President Donald Trump addressed renewed public attention surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, urging the country to move past the recently released government files. Speaking after the Justice Department disclosed millions of additional documents, Trump said the focus on Epstein should come to an end.
Donald Trump comments on Epstein files
President Donald Trump called on Americans to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, telling reporters in the Oval Office on February 3, “I think it’s really time for the country to maybe get onto something else.”
His comments followed the U.S. Department of Justice’s January 30 release of three million documents related to Epstein under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November. Trump added, “Now that nothing came out about me, other than it was a conspiracy against me, literally by Epstein and other people” (via USA TODAY).
The Justice Department’s document release shows Trump’s name, Mar-a-Lago resort, and other references appear more than 38,000 times across 5,300 files, many of which duplicate each other. The files cite Trump in emails, photographs, and witness statements, including a 2011 message Epstein sent to Ghislaine Maxwell: “that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” The DOJ also released FBI tips containing sexual abuse allegations against Trump, Epstein, and others, which it labeled “unfounded and false.”
Criticism emerged over the DOJ withholding 2.5 million documents, citing privacy concerns, active investigations, and legal privileges. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “There’s a lot of correspondence. There’s a lot of emails. There’s a lot of photographs. But that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody” (via BBC).
Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips said, “The [department] has violated all three of our requirements…we’re not going to stop fighting.” Mary Trump responded to Trump’s remarks on X: “We are NOT moving on from the Epstein files.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer questioned whether “all of the co-conspirator memos” and “corporate protection memos” had been released. Trump has denied wrongdoing and maintains that his ties with Epstein ended around 2004.
