Gov. DeSantis vows to sign Jeffrey Epstein records bill, calls on Joe Biden to release federal files

Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised to sign legislation to release grand jury evidence in an 18-year-old case against serial sex abuser and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

He said President Joe Biden should do something similar with Epstein’s federal records, which are “probably much more extensive” and could expose high-profile people who have long evaded punishment.

“How could you have had this going on for so long?” DeSantis said. “Here we are now, 15, 20 years later, and literally nobody else has been held accountable. You just have (Epstein) and (Ghislaine Maxwell), and that’s it.”

“People look at that and they’re like, ‘Give me a break.’ And clearly, you have wealth and power involved,” the Governor continued. “They have a way to potentially get out. So, I think it’s going to be good for everybody that (the information is) out there.”

Florida lawmakers Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to ease the unsealing of 2006 grand jury testimony and evidence in a Palm Beach County case against Epstein. A South Florida circuit judge may release those records sooner in accordance with a lawsuit the Palm Beach Post filed in 2019.

The case began after the mother of a 14-year-old girl filed a complaint with the Town of Palm Beach Police Department. Instead of taking it on himself, then-State Attorney Barry Krischer referred the Epstein case to a grand jury, a decision that ensured all testimony and evidence would be kept from the public. And it has ever since, despite repeated attempts to unseal records and bring closure to Epstein’s many victims, their families and the community — or justice to Epstein’s accomplices and those who let him get off easy.

Epstein received what many have called a “sweetheart deal” under which he served just 13 months in a private prison and enjoyed a lax work-release program. After he got out, he continued abusing underage girls for more than a decade until he was again arrested by FBI agents in 2019 and died of an apparent suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

Scores of celebrities and politicians have been implicated as participants in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring and as passengers on a “Lolita Express” to his private island. But to date, only Epstein and Maxwell — his former girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of luring girls to Epstein’s home to be molested — have faced punishment.

Biden should do his part to ensure everyone involved in Epstein’s crimes are brought to justice, DeSantis said.

“You have this notorious offender … catering to all these rich people, and yet nobody has ever been held accountable for any of this. How does that happen? How (was) the case … taken out of state court and taken to federal court, where he got a slap on the wrist? What has happened since then?” he said.

“Biden should release the Epstein files associated with the federal government, which is probably much more extensive.”

Under Biden, nearly 3,000 pages of federal records on Epstein have been released so far.