The new Epstein bill being passed has given people hope that we may, at long last, see the notorious sex offender’s accomplices named and brought to justice. However, there’s still a long way to go yet and already, House Speaker Mike Johnson has stipulated that the files would have to be heavily redacted otherwise it could raise “national security concerns.”
Despite voting in favour of the Epstein bill himself on Tuesday, Johnson blasted the Senate for approving it without any amendments. He ran through a list of a number of reasons as to why declassifying the files was a bad move including victim privacy, unsubstantiated claims against potentially innocent people, protections against the release of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), and the damage it could do to future investigations by outing whistleblowers.
His fifth concern was that demanding the Department of Justice to declassify such materials would conflict with the intelligence agencies from which the files originated. This, according to Johnson, would pose a serious national security concern as it could involve other agencies such as the CIA or the NSA.
Speaker Mike Johnson claims the Epstein files can’t be released unredacted because they contain intelligence-agency material that falls under national security.
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) November 18, 2025
He says it’s dangerous to force the DOJ to declassify documents they didn’t create, especially when they involve other… pic.twitter.com/IyUGJ2wW72
Does Mike Johnson have a point?
His argument does make sense in many ways, if the Epstein files were released completely unredacted it could end up inadvertently doing more damage to American intelligence agencies.
While Johnson may be right in his argument, there are certainly ways around it that don’t pose a threat to national security. What people are most worried about is that redactions will protect those who were complicit or actively participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
Naturally, his backpedaling and his sudden concern over national security has raised a few eyebrows, “It’s always something…” wrote one skeptical individual on X. Many simply suspect him of protecting a certain someone whose name may or may not be in the files.
Plenty of others chimed in with their own thoughts and it seems the popular opinion is that the truth should come out regardless of the fallout. One person asked, “what kind of f—ed up Nation has the United States become, and what kind of perverted Criminals are running it?” Another added, “There is no greater threat to national security than a divided populace.” A third wrote, “If the truth shall kill them, let them die.”
Others took Johnson’s words to mean that these intelligence agencies may have had a hand in covering up Epstein’s crimes. Many on X shared their belief that the government and these agencies were aware of what was going on and used it to blackmail those involved for benefit.
Whatever the case, it seems likely that when the files are released, we could very well see many names and details redacted. We can only hope that this bill does lead to arrests, something which Republican Thomas Massie has been calling for this week as he claims it’s the only way to know if the bill was successful or not.
