BREAKING: Trump's DOJ REFUSING to Release Court-Ordered Epstein Files
The deadline was yesterday, July 2nd. The files still have not been released.
Congress passed a law requiring the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files. Trump signed it. Then his Justice Department redacted huge portions of what it released, withheld millions of additional pages, and missed its own deadlines.
Now a federal judge has stepped in. And still, the Trump regime is directly refusing to release the files.
There’s only 1 reason why you wouldn’t release the files. And we know what it is.
What the Judge Ordered
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with an independent journalist who sued over the withheld materials, concluding that the Trump administration likely violated the terms of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The Department of Justice has until July 2 to either turn over the documents with less redactions or explain why the redactions should not be removed.
Judge Sullivan also ordered the DOJ to publish a full log detailing every redaction it has made.
That is not a request. That is a court order. And the Trump regime is violating it.
What They’ve Been Hiding
The redactions are not random. The specific materials Judge Sullivan ordered released tell a story about what the DOJ has been protecting.
Among the documents included in the ruling, Judge Sullivan ordered the DOJ to hand over the underlying notes from the FBI’s interview with a woman who accused President Donald Trump of assault. Those claims were uncorroborated, and Trump has denied the allegations. The DOJ released the interview reports from some of those interviews but not the underlying notes.
The Trump administration was also ordered to reveal the sender and recipients of a series of emails referencing the recruiting of young women. One email sent to Epstein in 2015 read: “The key are the 14 to 15 year old girls -- i am a sexual pervert because i say they are now of a reproductive age? My heart goes out to you brother ... being called a sexual pervert is no fun.” Another, sent in 2017, read: “She is like Lolita from Nabokov, femme miniature :) So now I should send you her type of candidates only.”
The DOJ has been sitting on the identities of who sent those emails. A judge has now ordered them to stop.
Trump Signed the Transparency Law. Then His DOJ Violated It.
The DOJ began releasing thousands of pages of documents related to Epstein late last year, following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But the department faced criticism from lawmakers who questioned whether it had violated the act by withholding materials and missing release deadlines. Democratic lawmakers also criticized what they called “completely unnecessary redactions” in some of the files.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has stated repeatedly that the DOJ complied with the law, even as he acknowledged that the department continues to withhold millions of additional pages he says are not relevant to the law’s demands, either because they are duplicates or contain explicit material.
Millions of pages. Still withheld. By the same administration that signed the transparency law.
The DOJ’s Own Watchdog Is Now Investigating
In April, the DOJ’s internal watchdog announced it was launching an audit into the department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The department’s inspector general is now auditing whether the department that is supposed to enforce the law is actually following it. That is where things stand.
What the Attorneys Fighting for Disclosure Said
The Public Integrity Project, the public interest law firm that brought the case, said the ruling will ensure “the public will finally get transparency around Jeffrey Epstein and his network.” Attorney Brendan Ballou put it plainly: “The government ignored a law passed by Congress and then refused to defend its own conduct in court, all for the sake of protecting the rich and powerful.”
Protecting the rich and powerful. That is what the Trump DOJ’s own opposing counsel said in open court. The judge agreed with them.
What This Means
Congress passed a law. Trump signed it. His DOJ ignored it. A journalist sued. A federal judge ruled that the journalist was right and ordered the DOJ to comply by July 2.
The files they have been sitting on include the names of people who sent emails about recruiting 14 and 15-year-old girls to Jeffrey Epstein. They include the underlying FBI interview notes from a woman who accused Trump of assault. They include a draft indictment with the names of co-conspirators that has never been made public.
The deadline is July 2. The public is watching.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration signed a transparency law and then violated it. A federal judge has now ordered them to either release the unredacted Epstein files or explain in court why they should not have to.
The government’s own attorney said the quiet part out loud: they withheld these files to protect the rich and powerful.
Who those powerful people are is exactly what the documents are supposed to tell us.