The US Department of Justice only releases a portion of the Epstein papers

BarcelonaThis Friday marked the deadline for the U.S. Department of Justice to release the stacks of documents related to the investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And it has complied, but only partially. The agency has only released some of the documents, even though the law required it to publish "all" of them.

Just a month ago, one Cornered Donald Trump gave the order to make public the documents linked to the convicted pedophile convicted of sex trafficking and child abuseIn a plot twist intended to turn the narrative against the Democrats, the Justice Department was given 30 days to release the documents. "We have nothing to hide, and it's time to put this Democratic deception behind us," he declared when urging congressional Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the papers. However, this supposed gesture of transparency was a trap. Since his second term in the White House, Trump has purged the Justice Department and turned it into a weapon against his political enemies. And since the responsibility for deciding which documents can be released and which must remain classified (to avoid, for example, disclosing information about victims or hindering federal investigations) rests with this agency, it seemed likely that the most compromising documents would not be made public. The released material, accessible through a website, includes a surprising number of photographs featuring former Democratic President Bill Clinton. In one image, the official appears in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell (Epstein's wife), and in a jacuzzi with another woman. A search bar allows users to navigate through four categories: court records, disclosures made by the Justice Department itself under the Freedom of Information Act, material released in response to Freedom of Information requests, and the records it released in September to the House Oversight Committee.

The Justice Department has included a privacy notice stating that it has made "every effort" to "review and redact personal information relating to victims and other private individuals," and to "protect sensitive materials from disclosure."

The same department had announced hours earlier on Friday that it would release "several hundred thousand documents" on the case that Friday "in different formats," but cautioned that the bulk of the material would be released over the next few weeks, when "hundreds of thousands more" would be published, the assistant attorney general confirmed to Fox News. "We want to make sure that when we produce the materials we produce, we protect all the victims," the attorney general argued.

The White House has touted the feat, which it believes demonstrates that the Trump administration "is the most transparent in history." "By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee's subpoena request, and recently asking President Trump to further investigate Epstein's Democratic friends, the Trump administration has done more for the victims than the Democrats ever have," the White House spokeswoman said.

Accusations of censorship

Democrats have interpreted this partial release as an attempt to conceal information. In this regard, they have accused Trump of trying to withhold some files from the case and criticize what they claim is a federal violation. "Donald Trump and the Justice Department are violating federal law as they continue to cover up the facts and evidence about Jeffrey Epstein's billion-dollar international sex trafficking ring," Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, the two ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Justice Committees, stated in a press release. Garcia and Raskin believe that hiding these documents poses a "challenge" to the House of Representatives, which voted in November to release all information related to the pedophile, and have pledged to pursue legal options. The pressure has also spread among Republican ranks. In a message on social media, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, formerly a staunch supporter of the president, reminded Trump of his obligations. "My God, what's in the Epstein files? Release all the files. It's literally the law that requires it."

President Trump's friendship with Epstein –which will be investigated in the published documents– has haunted the leader since his return to the White House and has managed to fragment his political base, which accuses him of covering up for political figures.