WASHINGTON, USA – The US Justice Division launched hundreds of closely redacted paperwork associated to the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, December 19, that made scant reference to President Donald Trump however extensively featured Democratic former President Invoice Clinton.
The absence of references to Trump was notable provided that footage and paperwork associated to him have trickled out of earlier Epstein releases for years. Trump’s identify appeared in flight manifests itemizing passengers on Epstein’s non-public aircraft that have been a part of a primary batch of Epstein materials the Justice Division launched in February, as an illustration.
The partial launch was meant to adjust to a legislation overwhelmingly handed by Congress in November that mandated the disclosure of all Epstein information, regardless of the Republican president’s months-long effort to maintain them sealed. The scandal surrounding Epstein has develop into a self-inflicted political wound for Trump, who for years had promoted conspiracy theories about Epstein to his supporters.
It was not instantly clear how substantive the brand new supplies have been, provided that many Epstein-related paperwork have beforehand been made public since his 2019 dying in jail, which was dominated a suicide. Most of the information have been closely redacted – a number of paperwork with 100 pages or extra have been fully blacked out – and the Justice Division acknowledged it was nonetheless reviewing a whole lot of hundreds of further pages for doable launch.
Shortly after the discharge, the US navy launched airstrikes towards dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an assault on US personnel.
The fabric included proof from a number of investigations into Epstein, together with pictures of Clinton, lengthy scorned by Republicans. However they appeared to incorporate few if any pictures of Trump or paperwork mentioning him, regardless of Trump and Epstein’s well-publicized friendship within the Nineties and early 2000s earlier than that they had a falling out previous to Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied realizing about Epstein’s crimes.
‘This isn’t about Invoice Clinton’
The Justice Division sought to attract consideration to Clinton, with two company spokespeople posting on social media pictures that they mentioned confirmed him with Epstein victims.
Clinton’s deputy chief of workers, Angel Urena, mentioned in an announcement that the White Home was making an attempt to “defend themselves” from scrutiny by specializing in the previous president.
“They’ll launch as many grainy 20-plus-year outdated pictures as they need, however this isn’t about Invoice Clinton,” he wrote.
Trump ordered the Justice Division final month to research Clinton’s ties to Epstein, in what critics considered as an effort to shift the main target away from his personal relationship with Epstein.
In pictures launched on Friday, Clinton may be seen in a swimming pool with Maxwell and one other particular person whose face is blacked out. In one other picture he may be seen in a scorching tub with with what seems to be one other particular person whose face is blacked out. Clinton has beforehand expressed remorse for socializing with Epstein and mentioned he was not conscious of any prison exercise.
There have been greater than 1,200 victims or their kin whose names have to be redacted from the information, mentioned Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche in a letter to Congress.
In an announcement, the White Home claimed the discharge demonstrated its transparency and dedication to justice for Epstein’s victims, criticizing earlier Democratic administrations for not doing the identical.
However the assertion ignored that the disclosures occurred solely as a result of Congress compelled the administration’s hand, after Trump officers declared earlier this yr that no extra Epstein information can be made public.
Some lawmakers instantly criticized the administration for failing to launch the entire information.
“This set of closely redacted paperwork launched by the Division of Justice right this moment is only a fraction of the entire physique of proof,” Democratic Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned in an announcement.
Republican US Consultant Thomas Massie, a driving power behind the laws, mentioned on X that Friday’s launch “grossly fails to adjust to each the spirit and the letter of the legislation.”
The disclosure legislation required the Justice Division to show over details about its dealing with of the Epstein investigation, together with inside studies and emails. None of these supplies seemed to be within the batch of paperwork the federal government launched on Friday.
The legislation allowed the Justice Division to withhold private details about Epstein’s victims in addition to materials that will jeopardize an energetic investigation.
Trump voters annoyed
Many Trump voters had accused his administration of masking up Epstein’s ties to highly effective figures and obscuring particulars surrounding his dying in a Manhattan jail, the place he was awaiting trial on fees of trafficking and abusing underage women.
Simply 44% of American adults who determine as Republicans approve of Trump’s dealing with of the Epstein situation, in comparison with his 82% total approval score among the many group, based on a latest Reuters/Ipsos ballot. The difficulty has broken Trump’s political standing forward of the 2026 midterm elections, when management of Congress is at stake.
Final month, Democrats within the Home of Representatives launched hundreds of emails obtained from Epstein’s property, together with one by which Epstein wrote that Trump “knew concerning the women,” with out clarifying what that meant. Trump, in response, accused Democrats of selling the “Epstein Hoax” as a distraction.
Home Republicans launched extra emails the identical day, together with one saying Trump visited Epstein’s home many instances however “by no means obtained a therapeutic massage.”
Earlier disclosures have revealed that even after his 2008 conviction, Epstein continued corresponding with high-profile figures, together with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Britain’s former Prince Andrew, now often called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal title over his hyperlinks to Epstein.
Representatives for Bannon, Thiel and Mountbatten-Windsor haven’t responded to Reuters’ requests for remark about their interactions with Epstein.
JPMorgan paid a few of Epstein’s victims $290 million in 2023 to settle claims it had ignored his intercourse trafficking. The financial institution stored Epstein as a consumer for 5 years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor in 2008. – Rappler.com
