Trump complains about Epstein recordsdata distracting from his agenda as DOJ comes underneath hearth over restricted launch | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump has criticized the discharge of 1000’s of paperwork from instances in opposition to Jeffrey Epstein, warning they might “ruin the reputation” of high-profile figures who had been “innocently” photographed alongside the convicted intercourse offender and “deflect” from his administration’s accomplishments.

In his first public remarks for the reason that Department of Justice began to publish 1000’s of pictures and closely redacted supplies, the president mentioned the discharge of pictures of former President Bill Clinton and others photographed with Epstein is a “terrible thing.”

“You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago,” Trump mentioned from his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. “A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein, but they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin the reputation of somebody.”

Growing strain from members of Congress to launch the long-awaited recordsdata is merely an try and “deflect from the tremendous success” of the Republican Party and the Trump administration, and Republican lawmakers who assist the disclosures are “being used,” the president advised reporters.

The Justice Department failed launch the entire recordsdata associated to Epstein’s instances in its possession regardless of federal regulation — signed by Trump — requiring his administration to publicly disclose every little thing it has by final Friday, December 19.

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An preliminary spherical of long-awaited paperwork included an enormous library of salacious pictures and pictures of high-profile figures with Epstein, however they didn’t advance the general public’s understanding of the scope of his crimes and connections to an alleged intercourse trafficking ring accused of exploiting and abusing younger ladies.

There had been heavy redactions, together with dozens of pages of grand jury testimony and beforehand sealed courtroom filings that had been practically solely blacked out.

The first batch of recordsdata appeared to prominently characteristic pictures of former President Bill Clinton with Epstein and his affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell, which the White House instantly pounced on.

“I like Bill Clinton. I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I’ve been nice to him. He’s been nice to me. We’ve always gotten along. I respect him. I hate to see photos come out of him, but this is what the Democrats, mostly Democrats, and a couple of bad Republicans are asking for,” Trump mentioned Monday. “There’s even photos of me, too.”

Trump has continued to downplay his connections to Epstein regardless of a years-long relationship that fell aside within the 2000s. The president has not been accused of wrongdoing in reference to Epstein, and one’s inclusion within the paperwork doesn’t suggest in any other case.

A spokesperson for Clinton accused the administration of utilizing “selective releases to imply wrongdoing” and known as on the Justice Department to “immediately release any remaining materials” from the Epstein recordsdata “referring to, mentioning or containing a photograph of” the former president.

“Someone or something is protected,” Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña said Monday. “We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.”

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Hours after the initial release of documents, the Justice Department removed more than 20 files — including an image that showed a photograph of Trump with bikini-clad women was sitting in an open drawer.

Those images were later restored, but their removal only fueled outrage and demand for the full release of the files, with threats of legal action from members of Congress.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was scrambling to make necessary redactions to protect survivors.

“You’re talking about a million or so pages of documents — virtually all of them contain victim information,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday.

He said officials were not removing any mentions of Trump in the documents, more of which are expected to be rolled out over the coming weeks.

“We are not redacting information around President Trump,” Blanche said.

After the Justice Department restored the image of Trump taken from Epstein’s credenza, the agency said in a statement that “there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction.”

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Missing from the paperwork are financial institution data that might make clear the allegedly huge monetary engine supporting Epstein and his crimes, in addition to inner memos and different paperwork from prosecutors who investigated him and others.

The regulation requires the discharge of doubtless 1000’s of paperwork which are sometimes shielded from public view, together with grand jury testimony, settlements, investigative notes and inner data associated to Epstein and Maxwell.

It additionally requires the discharge of paperwork associated to Epstein’s jailhouse loss of life in 2019, which was dominated a suicide. Maxwell was convicted of intercourse trafficking in 2021 and is serving a 20-year jail sentence.

More than a dozen survivors of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s abuse have criticized the administration’s partial launch of the recordsdata, which had been “riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.”

“At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm,” they wrote Monday.

“While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible,” they wrote.

Members of Congress have prompt Attorney General Pam Bondi might be held in contempt for failing to launch paperwork on deadline.

Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, the Democratic and Republican lawmakers behind laws compelling the discharge, “are talking about and drafting that right now,” Khanna advised CBS Face the Nation Sunday.

“The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi,” Massie added.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can even introduce a decision subsequent month to “initiate legal actions” in opposition to the Trump administration for “illegally refusing to release the full complete files” and “heavily redacting” others, his workplace mentioned.