The Trump administration is seeking to keep damaging information in the Epstein files from reaching the public, according to former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
During an interview this week on Substack with journalist Tommy Christopher, Biden said he had “no insider information whatsoever” to support his theory, but believed it was “silly” to think the administration wasn’t running political cover of some kind.
“The simplest explanation in this instance seems to be, whether its about him or whether its people that he is protecting, is that they’re clearly not releasing what they’re not releasing to protect someone,” Biden said when asked about the administration’s reticence to release more materials related to the late sex criminal and former Trump friend.
“All of his supporters have gone from calling it the biggest cover-up in the history of the world to a Democratic hoax!” he added elsewhere in the interview.
President Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing associated with Epstein and has said the two former friends later ceased contact.
The saga around Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial, has simmered throughout the Trump administration.
On the campaign trail and then in the White House, Trump figures said repeatedly they would conduct major releases of Epstein-related files. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi went so far as to say Epstein’s alleged client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Since then, the pace of information has angered both Republicans and Democratic critics of the administration alike, especially following a July memo from the FBI and Justice Department that concluded there was in fact no “client list” and further Epstein-related disclosures and investigations were not warranted.
In response to a congressional investigation, the Justice Department has released some files, including mostly public information, and the Epstein estate turned over an unredacted version of the financier’s infamous “birthday book,” which contains a sexually suggestive letter Trump allegedly sent him in 2003. (The president has claimed the letter is a fake.)
A bipartisan group of representatives in the House is attempting to force a vote on requiring further disclosures, but that effort has been paused by the ongoing government shutdown.
Democrats in the House have accused the DOJ of “continued disregard” of subpoenas related to the probe.
Outside of the slow pace of releases, critics have taken issue with other irregularities around the government’s handling of the Epstein scandal, including Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s unexpected transfer to a low-security Texas prison weeks after she was interviewed by a top DOJ official.
Trump officials have defended their handling of the Epstein files.
FBI Director Kash Patel last month testified that court orders and a past federal plea deal between prosecutors and Epstein were in part stopping officials from releasing more information.
“I’m not going to break the law to satisfy your curiosity,” Patel told lawmakers.
