The fact that Trump has now signed the proposal means that the Justice Department has 30 days to release the investigation.
"The Department of Justice, at my direction, has already turned over nearly 50,000 pages of documents to Congress," Trump wrote in his post.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has previously said she will release the documents if Trump signs the law. However, that does not mean that all documents in the investigation into convicted and deceased Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell will be made public. The provisions of the law open the way for parts of the investigation to not see the light of day, Axios reports.
First, there is a clause that Bondi, handpicked by Trump, can withhold all or part of the material if it “would jeopardize an ongoing federal investigation or prosecution.” This should be seen in light of Trump last week ordering the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to, among others, former President Bill Clinton, who belongs to the opposition Democratic party.
Second, the Justice Department will be able to screen what is released if it could be politically sensitive or could damage the reputation of “government employees, public figures or foreign dignitaries,” Axios writes. However, the department must present to Congress which documents were withheld or redacted, and the legal basis for doing so.
The Department of Justice may also withhold or mask, for example, victims' names, medical records, child pornography or images of "death, abuse or injury."
