Transparency Isn’t Enough. The Victims of Epstein Deserve Justice.
In a rare occasion, the House and Senate almost unanimously vote to release the remaining Epstein files, but for what reason?
Americans don’t agree on much these days, but when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, the country — and now Congress — has found a rare moment of unity. Across the political spectrum, a recent poll shows that 80% of Americans wanted the remaining Epstein files fully released. And earlier this week, Congress delivered with the House voting to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act 427-1 (The lone “nay” was Clay Higgins) and the Senate quickly followed with a unanimous vote. It took them 43 days to open the government back up, but when it comes to the Epstein case, they acted within hours to host two major votes and found unanimous common ground. I guess we should celebrate these moments, despite the frustrating thought that they can’t exercise bipartisanship on other important topics like funding our government, health care, immigration, and foreign aid.
How transparent the remaining files will be is yet to be determined, but transparency, on its own, isn’t justice. And if we aren’t careful, the public debate will turn into a spectacle about flight logs and famous names while the real story fades into the background. The victims of Epstein’s abuse deserve more than curiosity or political theater. They deserve accountability, reform, and a system that finally puts their suffering at the center of the conversation.
The Story We Risk Forgetting
As new documents start to surface and speculation spreads, it becomes easy to lose sight of the atrocities of this case: Epstein targeted and exploited hundreds, maybe thousands of girls. Many were underage teenagers. Some came from unstable homes. Others were groomed through promises of opportunity and money. All were manipulated, harmed, and silenced.
The scale of the abuse is staggering and the most recent files released display the breadth of Epstein’s influence around the world. He chronicles his personal relationship with Trump, he exchanges emails with Larry Summers and Peter Thiel, and he consults on foreign affairs with Russian, Israeli, and British politicians. Epstein seemingly had his hand in every major political, business, and celebrity circle.
It’s easy for the public attention to drift toward the high-profile figures who knew Epstein, met with him, or appeared in his orbit. The gravitational pull toward scandal is understandable, but it’s also dangerous and unfortunate. When the conversation revolves around powerful men and political witch hunts instead of the young women whose lives were shattered, we repeat the same pattern of neglect that allowed Epstein to operate for years.
Why Americans Want the Full Truth
When people across the political spectrum demand disclosure, it isn’t because they’re hungry for gossip. It’s because they recognize that this story represents a broader institutional failure. Epstein exploited gaps in law enforcement, the courts, and even intelligence oversight. He received a lenient plea deal that shocked the prosecutors involved. He avoided accountability until it was too late for many of his victims.
Americans want the files released because they want to understand how that could happen. They want to know who else helped, who looked the other way, and who benefited from a system that protected the powerful and ignored the vulnerable.
Transparency is the first step toward accountability, but it can’t be the last one.
Bipartisan Agreement Should Lead to Bipartisan Action
It’s worth acknowledging how rare this moment is. Republicans and Democrats, who disagree on nearly everything, have voted almost unanimously to release all of the files. My guess is because Trump finally blessed it, and the staunch Republican loyalists to Trump must know that there’s nothing left to implicated Trump of any wrongdoing. The skeptic in me says he was assured by his team that the files would be redacted or scrubbed enough to ensure nothing is found to be damning against him. But this isn’t about him, it’s about making sure another Epstein can’t do this again.
Clay Higgins, the lone Representative who voted against releasing the Epstein files, argued that this could be setting a dangerous precedent for Congress to force a release of sealed court records, but I believe enough victims have come forward in support of its release to expose the full extent of Epstein’s trafficking operation.
The goal for releasing these files must be a push to ensure the victims are not forgotten again. That means real oversight of the institutions that failed. It means serious policy conversations about how human trafficking is investigated and prosecuted. And it means listening to survivors, many of whom risked everything to tell the truth.
The Danger of Turning This Into a Spectacle
Social media rewards the most sensational interpretations of the Epstein case. Every redacted name becomes a guessing game. Every leaked snippet fuels conspiracy theories. There’s already hundreds of conspiracy theories swirling around about Epstein and every new record exposed starts another one. But these distractions pull the story away from the only people who didn’t choose to be part of it — the victims.
The more we turn the Epstein scandal into a hunt for famous names, the further we drift from the reason those documents matter in the first place. This isn’t a tabloid mystery to be solved, it’s a human rights tragedy.
Justice Must Be the Goal
Releasing the files will answer some questions, but justice requires confronting institutional rot, holding enablers accountable, and preventing this from happening again. It means giving the victims support, compensation, and the recognition they were denied for so long.
If the country has found a moment of unity around Epstein, let it be a unity grounded in something higher than outrage and trying to take down Donald Trump or Bill Clinton. Let it be a commitment to justice for the victims who carried this story long before the rest of us paid attention.
Transparency is important, but it’s not the finish line. It’s the opening step toward delivering the justice these young women deserved years ago.
Watch this powerful video from some of the Epstein victims urging the full, unedited release of the files: