Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on June 17, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal Thursday to sue the Trump administration over allegations that it did not fully release the Epstein files, as mandated under a law unanimously approved by senators and signed by the president nearly three months ago.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for unanimous consent on a resolution compelling the Republican-led Senate to challenge President Donald Trump in court to release more records from the government’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense attorney, said Jan. 30 that the department had finished complying with the new law after a final release of 3 million pages, containing 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. In total, the department released about 3.5 million records since the law’s passage.

The latest tranche revealed a global network of numerous men in powerful positions in communication with Epstein.

Late and redacted

The legal deadline to release the files was Dec. 19.

“Fifty days past the deadline, at best, according to the Department of Justice’s own admissions, maybe half of all the available Epstein files have been released,” Schumer said on the floor Thursday morning.

Schumer said that among the records released, many have been “redacted to an absurd degree.”

“This is not what the law requires. This is a mockery of the truth and an insult to the survivors. What makes this all the more sickening is that in over 1,000 instances, the Justice Department failed to follow the law and leaked the identities of over 100 victims. But do you know who the Justice Department did seem to protect? Epstein’s co-conspirators,” Schumer continued.

The minority leader entered into the congressional record a letter he brought along from roughly 20 Epstein victims decrying the “reckless and dangerous” release of victims’ identities.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., blocked the resolution, chalking it up as “another reckless political stunt designed to distract Americans from Democrats’ dangerous plan to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.”

Barrasso was referring to negotiations underway to fund DHS. Democrats have demanded changes to immigration enforcement tactics after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis, and numerous other U.S. citizens were injured by federal agents during Trump’s surge into blue states.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., criticized Barrasso’s objection on the floor, calling it “morally wrong.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

A DOJ official told States Newsroom in an email that the resolution presented “a tired narrative.”

“Just because you wish something to be true, doesn’t mean it is. This Department produced more than 3.5 million pages in compliance with the law and, in full transparency, has disclosed to the public and to Congress what items were not responsive. I assume all members of Congress read the actual language before voting on it, but if not, our press release and letter to Congress clearly spells this out,” the official wrote, including a link to the department’s Jan. 30 press release.

‘Hunger or thirst for information’

Blanche told reporters on Jan. 30, “There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.” 

He said no information uncovered in the files warranted new prosecutions.

The new law, dubbed by lawmakers as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, required the DOJ to make publicly available “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein,” including materials related to Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. 

Epstein avoided federal charges in 2008 when he pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges, including for the solicitation of a minor. 

A 2007 draft of a federal indictment that laid out more robust charges was among the files released by the DOJ on Jan. 30.

Kevin Warsh, second from left, listens during a panel discussion at the Semafor 2024 World Economy Summit on April 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Semafor)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new Federal Reserve chair pick likely faces headwinds in the U.S. Senate, as a key lawmaker opposes the administration’s ongoing criminal probe of current Fed leader Jerome Powell.

Trump announced early Friday he’s tapped Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank after Powell’s term ends in May. Warsh sat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 after being nominated by President George W. Bush and is a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s business school and the university’s conservative think tank, the Hoover Institution.

“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote on his own platform, Truth Social. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”

But the president is one vote short needed to push the nominee through the tightly divided Senate Banking Committee if all Democrats on the panel vote against.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Banking Committee, praised Warsh as a “qualified nominee with a deep understanding of monetary policy.” 

But Tillis, who is retiring after this term, said he won’t vote for the pick if Trump continues to investigate Powell on accusations that he lied to Congress over the cost of renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

“Protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is non-negotiable. My position has not changed: I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of Chairman, until the DOJ’s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved,” Tillis wrote on social media Friday morning.

The Federal Reserve holds significant influence over the nation’s economy, and numerous experts advise separating monetary policy from political influence. Adjusting interest rates, to cool inflation or stimulate the economy, is one tool the central bank uses to accomplish maximum employment and price stability.

Threats to Powell

Trump has publicly threatened to fire Powell multiple times if the chair did not lower interest rates more aggressively.

Powell revealed in mid-January that he received a federal grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice for a probe into whether he lied to Congress about construction costs.

Powell said in a rare video statement at the time that the investigation was not purely about oversight but rather about “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to comment on the status of the subpoenas Friday when asked if Trump’s nomination process would speed up the investigation into Powell.

“I don’t think the timing of President Trump’s decision to nominate somebody is a controlling factor in any investigation,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference at the Justice Department.

No commitment to lower rates

Trump praised Warsh on social media Friday morning, upon announcing his decision.

Warsh, a former New York banker and economic adviser to Bush, served on the Fed board through the tumultuous global financial crisis.

Trump told reporters Friday afternoon that he hasn’t asked Warsh about a commitment to lower interest rates. 

“I don’t want to ask him that question. I think it’s inappropriate. Probably, probably would be allowed, but I want to keep it nice and pure. But he certainly wants to cut rates. I’ve been watching him for a long time,” Trump said.

When asked about Tillis’s opposition, Trump called the senator an “obstructionist.”

“I mean, you know, if he doesn’t approve, we just have to wait till somebody comes in that will approve it, right?” Trump said. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, urged her Republican colleagues on the panel to oppose Trump’s pick.

“Trump can’t appoint his next puppet to the Fed all by himself. The Senate has to approve it. Any senator who claims to care about the independence of the Fed, including my Republican colleagues, should refuse to move forward with this nomination period until Trump drops his witch hunts,” Warren said in a video message posted on social media Friday afternoon.

Powell has not been Trump’s only target on the Federal Reserve. The president is awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether he violated the law when he fired Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook, a President Joe Biden appointee, via social media over the summer.  

Jacob Fischler and Shauneen Miranda contributed to this report.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffrey Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of documents Friday related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The release, which in the 3 million pages includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, comes more than 40 days after the agency was legally required to release the full set of files involving the disgraced financier, in compliance with federal law. 

The department instead opted for a piecemeal rollout of the files, prompting backlash.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday’s release marks the end of a “very comprehensive” records review process to “ensure transparency to the American people and compliance” with the federal law — known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act — mandating the release. 

“After submitting the final report to Congress as required under the act and publishing the written justifications for redactions in the Federal Register, the department’s obligations under the act will be completed,” he said. 

In total, the DOJ has now released approximately 3.5 million pages in adherence with the federal law. 

President Donald Trump signed a bill into law in November requiring the DOJ to make publicly available “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein,” including materials related to Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California co-sponsored the measure — which gave the department 30 days after the bill was enacted into law to release the files, or Dec. 19.

Trump, who has appeared in several of the files, had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, but has maintained he had a falling-out with the disgraced financier and was never involved in any alleged crimes. 

“There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents,” Blanche said. 

“There’s nothing I can do about that.”