The first major internecine battle in the second Donald Trump administration was sadly predictable: The Jeffrey Epstein files we were all hoping would be released either aren’t going to be or are no longer extant.
House Democrats want to hold the administration to account. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is reportedly considering resigning over the administration determining there wasn’t a “client list.”
Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly says he’s been told that the administration isn’t releasing it because it can’t suss out the innocent people who merely met with Epstein from those he was allegedly able to blackmail with the women and girls he sexually trafficked.
Amid all the racket, Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has a message: If transparency is possible, it’s coming.
Trump, who has been floated as the next candidate in the family political dynasty, was appearing on Benny Johnson’s podcast, where she offered an explanation when the host asked how the administration would “take the temperature down.”
“There needs to be more transparency on this. And I think that will happen,” Trump said.
“I don’t know what truly exists there, but I know that this is important to the president, as well,” she added.
“He does want transparency on all these fronts … because it’s frustrated him, as well. He sat for four years, like the rest of us did, and saw lie after lie.”
She went on to note that this kind of opacity was nothing new.
Should Trump release all the Epstein files?
“I would actually say over the past 10 years, we’ve all kind of endured this process. Prior to that, it was probably happening, Benny, but we just weren’t as aware of it,” she said.
“It wasn’t until Donald Trump came down that golden escalator … people started to wake up and realize, wait a minute, things are not as they have always been presented to us.”
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Lara Trump says the Trump administration Will Release more Epstein Evidence and Will Have More Transparency. She says that President Trump Hears the Base on this Issue and knows how “Important” it is and Trump will “set things right.”
“There needs to be more… pic.twitter.com/iTtzUmN90H
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 14, 2025
“He is going to want to set things right, as well. I believe that there will probably be more coming on this, and, I believe, anything that they are able to release that doesn’t damage any witnesses or anyone underage or anything like that, I believe they’ll probably try to get out sooner rather than later,” she added.
“Because they hear it and they understand it.”
There are several things worth noting here.
First, Lara Trump isn’t authoritative on this matter, but she’s definitely dialed in, both to the administration and the base. So is Trump; consider the fact that he got through the Iran situation with 94 percent approval from the MAGA GOP regarding how he handled it.
Thus, the fact she’s talking about it indicates that, yes, this still remains a priority. The fact she’s tempering expectations indicates that, yes, there was probably some deliberate destruction or obfuscation of evidence before they got there, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Second, this is progress of a sort. It may not be what you want — but unlike the prior administration, which treated Epstein as a kind of side-show not worthy of attention, Trump and Co. are shining a light on places the swamp liked to keep dark. That doesn’t mean the swamp didn’t clean their mess up before Trump got there, but one can hope there’s still something to find.
Finally, it’s the height of hypocrisy for the Democrats to suddenly care about the Epstein client list. They spent, what, four years ignoring this? And they act shocked — shocked! — that, four years on, what’s still there is hard to find? Please.
Talk is just talk, but this points in the right direction. Let’s hope that action follows.
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