In the wake of the Trump administration’s announcement last week that it would not be releasing all the materials related to the prosecution of deceased billionaire financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — after apparently finding no evidence of an “incriminating ‘client list’” — experts and Republican lawmakers are urging the administration to conduct a full release of the “Epstein Files” in order to achieve complete transparency over the years-long controversy.

Epstein, who had a long history of accusations of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls stretching back to the early 2000s and had extensive political connections with former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, President Donald Trump, and many other powerful figures, was at the center of an explosive scandal that broke in July 2019 when he was arrested by the FBI and NYPD over charges of sex trafficking minors. Evidence found at his Manhattan residence included a large cache of lewd images of underage girls, including CDs of secret camera images labeled “Young [Name] + [Name].”

According to reports, Epstein trafficked hundreds of underage girls to his numerous residences in order to force them into sexual encounters with powerful acquaintances, and he also set up a system of secret cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms in order to record the encounters and use the footage for possible blackmail purposes. As a result, a “client list” of powerful figures was allegedly compiled by Epstein. Controversy over the existence of the list that would incriminate a slew of celebrities and dignitaries built to a fever pitch after Epstein was found dead in his cell from an apparent suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019, with many observers claiming that the suicide was staged and that he was killed over the existence of the “client list.”

The alleged existence of the list became increasingly controversial after Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in an interview in February that the document was “sitting on my desk” for review. But last week, the Department of Justice announced that it would not release any more files related to the Epstein case after its initial “Phase 1” release of material that did not produce any previously unknown information, saying that Epstein, in fact, did not compile a “client list.”

The move was met with considerable pushback from many key figures within the Republican Party, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). “I’m for transparency,” he remarked during a podcast Tuesday. “It’s a very delicate subject. We should put everything out there and let the people decide it.” Other GOP House members, such as Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have called for the Epstein files to be subpoenaed or for a special counsel to be formed. Former Vice President Mike Pence echoed the sentiment on Wednesday, saying that “the time has come” to “release all of the files” related to Epstein while also “protect[ing] the names of the victims.”

Government watchdog organizations like Judicial Watch are also demanding transparency regarding the Epstein files. As the organization’s president, Tom Fitton, explained during Wednesday’s “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Judicial Watch has yet to receive any of the documents related to the Epstein case that it has requested from the government.

“There’s a lot of concern[ing] materials withheld,” he noted. “… We’re in federal court over it now. We filed a lawsuit. So imagine my surprise when, over the weekend, during July 4th, [the DOJ] released this memo … discounting all the questions that people have. I don’t know. Maybe they did an investigation and they thought they were right to discount it. I can’t second-guess their conclusion, but we can demand the evidence, especially given their promises.”

Fitton went on to argue that the Trump administration should embrace the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process in order to uphold its commitment to transparency. “I would tell them, just release the records through the FOIA process. It’s a process that allows for disclosure about how many records are out there, what’s being withheld, if any records are being withheld, and why. … Transparency is their friend. I appreciate [that] the president is frustrated about how this story has gotten out of hand for him, but … it was the Justice Department, the FBI that screwed it up, not people asking the questions.”

Fitton further contended that, contrary to the DOJ claiming that there are no reasons to ask questions about the case, a number of legitimate questions remain unanswered. “There are legitimate questions about his death. There are legitimate questions about why it is — given the number of victims, according to the FBI and Justice Department’s own memo — a thousand victims. Who else might have been involved in victimizing those girls? And why haven’t they been prosecuted? Now, they also said there’s not enough evidence to prosecute people. Well, tell us what the evidence is … and we’ll draw our own conclusions.”

Fitton concluded by insisting that the implications of the Epstein case — the possibility that wealth and power can inoculate individuals from being held accountable for horrific crimes against minors — has heightened the case in the public eye and has led to an unprecedented demand for transparency.

“[T]he Epstein case is, in my view, an avatar really, for so many other concerns the American people have,” he observed. “They don’t like the idea of two-tiered justice systems here in Washington, D.C., and they may not know about the other aspects of the lawfare targeting Trump or the fact that some people are protected and others are targeted, but they all know about Epstein, right? And that’s why there’s such high public interest in it, because it kind of burst out of the Washington bubble, and regular folks know about it. And that’s why Speaker Johnson, to my surprise, said, ‘Oh, I want [Ghislaine] Maxwell to testify. I want all the documents released.’ That’s an indication, given how typically cautious he is on issues like this, that they are getting overwhelmed with interest on the Hill.”

Fitton vowed that his organization will not back away from seeking transparency in the matter. “We’ve got a FOIA lawsuit, and we’re just going to keep on keeping on until we get the records or the court tells us to go home.”