What a lucky guy
Donald Trump is a private citizen? Jason Leopold, Bloomberg’s FOIA guy says that’s what the government has determined, at least when it comes to the crimes he committed before he was president:
We know from news reports that Trump’s name was in the Epstein files. But what hasn’t been reported is that an FBI FOIA team redacted Trump’s name—and the names of other prominent public figures—from the documents, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak with the media.
That team, tasked with conducting a final review of the voluminous cache, had applied the redactions before the DOJ and the FBI concluded last month that “no further disclosure” of the files “would be appropriate or warranted.”
From the government’s perspective, Trump was a private citizen when the Epstein investigation took place and therefore is entitled to privacy protections.
[…]
While reviewing the Epstein files, FBI personnel identified numerous references to Trump in the documents, the people familiar with the matter told me. Dozens of other high-profile public figures also appeared, the people said. (The appearance of Trump’s name or others in the Epstein files is not evidence of a crime or even a suggestion of wrongdoing.)
In preparation for potential public release, the documents then went to a unit of FOIA officers who applied redactions in accordance with the nine exemptions. The people familiar with the matter said that Trump’s name, along with other high-profile individuals, was blacked out because he was a private citizen when the federal investigation of Epstein was launched in 2006.
In particular, the reviewers applied two FOIA exemptions to justify their redactions. The first, Exemption 6, protects individuals against “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” The Supreme Court has said the exemption protects “individuals from the injury and embarrassment” that would result from the disclosure of personal information in possession of the government.
The second, Exemption 7(C), protects personal information contained in law enforcement records, the disclosure of which “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Leopold doesn’t think we’ll see the unredacted Epstein files any time soon:
Here’s the bottom line: The FBI’s behind-the-scenes decision-making suggests that the chances of aliens resurrecting JFK are greater than Trump’s name ever being unredacted from the Epstein files.
Of course, Trump could agree to let his name out or sign a privacy waiver. Or, when he—and everybody else named in the files—eventually dies, most of their privacy rights will disappear.
I can’t wait. For many reasons…
BY the way, if you missed this Guardian expose from 2020 about Trump’s escapades with his modeling agency in the early 90s (about the time he started hanging out with Epstein) take the time to read it. It’s obvious that he was trolling for teenagers in his 40s. Plenty of the models had complaints. It seems very likely that he was running a similar scam as Epstein’s, holding out the promise of a big career in return for sex.
They were very young…