On January 30, 2026, the Department of Justice was ordered under the Epstein Files Transparency Act to release 3 million Jeffrey Epstein files. These files, which included emails, photos, and videos, not only not only implicated a swath of powerful people, such as Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk, but also revealed weaknesses within the Department of Justice (DOJ), the current administration, and our federal government. 

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress, cut through the FBI’s and DOJ’s delays to release the Epstein files, ignoring their argument that there was nothing that was necessary for the general public to know. It directly ordered the release of these files, keeping in line with what 75% of Americans wanted. Despite this, there are still concerns. 3 million files have been released, but there are a total of 6 million files, meaning that half of the files still have yet to be released to the general public. Given the FBI and the DOJ’s past claim that “no further disclosure [of the files] would be appropriate or warranted,” running contrary to the thousands of images, videos, and confirmed emails from Epstein and well-known, powerful individuals, it is unclear whether the rest of these files are legitimately unreleased for safety reasons. Not only do these documents contain horrific claims of child sex abuse by some of the most powerful people on the planet; they reveal that when people such as Howard Lutnick said that they “cut ties” with Epstein after his 2008 conviction, they lied, raising questions about what their interactions with Epstein entailed.

The Epstein files also show how the justice system and federal government refused to convict a known pedophile. Before he was famously arrested and sent to the Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan, now infamous for his suicide, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2007 after some of his victims went to the Florida police. What should have been an easy conviction of a clear child molester resulted in lenient charges and a light sentencing. Epstein could still go to his office during the day and return to jail at night. The newly released documents reveal that federal prosecutors deliberately shelved these charges in order to cut a lighter sentence with Epstein, raising questions about why this happened.

This is much bigger than the apparent lies told by politicians and the financial elite of the world—it is also a litmus test of American justice and the power of the legislative branch to check the executive branch. These 3 million documents were only released due to an unprecedented, nearly unanimous vote by Congress to release the Epstein files. This raises questions: What would’ve happened if Congress didn’t act? Would the people have been denied the truth?

What does this mean for us as a nation? We know for a fact that the FBI and DOJ withheld this information for years, if not decades. The question remains: Is there a smoking gun in the Epstein files that shows wrongdoing that hasn’t been released? According to the Anadolu Agency, two-thirds of Americans believe “yes.”

In February 2026, there was a further disclosure, as the “politically compromised persons” list, along with an explanation why the other 50% of files remain classified, was released. Predictably, this was another disaster, not just for the Trump administration, but in the relationship between we the people and our federal government. The list was bogged down by dead celebrities and people who clearly had almost no relation to Epstein along with high-profile individuals “muddying the waters,” as Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said.

But even if this all ends and the people are prosecuted for committing horrific crimes, which all signs point to “being very unlikely,” a scary truth remains: Our largest and most important institutions and the people in charge of them lied about a known child molester and got away with it for decades, with the legislative branch regulating their actions after the damage has already been done. However, in this politically polarized climate, where truth and fiction easily intermix, will it always be the case that Congress will unify against a lying federal government and perform even this basic task?

Transparency is something that can be a slow and bureaucratic process, especially when it comes to something as massive as the Epstein files. However, not only should that never be an excuse to have poorly done redactions of victims and incompetent, bordering-on-malicious redactions, we should still hold those in power with a baseline expectation of clarity, which the FBI and DOJ have failed spectacularly at through their blatant lies. We must remain vigilant as the ongoing Epstein saga continues and continue to fight for transparency.