Former FBI agent slams Trump for 'refusing to enforce the law'

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for a celebration of U.S. military mothers at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was required to release unclassified files on the late billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein by December 19. Many files have been released, although in very redacted form — while others haven't been released at all.

Legal scholar and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa discussed the Epstein files in a video released by the conservative website The Bulwark on January 21, arguing that Donald Trump-era DOJ is "refusing to enforce the law."

When host Sarah Longwell noted that DOJ "still hasn't released" all the files a month after the December 19 deadline, Rangappa discussed the delays and argued that lawsuits "may be the only practical way to get this moving."

The ex-FBI agent told Longwell, "Even if the court is like, 'You must comply,' we're kind of in the make-me administration. We're in the make-me administration; so, what a special master…. might kind of create is a very separate clearinghouse. There would have to be some fire under DOJ to even hand those over to a special master. But at least there, you might be able to — if you were able to get those documents there — kind of speed up some of the production. Because one of the arguments being made here — several arguments being made— is that they're deliberately delaying. They are redacting things they should not be redacting, because the statute very specifically lays out what can be redacted and what can't."

Rangappa added, "I have to be honest with you, Sarah…. It is a very difficult situation when you have an executive branch that is refusing to enforce the law."

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