The Felon's DOJ Continues to Hide Epstein Files

To the surprise of few I suspect, the Felon's Department of Justice - which seemingly has become the Felon's own stable of personal attorneys rather than a department protecting the American public - is continuing to hide large quantities of materials in the Epstein files while some released documents have been redacted in full.  All this has been done in defiance of the law requiring the full release of all documents. The take away to anyone conscious is that the Felon is still desperate to hide materials which would implicate him in Epstein's sex crimes against underage girls.  If one has nothing to hide, then why the constant behavior that screams out that the Felon has something to hide.  Stupidly, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche explained one photo of the Felon with a redacted photo of a young girl that had been deleted and then reposted had been to "protect victims," thus suggesting the Felon was pictured with a victim of the sex crimes. Both Epstein's victims and those who want EVERYONE involved with Epstein's crimes to exposed are disappointed by the obvious continuing coverup.  The Felon's DOJ appears only too ready to trickle out selected materials while hiding the most damaging documents, photos and perhaps videos that victims say Epstein kept for blackmail purposes. Rather than ending the scandal, these moves only guarantee the story will remain in the headlines while suggesting the Felon is guilty.  A piece at The Atlantic looks at the continuing coverup:

The failure to schedule a call with victims was only one piece of a broader, frantic rush inside Donald Trump’s Justice Department as it approached the final hours of its congressionally mandated deadline. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by Trump on November 19, requires the attorney general to make public, within 30 days, “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in the DOJ’s possession that relate to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The cache was believed to include flight logs, internal DOJ communications, and even records concerning the “destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment” of Epstein-related evidence.

The law tries to preempt a possible work-around by the DOJ. It explicitly bars the department from withholding, delaying, or redacting records because of “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity,” even for “any government official [or] public figure.”

Members of Congress and staff for the House Oversight Committee told me that they were alarmed by the DOJ’s silence in the days and hours before the release.

Victims said Bondi’s failure to talk with them prior to one of the most significant releases to date made them feel that those most harmed by Epstein’s crimes were just an afterthought. Marijke Chartouni was among the victims who had been hoping to talk with the attorney general before the files were made public. “Today marks a long-awaited moment for many of us,” Chartouni told me. “This is about truth, accountability, and confronting law-enforcement failure.”

The brother of Virginia Roberts Giuffre—one of the most prominent Epstein survivors, who died by suicide in April—described the day as “huge” but heavy with dread. Sky Roberts tried to distract himself with Christmas shopping while he waited for the files to be released. His voice broke when describing his family’s pain during their first Christmas without his sister. He told me that he worried about what he called “smoke and mirrors”—a partial release dressed up as transparency. He said his sister had been very clear in her conversations with law enforcement about names of alleged co-conspirators and participants. He believed that the DOJ has in its possession evidence that “brings everything together.” . . . “If those names aren’t coming out, then the whole exercise is just a cover-up,” he said.

When Blanche appeared on Fox News this morning, he confirmed that the DOJ would be releasing some of what it had. But it would not meet the deadline for making public all of the files, Blanche acknowledged, citing the need to protect victims’ identities and make the appropriate redactions in all documents. That, he said, could take more weeks of work by Justice Department lawyers.

Late this afternoon, the DOJ began posting on its website what it calls the first batches of records. It was a convenient moment: near the end of a Friday as Washington, D.C., emptied out for the holidays, and neither the House nor the Senate was in session. The files that were released appear to be some new material from prior investigations of Epstein, combined with documents and photographs that were already in the public domain. Some whole pages were redacted. . . . . “This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever.”

In a series of posts on X this evening, Representative Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said that the day’s release “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law” that Trump signed last month. When I talked with him late this evening, he told me, with reference to the Justice Department, “I can’t believe how badly they botched this.”

Roberts said he and his family were still working their way through the many thousands of pages of files. He described the experience as “surreal” and said that he felt a mix of appreciation and pride for his sister and other victims’ efforts over decades to get the attention of federal law enforcement.  He and others I spoke with said they felt vindicated that included in the files released today appeared to be Maria Farmer’s report to law enforcement, which had never been seen before. It is dated September 1996, and it describes Epstein’s alleged possession of photographs of underage girls. “Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.”

Information that Roberts said he had expected to be in the files didn’t appear to be there—such as the names of other prominent men who are believed to have been involved. “I feel like we’re still getting the same runaround we were getting before,” he told me, “where they’re kind of slow-rolling it and keeping what they want to keep from us.”

Khanna told me that he was discussing next steps with Massie and others on the Oversight Committee, which may include contempt of Congress or articles of impeachment for Bondi and Blanche.

“We’re exploring all options—including impeachment,” Khanna said. “They’re delusional if they think this is going to go away.”