Trump wants US to move on from Epstein files as Congress demands answers

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump wants the United States to move on after the release of a treasure trove of files on the world's most notorious pedophile. But Congress and survivors continue to clamor for answers.

Recent months have seen the US Department of Justice (DOJ) release millions of documents in connection with its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking but later died in jail before standing trial.

"I think it's really time for the country to maybe get onto something else," Trump recently told reporters in the Oval Office.

Thursday morning saw the GOP-led Senate reject a request from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to sue the Trump administration for how it has handled the release of the Epstein files.

The Democrat said the White House is not complying with the law Congress passed last year that forced the Justice Department to release all materials connected to its investigation into Epstein.

Schumer accused the Justice Department of failing to make public all the relevant material.

He wrote in a statement: "You say all the documents are released. Does that include all of the co-conspirator memos, the corporate protection memos... etc.?"

"Has every document that mentions the word Trump been released?" Schumer wrote.

Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the government has finished its review of the files, in line with a law passed by Congress in November. Blanche said there are no reasons for new prosecutions.

"There's a lot of correspondence. There are a lot of emails. There are a lot of photographs," Blanche said recently. "But that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody."

However, the House of Representatives is pushing ahead with its own investigation.

Former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are slated to testify to Congress later this month after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress if they failed to show up.

Bill Clinton was acquainted with Epstein, but he denies knowing about his sexual offenses and says he cut off contact two decades ago.

Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "Americans are not ready to move on from the Epstein story because there remain unanswered questions. The big issue is culpability for bad behavior. What will happen to those named in the files?"

"The Administration has said there will be no further releases, no investigations, and no indictments. But the scope of the bad behavior leads many to question that approach," West said.

Indeed, the most powerful men in the nation have been mentioned in the files. Those include former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and President Trump. None has been accused of wrongdoing.

Lisa Phillips, a victim of Epstein, told the BBC that she and other victims were not satisfied.

"The (Justice Department) has violated all three of our requirements," she said.

"Number one, many documents still haven't been disclosed. Number two, the date set for release has long passed. And number three, the DOJ released the names of many of the survivors, and that's not OK. We feel they're playing some games with us, but we're not going to stop fighting."

Democrats have promised to issue subpoenas for Trump and other Republicans to testify about the Epstein files if the party takes hold of the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections.

When asked whether the country will move on from the Epstein files, Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said no.

"Public attention will go up and down and up again, indefinitely," Ramsay said.

"Epstein is likely to remain in the news despite the administration's efforts to end the case," said West.