherever you download your podcast. from. Remember to like and subscribe to. our YouTube channel, and please leave us. a comment below if there are any other. stories you would like us to cover in. more detail. For now, thanks so much for. watching.