After months of urging congressional Republicans to drop the issue, President Donald Trump signed the “Epstein Files Transparency Act” Wednesday night, following the bill’s rapid move through the Senate. Even so, experts say, the Justice Department may not be able to make further information concerning the serial sex offender readily available.

The bill was passed nearly unanimously by the House of Representatives on Tuesday and unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday, after which the president signed the legislation into law. The text of the new law requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make public all documents and information on child sex trafficker and shadowy financier Jeffrey Epstein, his associates, his clients, his incarceration, his mysterious death, and any investigations into his doings, within a period of 30 days.

In an appearance on “Washington Watch” Wednesday night, Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) declared, “I am so glad this is coming to an end. The information being released, we have pushed for this from the very beginning, full transparency.” He explained that although Democrats latched onto the “Epstein files” when politically convenient, Republicans have been pressing for transparency for a long time. “Basically, we voted for the Oversight Committee to get these files and release them. We’ve been consistent in this and even President Trump — you remember, back this summer — ordered the DOJ and Pam Bondi to release these files?” The congressman continued, “I think what’s going to come out of this is going to be a big nothing burger for President Trump. Yes, his name is going to be mentioned, as we’ve seen in some of these emails, but nothing that’s going to tie him to any illicit activity involving Jeffrey Epstein.”

Like the president, Alford said that the Democrats’ partisan approach to the “Epstein files” issue was just a “distraction” from the work the GOP is trying to get done. The congressman reported that the Appropriations Committee, of which he is a member, is “singularly focused now with all these distractions out of the way on getting these remaining nine appropriation bills done, we’ve got all 12 of them out of committee before the end of the fiscal year.” He continued, “All we were asking is to have a seven-week extension to get the remaining nine passed on the House floor, and that’s what led to the government shutdown, because the Democrats did not want us to do that.”

“Now our focus is getting that done for the American people. We have only 27 legislative days, though, to get that done until the new deadline of January 30. We’re going to be up against the gun on this,” Alford shared. “But we’re determined to get this done. And I think we have a good chance, for the first time that I’ve been here in Congress in three years, of returning to regular order when it comes to our appropriations process.”

However, the “Epstein Files Transparency Act” does allow some information to be withheld, including any information that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary.” Ahead of the bill being signed into law, Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that the DOJ may not release all the required documents within the 30-day window prescribed by the new law. She insisted in a Wednesday morning press conference that the DOJ “will continue to follow the law, again, while protecting victims, but also providing maximum transparency.”

The catch is that the DOJ has been tasked with new Epstein investigations. Last week, the president asked Bondi to launch an investigation into “Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.” Just a few hours later, Bondi confirmed that she had placed Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in charge of the investigation. “As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people,” Bondi said.

Earlier this year, the DOJ and FBI circulated a two-page memo concluding that although Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, were accused and convicted of child sex trafficking, they evidently didn’t traffic children to anyone. Despite announcing that agents had discovered over 10,000 child sex abuse videos among Epstein’s belongings, the DOJ and FBI concluded, “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

In Wednesday’s press conference, however, Bondi shared that “new information” has come to light tying other individuals to Epstein and his crimes. “There is new information, additional information, and, again, we will continue to follow the law to investigate any leads,” the AG said. Earlier this year, Bondi demanded all information the DOJ had on Epstein and was given roughly 200 pages of material. She later discovered that an FBI office in New York had withheld thousands of pages of Epstein-related materials. “Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files. When you and I spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was to learn this new information,” Bondi wrote in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel. It’s unclear if the “new information” Bondi referenced Wednesday was information previously withheld by FBI agents or not.