On Jan. 30, the Department of Justice announced the release of more than 3 million pages of documents from the Epstein Files, including over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, according to The Associated Press, which reported the release of additional Epstein-related files. These are primarily documents that were withheld from the initial release of the files to meet the Dec. 19 deadline for Congress’s Epstein Transparency Act.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche held a press conference describing the volume of the release. Blanche claimed the files will not protect anyone, saying, “We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect — or not protect — anybody.”
Blanche continued, “There’s a hunger, or a thirst, for information that I don’t think will be satisfied by review of these documents.”
The administration still intends not to meet the initial deadline imposed on them to release all the documents. What is notable about this new release is that President Trump is mentioned more than a hundred times. Jamie Raskin, a U.S. representative from Maryland, said that in the full unredacted files, his name appears over a million times. The DOJ qualified this fact by saying on the website that some of the documents may contain “untrue” and “sensationalist” claims about Trump. They claim these documents were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election, and that if these documents had “a shred of credibility,” they would have been “weaponized against President Trump already.”
Despite Trump’s prominent presence in the files, he is already attempting to swing the attention of the media away from it. On Feb. 3, when CNN’s Kaitlin Collins asked President Trump about what will happen regarding justice for the survivors, he simply pivoted to calling Collins the “worst reporter” and that “he’s never seen her smile” in the 10 years he’s known her. Additionally, in Pam Bondi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11 over the handling of the Epstein files, she tried multiple times to “go around” the questions. Bondi stated that the Democrats, by constantly bringing up the Epstein files, are trying to distract from all of President Trump’s achievements, and brought up the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq all reaching record highs.
Additionally, when asked by Ted Lieu, a U.S. representative from California, if there were any underage girls at the Jeffrey Epstein parties that Trump attended, Bondi responded, saying such a question was ridiculous, claiming there is “no evidence” that Trump committed a crime. To this, Lieu said he believed Bondi “lied under oath” and proceeded to present a claim from a witness — a former limo driver for Trump — that he had met a girl who was raped by Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. This girl later had her “head blown off,” Lieu said.
While the DOJ released a plethora of material to the public, there are still approximately 3 million files that they have not released. Some Democrats believe there is a “cover-up,” as Raskin puts it, that is happening.
“What about the other 3 million files? Remember, not only is there a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi to turn everything over to Congress, now there’s a federal law compelling them to turn it over, and yet, we’re just getting the dribs and drabs of information coming out, the stuff that they want us to see,” said Raskin.
The world is seeing repercussions of the release of the Epstein files. Prince Andrew has been stripped of his royal title and was arrested on Thursday, but released soon after. The British government is now considering removing Andrew from the royal line of succession, according to CBS News. Peter Mandelson, the U.K. ambassador to the U.S., resigned after ties to Epstein came to light, according to The Washington Post. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to resign because of his knowledge of the relationship with Epstein, according to The New York Times. Even Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland was charged with “gross corruption” for links to Epstein, according to the BBC. With pressure mounting from all around the world, will the DOJ prosecute Jeffrey Epstein’s associates and clients in the United States? Only time will tell.