Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that Democrats invoked a century-old law to force President Donald Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
At a press conference, Schumer said he joined all his Democratic colleagues on the Senate Homeland Security Committee in invoking "a century-old and little-known law known as the Rule of Five." Under the federal law, Schumer said, "when any five senators on the Homeland Security Committee call on the executive branch, the executive branch must comply."
Schumer said their request "covers all documents, files, evidence and other materials" in possession of the DOJ and the FBI related to the case of the United States v. Jeffrey Epstein.
"While protecting the victims' identities can and must be of top importance, the public has a right to know who enabled, knew of, or participated in one of the most heinous sex trafficking operations in history," Schumer said.
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He pointed to past statements from Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel promising transparency, but argued the public has only received "stonewall, evasion, lies."
"Donald Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files. He broke that promise," Schumer continued. "Trump should stop hiding from the truth. He should stop hiding from the American people. So today, Senate Democrats took action. We're invoking federal law and using our authority as a check on the executive to compel transparency."
"It's not a stunt. It's not symbolic. It's a formal exercise of congressional power under federal law. And we expect an answer from DOJ by August the 15th," the top Senate Democrat continued. "That's what accountability looks like. This is what oversight looks like. And this is what keeping your promises to the American people look like."
He also appealed to Senate Republicans.
"If you believe in transparency, if you believe Congress has a role to play in checking the executive, join us. Join us in calling for more transparency on the Epstein files, because once there's transparency, the truth emerges," Schumer said.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Schumer initially made the announcement during a speech on the Senate floor earlier Wednesday. The top Democrat argues that he and four other senators can force the Department of Justice to release the files to the public.
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Wednesday's floor speech was Schumer's second in the past few days focusing on the Epstein files. He also called on the FBI to conduct a counterintelligence threat assessment on the Epstein case on Tuesday.
He argued the FBI assessment should accomplish three things: determine if foreign intelligence agencies could gain access to the information "the president does not want to release in the Epstein files, through methods that include cyber intrusion;" identify any vulnerabilities that could be exploited by foreign intelligence agencies with access to non-public information in the Epstein files, "including being able to gain leverage over Donald Trump, his family, or other senior government officials;" and result in the FBI publicly showing that the bureau is "developing mitigation strategies to counter these threats and safeguard our national security."
