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Which Side Is DOJ on: The Epstein Files
With apologies for writing about such a serious topic as we enter the Christmas holidays, these developments seemed too important to ignore. Many thanks to all of you for being part of the Civil Discourse community. I cherish our ability to fight for democracy together.
Early today—on Christmas Eve Day—there was reporting that the White House has taken over DOJ's X account in order to handle the increasing controversy about Donald Trump’s inclusion in the Epstein files. Axios reports that “The account is also taking on a sharper tone that has more of a rapid-response campaign edge and less of the stodgy just-the-facts tone associated with the department.”
No other person whose name surfaces in a criminal case gets this sort of boost on the official Justice Department account, and it’s an outrage (and another marker of authoritarianism) that this president does. The Justice Department doesn’t represent the president, or at least it isn’t supposed to. But this DOJ is led by an Attorney General who represented Trump when he was impeached and a Deputy Attorney General who was his personal criminal defense lawyer. Many of the U.S. Attorneys bear strong personal loyalty to Trump. It’s unprecedented, but that doesn’t mean we can’t label an outrage as an outrage.
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The news is also revelatory in the sense that it means Trump, or people close to him, believe he needs protection from the rest of the Epstein file disclosures. Trump has been calling the Epstein Files a “Democratic hoax” in recent weeks, but what’s come so far demonstrates that is not the case. Many of us support believing women who come forward to report sexual abuse and violence. It’s difficult and dangerous, especially when powerful men are involved, as the Epstein saga demonstrates far too well. But for those who are unwilling to believe women, the documents and new information, like the fact that Trump flew on Epstein’s plane far more times than he has previously acknowledged, suggest this is far from a hoax.
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In that regard, it’s important to note that flying on Epstein’s plane isn’t proof of criminal conduct. But concealing facts about a relationship with him is. Trump has certainly tried to minimize their friendship despite numerous photos showing them partying together, including one of Trump and Melania with Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. Bill Clinton, for instance, acknowledged in his book that he had flown with Epstein repeatedly in the course of doing work for his foundation, while denying he’d ever visited the Island. Just like his prior statements will be scrutinized as new information is released, Trump’s should be too. But ultimately, we need a national reckoning over the failure to believe survivors like Maria Farmer, who came forward and spoke with the FBI almost 10 years before the Florida prosecution of Epstein. That’s a decade of abuse of girls that happened because we still, after all the country has been through, don’t believe women as witnesses in these cases. In any other sort of case—bank robbery, murder, fraud, take your pick—witnesses give testimony that agents run to the ground to determine if crimes have been committed. Yet in this most serious of cases, brave people who came forward to tell their stories were all too often bypassed.
It’s shocking that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke with convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, in an interview that can only be described as benefiting the president and following which she received special treatment in prison. In the meantime, some survivors have said they’ve had no contact with DOJ during this same timeframe.
Some of the key information in the most recent release includes the following:
The coconspirator email, which reveals that at one point, prosecutors and agents in the Southern District of New York believed there were 10 potential Epstein co-conspirators. Only three are named: Maxwell, Jean-Luc Brunel (the former French modeling agent, found dead in a Paris jail cell in 2022, was suspected of scouting victims for Epstein), and Leslie Wexner (billionaire businessman—Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie, among other companies). Seven are not named. We do not know why. They could also be victims whose names are being withheld. The email says they are receiving grand jury subpoenas, which could suggest they became cooperating witnesses in lieu of being charged. Since Epstein died in prison before his trial, it’s possible they got deals they never had to deliver on. The point of the Epstein Transparency Act was, well, transparency, on this and other issues. We still don’t have that.
Trump flew on Epstein’s jet at least eight times in the 1990s. That’s more than he has previously acknowledged. There is no indication he ever visited Epstein’s Island.
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After Epstein's 2019 death, prosecutors drafted a number of memos that have not been produced but that would clearly illuminate knowledge about the scope of Epstein and others’ criminality. An email says there is: a seven-page memo on co-conspirators who could potentially be charged; an updated coconspirator member of 86 pages written seven months later, which indicates additional investigation was pursued; a memo about possible corporate prosecutions (that could be banks or anyone else who aided and abetted Epstein) with the notation it was never discussed, presumably with higher ups at DOJ; and a “prosecution memo,” the document prosecutors draft when they are preparing to indict a case, referring to potential perjury charges. It’s worth noting that much of this happens during the Biden administration, and with Trump’s indelible effort to focus blame for Epstein on Democrats, it’s hard to imagine why he’d miss out on the opportunity to hang it on the Biden Justice Department, unless the documents themselves were highly damaging to others.
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There is, of course, much more. Case files include all of the information agents collect as well as 302s (reports of interview) from witnesses. Not all of it is reliable. Before prosecutors can offer any of it into evidence at trial, they would have to authenticate it. So, as people talk about sensational new information, be cautious.
An example of that is a supposed Epstein letter to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar. It seemed a little too convenient and appeared to be lacking information, like a prisoner number, that would have been needed for Epstein to place it in the prison mail system. I was hesitant about its legitimacy when it first surfaced, and now DOJ is claiming it is not authentic. We still don’t know the truth of the matter. The point is, with the utter chaos surrounding the release and DOJ’s mixed, and clearly conflicted, motivation for at least some of how it is being handled, this is a good moment for caveat emptor.
DOJ has come off as the gang that can’t shoot straight, releasing parts of the files and then taking them back down, then putting them back up. Some of the redactions were accomplished incompetently and can be pierced. And despite what’s been released, we still don’t know who, along with Epstein and Maxwell, was involved in abusing girls. The survivors deserve better.
The releases to date continue to raise more questions about Donald Trump and others than they answer. What did Donald Trump mean when he said he ended his relationship with Epstein because he was a “creep”? What was the true nature of their falling out? Americans, and especially survivors, deserve answers from the man who claims moral authority to lead our nation. The survivors have endured far too many half-truths, lies, and outright concealment. We’ve reached the moment where it’s no longer enough. There’s far too much sustained interest from across the country. The Trump administration “estimates it has about one week to go — and as many as 700,000 more pages to review — before it finishes releasing” all of the Epstein Files. It’s likely that if they do release, without improper withholding, which remains a key question here, what’s coming will be much worse—it’s being held for release during Christmas week, a time when news usually goes to die. But I don’t think that’s going to happen here.
The man who struggles to tell the truth, whether it’s about elections, inauguration crowd size, or his own physician exams, is finally in a moment where Americans are demanding it and won’t take no for an answer.
Stephen Miller called for the firing of CBS producers who objected to Bari Weiss pulling the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT prison. He said this, which resonates in this very different context of the Epstein Files: “Under President Trump, we are not going to let little girls get raped and murdered anymore,” Miller said. Agreed. That shouldn’t happen under any president.
Not everything Jeffrey Epstein got away with can or should be laid at Trump’s door. But Congress has passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and Trump’s DOJ is violating it, flagrantly. The cover-up, as we’ve learned, is frequently as important as and can be even worse than the crime. Here, it’s unforgivable, especially since Trump campaigned on releasing the Files. It’s time to release all of them and give survivors the comfort they are able to take from knowledge about what happened to them and who was responsible. It would also give Congress information on what went wrong, and the opportunity to enact new and better laws to prevent anything like this from happening again.
One survivor, who told law enforcement in 2009 that she had been both a victim of and a witness to Epstein’s crimes, was ignored at the time. She never came forward publicly. She was stunned to see her name made public in the initial release of documents and had to repeatedly contact DOJ to request its removal. She told CNN, “The reason I feel so passionate is it’s not just about me and what happened. I fear for the little girl who’s calling the FBI right now and asking for help,” Jane Doe said. “I am so afraid for her, because if I have to do all of this right now … I have no words. I just have no words. It hurts my heart. It haunts me to my core.”
My heart hurts for victims and survivors who have never received the justice they deserve. But Jane Doe is spot-on. A country that had begun to make progress in believing women is regressing. In this environment, it becomes more and more difficult for victims to come forward, which means that the people committing crimes against them are going to get away with it. Again.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
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