Jonathan Kearsley: US correspondent on the US House and Senate approving the release of the Epstein files

Donald Trump appears to have had his hand forced, over the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

A bipartisan bill compelling the Justice Department to release case documents relating to the deceased convicted sex offender has overwhelming Congress support. 

The President - who's repeatedly denied links to Epstein - must now sign it into law.

US correspondent Jonathan Kearsley says it's unknown when these files will be released, but that detail is up to the Department of Justice.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A convicted murderer, and Victoria wants the state to overturn
the ban on veggie Might in prisons. The spread is
banned because of fears that inmates will use the strong
smell to disguise illegal alcohol brewing operations. But one man
serving a life sentence has launched court proceedings saying he's
entitled to enjoy his culture as an Australian even while
he's incarcerated, and that means VEGGI mate Jonathan Cursley US

(00:24):
corresponds with us, Jonathan, can you get the veggie Might
in the States?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
In some places, yes, you can. You can get that
delicious black spread that goes wonderfully on a nice little
English muffin or a slice of toast in the morning.
It's a little pricey over here. I think you're looking
at about fifteen to sixteen New Zealand dollars for a
small jar off it. So it's pretty pricey. So we
tend to ask our nice friends in Australia to send
them over when they can.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
It's all right, listen, how long before these Epstein father
are actually released? Then?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, that's the question that everybody's asking is when are
they going to be released obviously past the House. The
Senate has unanimously agreed to pass it, so when it
goes before the Senate tomorrow, it will zip through and
go straight to Donald Trump's desk. He will then likely
cite it, he has said he very much intends to,
and then it's over the Department of Justice to work
on the release of the Epstein files. Now, there could

(01:16):
be one other roadblock left in the way of the
release of these files, and that is that the President
himself had ordered the Department of Justice and his Attorney
General Pambondi to look into Epstein's links with Democrats. If
that investigation has started, then that could theoretically mean the
Department of Justice cannot release any documents as part of
an ongoing investigation, so it may have to wait until

(01:36):
that investigation finishes before any documents can be released. So
this is very much a political bonfight that goes right
to the top of America's seat of power. The president's
backflip on this on initially not stalling on the release
of these documents has caused him some political pain, so
he changed his mind. He told Republicans to back it end.

(01:59):
He told them to get the build to his desk
so that he could sign it and see what's released.
And he's also putting pressure on Democrats now too, basically
cautioning them there could be material in this that's bad
for you too. Already, the House Oversight Committee is releasing
some material relating to the Democrat leader in the House, Jefferies,
and documents that were sent by Epstein about donations to

(02:21):
his campaigns that Jeffrey KM Jeffries has said he's got
no recollection of. So this is now a political fight
that is in brawling all sides, But the focus is
very much going to be on whether those documents are
going to be released and when they are, what's in them.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
That business with NBS was uncomfortable for me? Was it
for you?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah? It was an interesting watch. I mean, this is
the first time MBS Muhammed BD, someone whos been to
the White House since Trump. One point o back in
twenty eighteen, it was months before the murder of journalist
Jamal Kashoghi that the CIO eventually pointed the finger of
blame at straight at MBS and said that he had
orchestrated this murder. And we saw that exchange that you
played just four with ABC America journalist Mary Bruce, essentially

(03:03):
putting it to jamalkashoge how could Americans trust him? That
the families of nine to eleven victims were disgusted that
he was inside the Oval Office, and then President Trump
launched into this staunch defense of MBS and then at
the same time attacking the journalist as well, describing her
as a horrible reporter and threatening to withdraw ABC's license
for being what he called fake news. It was a

(03:25):
very very interesting exchange inside the Oval Office. There have
been many of these since the inauguration on January twenty.
This though, will be a marker and it will go
down in the history books to some extent to see
the transformation of somebody who was a pariah for the
United States just a matter of well a couple of
years ago or just before the inauguration, to being welcome

(03:46):
back into the Oval Office with open arms, and then
tonight a lavish state dinner attended by, among others, Elon Musk.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah. Very interesting. Hey, thanks very much, Jonathan, appreciate it.
Jonathan Kursley, US correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessy, Allen Drive,
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