US President Donald Trump has signed legislation that compels his administration to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to political pressure from his party after initially resisting those efforts.

Trump could have chosen to release many of the files on his own months ago.

“Democrats have used the ‘Epstein’ issue, which affects them far more than the Republican Party, in order to try and distract from our AMAZING Victories,” Trump said in a social media post as he announced he had signed the bill.

Now, the bill requires the Department of Justice to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in a federal prison in 2019, within 30 days.

It allows for redactions about Epstein’s victims for ongoing federal investigations, but the DOJ cannot withhold information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity”.

The material could shed more light on the activities of Epstein, who socialised with Trump and other notable figures before his 2008 conviction on charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters.

Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which New York City’s medical examiner called a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.

Over the weekend, the US President did a sharp U-turn on the files once it became clear that congressional action was inevitable. He insisted the Epstein matter had become a distraction to the Republican agenda and indicated he wanted to move on.

“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had,” Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday, explaining the rationale for his abrupt about-face.

It’s long been established that Trump had been friends with Epstein, the disgraced financier who was close to the world’s elite. But the President has consistently said he did not know of Epstein’s crimes and had cut ties with him long ago.

Before Trump returned to the White House for a second term, some of his closest political allies helped fuel conspiracy theories about the government’s handling of the Epstein case, asserting a cover-up of potentially incriminating information in those files.

­–with AP