Fa-la-la-la-la, not going there
Today is the day. Or not. Today, Friday, December 19, is the legal deadline for the Department of Justice to release the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation files that Donald Trump pledged to release throughout his 2024 campaign and did not. Semafor suggests that if the DOJ is diligently at work on the release, “you wouldn’t know it by watching the White House.“
Following the letter of the law is not exactly muscle memory with this administration. So the question for the day is, will they? And if they do release the files, how many will they withhold and how redacted will be the documents they actually release?
Don’t expect anything before the close of business. Do expect that Team Trump has prepared workshopped excuses.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) anticipates excuses.
Politico’s Jacob Wendler notes that the legislation Trump signed last month orders the DOJ to declassify any covered files “to the maximum extent possible.” But it also includes no penalties for failure to meet the deadline. Wendler offers more observations on Epstein Friday:
The DOJ has provided scant details on how it intends to comply with the law, which specifies only that it must “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in its possession related to Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said last month that the Justice Department would “continue to follow the law with maximum transparency while protecting victims.”
[…]
It allows for the department to redact or withhold records that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution” but explicitly prohibits omissions “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.” The prohibition is an effort to prevent the Trump administration from withholding files that could provide further insight into Epstein’s relationship with the president, his allies and other powerful people.
Frustration mounts at the DOJ as it rushes to handle redactions (CNN):
A substantial number of redactions are needed, one of the sources said, and the documents each attorney is processing since Thanksgiving week can number more than 1,000 — a time-consuming task that likely will come down to the wire. The sensitivities of executive and legal privacy, victims’ protections and other concerns all could play in to the choices the lawyers must make when it comes to potential redactions.
Lawyers working on the Epstein files at the DOJ’s National Security Division also believe they aren’t getting clear or comprehensive direction on how to make the most information available under the law, several sources said.
Counterintelligence specialists were asked to drop nearly all of their other work to process the Epstein documents, two people said, but some lawyers declined to participate.
Expect more redactions than necessary as well as mistakes that may jeopardize sensitive personal information.
“Either they’re going to screw it up or they’re going to withhold things. It wouldn’t surprise me,” said one lawyer outside the Justice Department who is awaiting the release to determine whether there should be complaints made about how the redaction work was done. “Some of it may be incompetence as much as deliberate.”
Politico’s magazine side offers five rules for how to interpret the documents.
Rule #1: Don’t Read the Files. Resist the temptation to “pluck information — even something as simple as an email communication — from a large body of material and assume that you can fully understand it.” Instead, “trust serious reporters and media outlets with a track record of reporting deeply and responsibly on Epstein.” Don’t jump to conclusions and eagerly post them to social media. (Right, like that’s going to happen.)
Rule #2: Understand What Kind of Documents You Are Reading. “The documents likely to attract some of the closest attention are the FBI’s interview memos — known as 302s in law enforcement parlance — but you cannot simply presume that their contents are true.” Recognize your “factual sources, their biases and their limitations.”
Rule #3: Remember: Sleazy Behavior Isn’t Criminal. But if it’s salacious and draws clicks and likes, that will be enough for many. Ask Ken Starr.
Rule #4: Be Skeptical of the Early Releases. This one is perhaps the most important:
It’s critical to remember that there’s nothing that prevents the Trump DOJ from trying to manipulate the flow of information — for instance, by frontloading early releases with material that is particularly harmful to Trump’s political opposition.
The administration could also produce seemingly damaging information about people early on, only to release exculpatory material later in the process — after much of the damage will already have been done — and could selectively withhold material on the grounds that it would impede an ongoing investigation or harm national security.
As always, exculpatory information will appear on Page 6 weeks after front-page smears.
Rule #5: Ask Yourself: Where’s Trump? Expect as much Trump-related information as possible not to be in the releases. This takes us back to my comment about the Trump administration’s aversion to following the law:
Needless to say, we should not expect the Trump administration to prominently produce this information given their handling of all this to date — as well as Bondi’s own, over-the-top personal and political dedication to Trump. For all we know, they may never produce it — or at least not all of it. (Yes, the law mandates this disclosure, but there are plenty of laws that the Trump administration has simply decided to ignore.)
If material pertaining to Trump is not produced early, there is reason to believe that the Trump administration is engaged in a (continuing) cover-up of information that would be harmful to the president. That is reason alone to be cautious about jumping to conclusions about other political and media figures.
All this assumes that there is anything Epstein to read by the time tonight’s cable news shows air. Until then, Happy Epstein Files Friday for those who celebrate.
UPDATE: Say it ain’t so!
Happy Hollandaise everyone!