The DoJ did what they were supposed to. They actually did something right, for once. Mark your calendars for today, since it’s almost a sure bet that it won’t happen again. They really did it! Where’s the fainting couch? And who has the pearls? That’s about the feeling right now. (Please be advised that the complete news is much larger than this. I had to pick and choose.) With thanks to CNN:
The Epstein files were “published” today at about 4 pm. In September, the House Oversight Committee put out a tranche of records, including a collection of letters that included a note bearing President Donald Trump’s name that was part of a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. Blanche said earlier that the department will continue to release files in the coming weeks. “I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in, in all different forms — photographs and, and other materials associated with, with all of the investigations into, into Mr. Epstein,” Blanche told Fox News. He added: “Today, several hundred thousand and then over the next couple of weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”
119 pages are completely blacked out. Chuck Schumer is asking why those pages are completely redacted. We deserve to know, because really, what the hell? We *have* to keep up the pressure on the DoJ, Blondi, and Blanche. If we don’t, we’re not going to get any more of the “several hundred thousand” yet to go. We can bet it will take time to go through all of them released thus far. And we know Donnie’s name has been redacted from Every. Single. Page. We can also bet that several hundred thousand pages are going to take time. We ought to at least skim through them. What do you think?
A DOJ website hosting the documents has begun to make material available, and CNN is reviewing them now. The released materials included multiple pages and large data sets of information. “The law Congress passed and President Trump signed was clear as can be — the Trump administration had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some. Failing to do so is breaking the law. This just shows the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, and (Attorney General) Pam Bondi are hellbent on hiding the truth,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats are working closely with attorneys for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and with outside legal experts to assess what documents are being withheld and what is being covered up by Pam Bondi. We will not stop until the whole truth comes out,” he continued.
Gee, ya think? It was indeed for *all* of the files. And they *are* hiding things. We have to guess that the 1,000 FBI agents aren’t through with everything yet. Ha. We can be certain this is going to be explosive once someone gets through with them. Now *that* is worth waiting for! Here’s a bit more for you.
The congressional push forcing the Department of Justice to publicly release all of its investigative files into Jeffrey Epstein was the result of months of nasty infighting and a pressure campaign within the GOP. The White House is framing the Justice Department’s release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein as evidence of the administration’s transparency, while criticizing Democrats. Ultimately, more than 1,200 names were redacted, the Justice Department said. Any additional information that could result in those people’s identification, such as their images, was also redacted, according to the Justice Department.
WHAM. If the DoJ had just released them when they were supposed to have been this year, then they would not have had to get squashed under this law. Corruption runs amok, doesn’t it? And what could those FBI agents have been able to do if they hadn’t had to redact things for months? What a bunch of hooey this is. Stall, stall, stall. But then that’s normal for Trump’s cabinet. And now, it’s here we go again.
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I wouldn’t say they DOJ did what it was supposed to do. They did some, the bare minimum from what I gather from news coverage. First of all they released a bunch of documents but not all. Not even close. They day the next batch will be released “in a couple of weeks.” As lawyer/pundit Lisa Rubin put it there’s nothing in the legislation ordering the release about some ‘rolling release.’ It was clear – release it all today.
Then there’s the redactions which right off the bat raised eyebrows. Again, the legal pundits defined the limited redactions that were allowed under the new law about the release of these files but to a person say the amount of redacting is clearly WAY more than it needed to protect victim (or innocent people who cooperated and provided information). And the ongoing investigation aspect seems to them to be a hidey hol for DOJ to protect a lot of rich and powerful people they want to protect.
I agree we should be glad the DOJ put SOME of it out but clearly they are HIDING a lot and think they can get away with it.
Well, I was surprised they out out any of it. I was expecting stall tactics. Well, now we have a little bit, and *if* we can get some lackadaisical Congresspersons off there asses, we might be able to increase the pressure since the LAW said yesterday, *not* today. THE LAW. I wish we could get my favorite Judge Boasberg in on this. He’s not afraid to face the government and doesn’t put up with any bullshit.
Isn’t is better to transparently ‘lay all the cards out on the table’ for all to see, and then make assessment and judgements based on transparency, in contrast to subterfuge? It sure is, eh!
You know, it’s really a good thing that FBI agents are FEDERAL employees and, if I’m not mistaken, they CAN be compelled to appear before the Congress when required and testify about activities that do NOT affect “national security” issues or would seriously affect ongoing investigations (even in those situations, there’s always the “behind closed doors” sessions–much like what Congressional GOPers want of Jack Smith who has indicated there’s no reason for it).
So, perhaps it’s time for Reps Khanna and Massie to tell Bondi, Blanche and Patel they’d better unredact (deredact? dact?) the material or get ready to provide a list of those ~1000 agents they tasked with going through the files as well as a list of EVERYONE at the DOJ who had any contact with the files (no matter how tangential that contact was) and have them prepared to appear before Congress to testify on EXACTLY what they did and what they saw in order to determine what was and was not subject to redaction.