New lawsuit may finally bring Epstein files transparency | Opinion

President Donald Trump's televised tantrum during his April 26 interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS News – which aired a day after he was rushed from an event after it was crashed by a gunman – revealed the obvious fear he still holds about the Epstein files.

Those more than 6 million documents potentially detail the life and crimes of his former friend, the now-dead registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

I think we'll see more of that fear and more tantrums from Trump as the push for transparency with the Epstein files intensifies, since only about half of them have been released.

Katie Phang, a former prosecutor who now works as an independent journalist, sued the Department of Justice on April 27, asking a federal judge to appoint a special master to review and release more Epstein files.

That lawsuit landed just four days after the DOJ's own inspector general informed several senators that it had launched an audit to see if the department had complied with a law requiring the release of the Epstein files.

Trump responds to '60 Minutes' interview moment oddly

In his "60 Minutes" interview, Trump lashed out at CBS News correspondent Norah O'Donnell when she read part of the "manifesto" of Cole Allen, the California man charged with gun crimes and attempting to assassinate Trump after allegedly crashing through security at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 25.

Here's the line, allegedly written by Allen, that set Trump off: "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, a rapist, and a traitor to coat my hands with his crimes."

Trump had already told O'Donnell that he didn't know if he was the target of the violence on April 25. But he was sure that line was about him, and he called O'Donnell "horrible" and "a disgrace" for reading it.

In his anger, Trump blurted out, "I was totally exonerated," and then mentioned Epstein by name.

Two curious things about that. Trump is mentioned multiple times in the Epstein files, but not in any way that would exonerate him of anything. And O'Donnell never mentioned the Epstein files or Trump's relationship with Epstein.

But it was clearly on his mind. And he's not alone. Plenty of people are still thinking and talking about the Epstein files.

It doesn't appear that the Epstein files are going away

Phang, a former cable news anchor who now hosts a YouTube show, used that platform on April 27 to explain why she is suing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in federal court in Washington, DC.

She accused Blanche and the DOJ of "violating the law on the daily and actively seeking to hide the truth from the American people about the greatest, most egregious criminal conspiracy in the trafficking of children that has existed in the history of America."

Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, with just one Republican in the House voting against it. Trump, who had lobbied feverishly against that legislation, then grudgingly signed it into law.

Phang seems to be on very solid ground in claiming that the DOJ has not followed that law. The two House members who sponsored that legislation – Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democrat Ro Khanna of California – told me two weeks ago that they think the DOJ is not complying with the law.

Massie and Khanna in January tried to intervene in the criminal case against Epstein's alleged sex trafficking coconspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, asking a federal judge to appoint a special master to oversee the release of documents.

Blanche and the DOJ objected to that, and the judge ruled that his jurisdiction in the Maxwell case did not extend to the Epstein files.

Maybe Phang will have more luck. Along with appointing a special master, her 15-page lawsuit asks a judge to force the DOJ to remove any unlawful redactions in the Epstein files, to explain why some documents need to be redacted, to restore documents that were posted and then removed, and to release currently hidden documents.

"The special master would act as somebody who doesn't work at the DOJ, because, yeah, let's let the people police themselves that really have not complied with the law," Phang said sardonically on her YouTube show on April 27.

While that works its way through the courts, the DOJ inspector general will be auditing the department with a focus on three areas – how the department identified, collected and produced documents; the guidance used in redacting or withholding documents; and its processes for "addressing post-release publication concerns."

It's clear that Trump just wants the Epstein files to go away. And it is equally clear that he lacks the power to make that happen. That's why he's freaking out on television.

Firing his first attorney general of his second term, Pam Bondi, didn't make this go away. Angering his MAGA base, who want the Epstein files released, won't make this go away. Installing Blanche, who clearly sees the job of attorney general as being all about protecting Trump, won't make this go away.

So expect more tantrums. And maybe some actual transparency, at last.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on Bluesky, @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social, and on X, @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.