Epstein files row: Kamala Harris breaks silence on why Biden refused to pressure DOJ
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has said that Joe Biden deliberately avoided pressuring the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release documents linked to disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, even though the decision hurt the Biden administration politically.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Harris explained that the Biden White House believed firmly in maintaining a strict separation between political leadership and the functioning of the Justice Department. According to her, that principle outweighed any potential political gain that could have come from intervening in the Epstein matter.
“To give you an answer that will not satisfy your curiosity, we — perhaps to our damage — but we strongly, and rightly, believed that there should be an absolute separation between what we wanted as an administration and what the Department of Justice did,” Harris said.
She acknowledged that the administration faced reputational fallout for not pushing harder on the Epstein files, but maintained that Biden did not want to compromise the DOJ’s independence to advance political interests.
During the interview, Harris was also asked whether she believed the Trump administration would follow through on its pledge to release the Epstein files. She responded that it was important for Donald Trump — who had campaigned on transparency around the Epstein case — to honour his promise, but expressed scepticism over his intentions.
Harris accused Trump of treating the Justice Department as a personal tool, something she said the Biden administration consciously avoided.
“What he has done to treat the Department of Justice as his personal law firm is criminal in proportion to what it’s supposed to be,” Harris said, adding that the DOJ is meant to function as an independent institution that delivers justice “without favour or fear.”
She further said she was uncertain whether the Trump administration would actually release all the Epstein-related documents that, in her words, “the American people have a right to see.”
Both Donald Trump and former US President Bill Clinton have previously been photographed or appeared publicly with Jeffrey Epstein. However, both leaders have denied any wrongdoing and have maintained that they had no involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities.