They are the files that America – and the world – has long waited to see: a huge cache of documents at the Department of Justice related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, whom a judge once dubbed the “most infamous pedophile in American history”.
After a law passed by Congress and signed by Trump on Wednesday, those documents must now must be released to the American public and a waiting army of journalists. Just like previous Epstein caches they are certain to include damning communications between Epstein and many rich and powerful people in his social circle.
Experts interviewed by the Guardian said that the documents are certain to contain fresh revelations about Epstein and his activities and could easily embarrass or damn prominent figures in the worlds of politics, academia, finance and entertainment, including Donald Trump and many others.
But at the same time, despite the legal mandate, experts warn that justice department officials could use loopholes to try to stymie a full release, using redactions or withholding crucial documents for a variety of reasons. They warned that even this release of documents could still leave many Epstein questions unanswered and would not provide a full accounting of his crimes or who he socialized and worked with.
Under the law signed on Wednesday, Trump’s justice department had 30 days to disclose all files related to Epstein, among them investigative documents into the disgraced financier’s death in jail pending his sex-trafficking trial. The much-awaited disclosure would come in the wake of congressional release of tens of thousands of pages provided by Epstein’s estate.
The law allows for redaction of information that could identify victims but bars authorities from redacting information – including names – solely out of concerns that it could embarrass them or harm their reputations, or listen to concerns about political sensitivity. Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, said her department would “follow the law and encourage maximum transparency”.
But members of Congress who heralded the law’s passage, plus Epstein victims and transparency advocates, have expressed concerns that these files will not be delivered entirely as required.
A provision allowing the justice department to withhold files that could jeopardize current investigations has raised eyebrows as Bondi – at Trump’s direction – has appointed a prosecutor in New York to investigate Bill Clinton, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and other political opponents’ with past associations with Epstein. Neither Clinton nor Hoffman have been accused of misconduct and both have publicly expressed regret for their association with Epstein.
Litigation by the news website Radar Online might be the most telling with regard to the investigation exception. In April 2017, Radar Online made a public records request for Epstein investigative files – about a decade after he pleaded guilty to state-level prostitution counts.
The FBI did not respond, and Radar sued in May 2017. While the agency said it would process files at a rate of 500 pages monthly, authorities have withheld some 10,000 of more than 11,000 pertinent pages – invoking the law-enforcement proceeding exemption.
“The bill allows material to be withheld if it’s connected to a law enforcement investigation, which is the same issue Radar is challenging in court,” a spokesperson for Radar Online told the Guardian. “Given the newly announced investigation the whole thing could be a dud. Our lawsuit is still the best chance of transparency.”
Roy Gutterman, director of the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University in New York, said it was difficult to predict what might be in these files.
“No matter what is released, even the thousands upon thousands of pages of records, data and information, there will always be questions of what else is out there or what may have been sanitized for political purposes,” Gutterman said. “Lots of people are talking about transparency, but unless someone finds the smoking gun they are looking for, human nature and pure skepticism will continue to raise questions about ‘what else has not been released’.”
And releasing the files is not a silver bullet for finding truth.
“There are ways you can release a lot of material and still not be transparent,” Gutterman said.
Spencer Kuvin, chief legal officer of GoldLaw and a lawyer for several Epstein victims, said the DoJ’s documents had more potential to reveal truth than Congress’s cache. He explained: “These documents will likely be photographs, surveillance videos, investigative memoranda and any other documents and interviews conducted in the underlying litigation.”
He expressed frustration and pointed to the investigation provision.
“The fact that the president made Congress go through this lengthy process is offensive, because he had the power to release these materials with the stroke of a pen,” Kuvin said. “Hopefully he does not further complicate matters by having his DoJ prevent access to all the records because of his threats of continuing investigations.”
Victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who was convicted of sex trafficking for luring teenage girls into his orbit, worry as well.
“That is a real fear that the victims have. These victims have repeatedly been frustrated by the failures of the state and federal government in this case over the last 20 years and it is all because the people involved were either rich or politically connected,” Kuvin said. “Unfortunately, rich and powerful people protect their own even if it means they may be guilty of sex trafficking and pedophelia.”
Jennifer Plotkin of Merson Law, which has represented 33 Epstein victims, also expressed wariness.
“While the release of documents may potentially increase transparency, it does little to address the government’s accountability to the many victims that have come forward in the lawsuit against the FBI. The government continues to fight against the sexual abuse survivors of Jeffrey Epstein,” Plotkin said. “The FBI failed to prosecute Epstein for decades and the victims still don’t understand why.”
Those who have expressed skepticism that Bondi will follow through have pointed to Trump and his administration’s waffling on Epstein matters, despite his campaign trail promise to release the files.
The justice department said in July that their probe of Epstein files “did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing” and that “this systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’”.
“We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” their statement also said.
The departmental memo conflicted with Epstein accusers’ accounts that others took part in his abuse. Trump’s supporters, many of whom are convinced that Epstein plotted with high-profile individuals to traffic minors, were outraged, as the president vowed to disclose documents.
Furor over the Epstein document stalemate proved an extensive political liability for Trump, as news reports and released documents showed that the president had a relationship with Epstein. Trump has denied wrongdoing and said their relationship soured.
“It’s not news that Epstein was a member of the Mar-a-Lago club, because it’s the same club Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of for being a creep,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at one point. “These stories are tired and pathetic attempts to distract from all the success of President Trump’s administration.”
In reversing course for supporting the bill, Trump said “we have nothing to hide” and that “it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’”.
Asked for comment about transparency concerns related to the ongoing investigation exception, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said: “Democrats and the media knew about Epstein’s victims for years, did nothing to help them, and Democrats even solicited donations from him AFTER he was a convicted sex offender. President Trump was calling for transparency and accountability, and is now delivering on it with thousands of pages of documents.”
Democrats have pointed out that Bondi and Trump are close in expressing concern about the documents release.
“This is Pam Bondi. She works for Trump. This is all a set-up. Trump fought to the end to resist release. He lost. Do I believe he’s had a real conversion? No,” Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said, per the Hill.
“He anticipated the outcome and then ordered Bondi to begin other investigations, so we’ll be seeing the Justice Department withholding information because it might interfere with ongoing investigations.
“The concealment will continue.”
