In a dramatic political reversal, former President Donald Trump has been compelled to authorise the release of all documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case after Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation forcing his hand.
Congressional Landslide Forces Trump's Hand
The legislative body delivered a stunning rebuke to Trump's opposition, voting 427-1 to approve the bill that mandates the Justice Department publish all files connected to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The decisive vote came after months of resistance from the former president, who had employed various tactics to prevent the documents from becoming public.
Seth Meyers highlighted the absurdity of the situation during his Wednesday night broadcast, noting: "So now Trump is doing a 180. He says he'll sign the bill that forces him to release the files he could've released on his own but wouldn't, thus requiring a bill to force him to do the thing he didn't want to do that he'll now be forced to do because of the bill he was against that he will now sign."
Desperate Measures to Block Release
Trump's efforts to prevent the bill's passage were extensive and revealing. According to Meyers, "He called Republicans who supported it stupid, called the files a hoax made up by Democrats, his team held an emergency meeting in the White House situation room to sway Republicans to vote against it, and he called Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor."
The conflict even turned former allies against each other, with Greene responding to Trump's "traitor" accusation by stating: "I was called a traitor by a man that I fought five, no actually six years for ... let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American who serves foreign countries and themselves."
Meyers wryly observed that while Greene didn't mention Trump by name, her description could easily apply to "a different president who does deals with foreign governments and has a secret Chinese bank account and got a crown from South Korea and a plane from Qatar and a gold bar from Switzerland."
Late-Night Hosts Question Trump's Epstein Connections
Jimmy Kimmel didn't hold back in his assessment of the situation, quipping: "We are now one step closer to answering the question: what did the president know and how old were these women when he knew it?"
Kimmel expressed skepticism about Trump's commitment to transparency, noting: "Usually when Trump gets a bill, he declares bankruptcy and doesn't pay it. But this one, he's going to have to sign it. Or at least he says he's going to sign it, which means there's about maybe a 12% chance he will."
The comedy host also mocked Republican obedience to Trump, questioning why party members would blindly defend someone without knowing what the files contained. "They're taking the word of someone who paid a porn star $130,000 and claims he didn't do anything with her," Kimmel remarked.
Stephen Colbert celebrated the congressional victory, describing how the vote "then left the bill on Trump's desk like a flaming bag of poop. Very hard to put gold leaf on that."
The new legislation requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to make all unclassified documents related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell publicly available within 30 days, setting a deadline of 19 December for full disclosure.
Uncertain Future for Document Release
Despite Trump's eventual signing of the bill, questions remain about whether the Justice Department will actually release all the files. Kimmel speculated that investigations might be used to keep certain documents hidden, particularly "investigations Trump orders to keep them tied up in investigations."
The late-night host raised concerns about potential document manipulation, asking: "Will we have the original documents? Or is Trump going to pull a Taylor Swift and give us the Epstein Files (Donnie's Version)? We might not ever know."
The episode represents a significant political defeat for Trump, who had positioned himself as a friend of Epstein before publicly distancing himself from the financier. Meyers pointed to Trump's relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as evidence that the former president's claims about cutting ties with problematic figures should be viewed with skepticism.
As the 19 December deadline approaches, all eyes will be on the Justice Department to see whether the full truth about Epstein's network and his connections to powerful figures will finally emerge into public view.
