U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in urging the Trump Administration to release the full Epstein files. The call was made during a speech on the Senate floor, with particular attention to information from interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, described as Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator.
“Two weeks after the Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as Attorney General, she told Fox News the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients was, ‘sitting on my desk right now to review.’ Six days later, Bondi released binders of documents related to [Epstein] to MAGA influencers. But these documents were largely already publicly available, and the absence of the client list led to immense blowback. Attorney General Bondi returned to Fox News and made another startling claim – she said that a ‘whistleblower’ told her that the FBI withheld, ‘thousands of pages of documents’ and the country would see, ‘the full Epstein files.’ Over the next four months, DOJ and FBI were silent on the issue until an unsigned July 7 memorandum was issued, finding that, ‘systemic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” Durbin said.
Durbin reported receiving a credible whistleblower disclosure indicating Attorney General Bondi pressured the FBI for rapid document review and publication. According to information provided to Durbin and the Senate Judiciary Committee, approximately 1,000 personnel from the FBI’s Information Management Division and hundreds more agents from New York were assigned for two weeks in late March to examine records around-the-clock. Agents were instructed specifically to identify any records mentioning President Trump.
“Essentially, agents were pulled out of the field from their work combatting violent crime to review these documents. Other important work was effectively shut down. Using tens of thousands of personnel hours at the expense of public safety, for no other reason than to try to bolster baseless claims they made, is reckless,” Durbin continued.
The Trump Administration has repeatedly promised transparency regarding Epstein-related records but has not produced them fully. President Trump recently dismissed concerns about unreleased records on his social media platform by stating “my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘[BS],’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will.”
“This is the way the President is talking about his own constituents who are raising concerns about the claims President Trump’s own Administration officials have repeatedly raised,” said Durbin.
Last week saw further calls for openness when Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sought public commitments from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche following his meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.
Durbin concluded: “President Trump and Attorney General Bondi are directly responsible for this confusion and mistrust. They owe Congress [and] the American people full transparency. Instead, the situation gets murk[ier] when Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, is being interviewed by one of the highest-ranking members of the Administration. We don’t know what the conversation is. We sent a letter and said we want full disclosure to both sides of the aisle on what they discussed, and we want to make sure there are no promises of pardon and clemency for her to speak. She’s serving a 20-year term for trafficking and exploitation of children. The prosecutor said she was not a credible witness and that we ought to take that into consideration when we consider her role. I support Senator Merkley’s bill [the Epstein Files Transparency Act].”
Durbin cosponsors Merkley’s proposed legislation—the Epstein Files Transparency Act—which seeks public access while protecting victim privacy by prohibiting redactions based on reputation or political reasons.
Video footage as well as audio recordings from Durbin’s remarks are available online.
