January 2, 2026

As one of her first acts as Attorney General, Pam Bondi wrote a letter to the new head of the FBI, Kash Patel, demanding that the “full and complete Epstein files” be delivered to her office by the next day — Feb. 28.

Bondi made clear that she expected the files to include “all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained.” For emphasis, she added: “There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access.”

Since then, the House of Representatives has subpoenaed the files and, in November, took the extraordinary step of enacting a new law requiring their full release within 30 days.

That would have been Dec. 19. 

So, as the new year begins, the overwhelming majority of the Epstein Files remain hidden from public view. While the Department of Justice has assigned more than 400 attorneys to review the documents, they do not expect to release more until the end of the month — long after the 30-day deadline. As of now, the Epstein Files are still locked inside a DOJ that repeatedly promised transparency yet delivered far less.

With Trump’s approval ratings stuck at historic lows, his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — and his administration’s failure to produce the full files — has become a scandal he cannot shake. Nor does the president seem inclined to take the steps necessary to dig himself out of this quagmire.

Despite a statutory deadline requiring all of the files to be released by Dec. 19, 5.2 million documents remain to be reviewed and disclosed. As unbelievable as it already is, that number could still increase. It’s likely that the final public release will not occur until the end of February — one full year after Pam Bondi ordered the release of the records. 

The legacy media continues to cite the herculean task of reviewing and producing these records as an excuse for why the DOJ failed to meet Congress’s 30-day deadline. Yet I rarely see any reference to Pam Bondi’s letter from last February.

If the attorney general truly wanted all of the Epstein Files delivered to her office by Feb. 28, we would have seen a massive effort to do so. Even if producing all of these records on a single day’s notice was impossible, we would expect that the files would have been assembled and transmitted to her by last spring.

In short, the same stories the legacy media now breathlessly reports — of hundreds of lawyers working around the clock to review more than one million records — would have been told last year in order to comply with Bondi’s directive.

That effort did not happen then, and I am skeptical that it is happening now.

To be clear, I do believe lawyers are reviewing files for release. But this is an administration that has demonstrated a willingness to use an all-of-government approach to accomplish objectives it deems important.

We saw this when DOGE was used to dismantle federal agencies. Tragically, we have also witnessed it as migrants are targeted for mass deportation and U.S. citizens are treated with suspicion simply because of how they look or the language they speak.

If Donald Trump wanted these records reviewed and released quickly, they would be. Lawyers from other government agencies could be deployed to assist with the review. Nonlawyer personnel could handle many of the administrative tasks. Trump could even pressure compliant private law firms to contribute resources.

The obvious truth is that Trump does not want these files released. That is why the DOJ and FBI did not comply with Pam Bondi’s directive. It is why the DOJ has slow-walked the release at every turn. It is also why such heavy redactions are being made in clear violation of the federal law enacted by Congress.

Recently, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recounted that when she threatened to release the names of some of the men mentioned in the Epstein files, Trump yelled, “My friends will get hurt.” The legacy media seized on this, concluding they had finally uncovered the real reason Trump was stalling.

Nonsense.

Donald Trump has no friends. He has shown repeatedly that he has no loyalty to others. He does not care who else gets hurt — he cares only about himself. If Trump could escape the Epstein Files scandal by implicating others, I have no doubt that he would do so without hesitation.

The truth seems obvious to anyone willing to open their eyes. Trump has decided that whatever the files contain is more damaging to him than the political cost of keeping them under wraps as the country clamors for their release. In this instance, he appears to have concluded that the old Washington, D.C., axiom does not apply: The cover-up is not worse than the potential crime.

I have no way of knowing whether that calculation is correct. But I know this: If a 79-year-old, second-term president with declining poll numbers wanted to pull off a coverup, he would do exactly what Trump is doing now.