Was Jeffery epstwin case still under investigation during biden
Executive summary
The Epstein investigations were active and evolving across multiple administrations; reporting and prosecutors said the Maxwell/ Epst‑ein criminal files remained part of an open federal investigation during the Biden presidency, which limited public disclosure at that time [1] [2]. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025 and judges began ordering unsealing of grand jury and investigative materials in December 2025, creating the first major post‑Biden public releases [3] [4].
1. Biden-era investigators treated parts of the Epstein matter as active, limiting release
Journalists and prosecutors noted the criminal investigations into Epstein and his associates remained “open” during the Biden administration, and that routine prosecutorial and grand‑jury secrecy — plus active appeals in Maxwell’s case — were cited as reasons the DOJ did not broadly publish investigatory files while Biden was president [1] [2]. Reporters including Julie K. Brown explained that an open grand jury and ongoing appeals are standard legal bases for withholding case files from public release [1] [2].
2. What “not released during Biden” actually meant in practice
While the Biden DOJ did not make a full public dump of the federal investigative files, the administration did allow limited, supervised congressional and committee review: Finance Committee staff and other congressional investigators were permitted in‑person inspections of portions of Treasury and other files during 2022–2024 [5] [6]. The Biden DOJ and FBI also produced some court documents and judges unsealed civil records while Biden was in office, per contemporary reporting [7] [8].
3. Legal constraints, not necessarily political calculus, were the dominant official rationale
Multiple outlets cited established legal doctrines — grand‑jury secrecy and protections for victim identities, plus the risk of jeopardizing ongoing investigations — as the DOJ’s stated reasons for holding back files. Newsweek noted that the same exemption (threat to an active federal investigation) that later administrations invoked was used by the Biden DOJ in 2022 [9]. Reporting cautioned that prosecutors do not typically “open” files mid‑investigation simply for political advantage [1] [9].
4. Pressure built in Congress and among victims for broader disclosure
By 2024–25 bipartisan pressure — including bills from Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie and later the Epstein Files Transparency Act — pushed for forced public disclosure; survivors and some lawmakers publicly urged full release, arguing transparency was overdue [10] [11]. The House Oversight Committee and other panels released material obtained from the Epstein estate before the statutory mandate [12] [11].
5. The post‑Biden turning point: a new law and judge orders to unseal
After Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025, federal judges in Florida and New York began permitting release of grand‑jury transcripts and discovery materials, with a Manhattan judge explicitly saying the new law applied to Maxwell-related materials and ordering unsealing in December 2025 [4] [3]. The law set a 30‑day deadline for DOJ publication, prompting the rapid legal shift [10] [3].
6. Competing narratives and political uses of the timing
Political actors on both sides turned the timing into a partisan narrative. Former President Trump and allies argued the Biden administration had “kept files secret,” while journalists and investigators countered that files were withheld because investigations were active and because prosecutors must protect victims and grand‑jury secrecy — not simply to shield people [2] [7]. The DOJ’s later-memo claiming “no client list” and other public statements further fed political debate over what remained to be disclosed [13] [14].
7. What the sources do not say or cannot resolve
Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, page‑by‑page accounting of exactly which files the Biden DOJ reviewed internally or what specific investigatory steps remained open in each year of the Biden presidency; they likewise do not establish direct evidence that the Biden White House blocked politically relevant disclosures (not found in current reporting). Judges and the new law, not the prior political timeline alone, determined when substantial public release would finally occur [3] [4].
8. Bottom line for the reader
Contemporary reporting shows the Epstein/Maxwell federal matters were treated as active investigations during the Biden administration, which legally constrained public release; bipartisan legislative action and court orders in late 2025 produced the unsealing and public disclosures that critics had demanded [1] [3]. Sources present both legal explanations from prosecutors and political interpretations from critics; readers should weigh the procedural rules cited by journalists and courts against the partisan claims that the timing served political ends [9] [15].