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There was a second this fall when it appeared like the general public may truly get some solutions—that the extent of the intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes is perhaps uncovered, and that his victims may see the accountability they’ve been ready for. On November 19, President Trump reluctantly signed the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act, which required the Justice Division to publish an enormous variety of its unclassified recordsdata associated to the late financier (and unrelated to ongoing investigations) inside 30 days.
However what truly arrived on December 19, the Friday earlier than Christmas, was a comparatively small (and sloppily redacted) tranche of recordsdata that raised way more questions than it answered. Practically a month later, not an entire lot has modified. Regardless of having revealed a second batch, the DOJ has nonetheless launched lower than 1 p.c of the thousands and thousands of paperwork now beneath assessment.
If the Justice Division has authentic causes for its delay, it hasn’t totally defined what they’re. In a letter yesterday, Legal professional Common Pam Bondi and different DOJ officers framed the issue as purely logistical, citing “inevitable glitches as a result of sheer quantity of supplies.” They famous that the division has put “over 5 hundred reviewers” on the mission, whilst they declined to make clear once they would launch extra recordsdata. Frank Figliuzzi, a former high-ranking FBI official who has dealt with nationwide investigations involving huge quantities of uncooked information, informed me he’s skeptical of that protection. Throughout his tenure, he defined, the bureau turned extremely digitized, bringing in all kinds of latest instruments to hurry up the method of redactions and disclosures. “If we’re led to imagine that human beings must undergo all of this, I’m not shopping for all of that,” he stated.
Authorized consultants and legislators keep that Bondi and her division are actually in clear violation of the legislation. Earlier this week, 19 of Epstein’s victims requested {that a} Justice Division watchdog assessment the company’s work, alleging that the redactions haven’t adequately hid survivors’ names and identifiers. Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who launched the Transparency Act as a bipartisan invoice, have instructed that Bondi be held in contempt for lacking the deadline. Different lawmakers have batted across the thought of impeaching her. However these strikes would require actual political willpower—thus far, neither of them has come to move.
In lieu of constant communication with Congress and the general public in regards to the delays, the Justice Division is offering a gradual drip of updates within the type of authorized memos and enigmatic new uploads to the prevailing database of Epstein recordsdata. The division has additionally equivocated in regards to the scope of its paperwork: Final February, shortly after being confirmed as legal professional common, Bondi declared that Epstein’s fabled “consumer record” was “sitting on my desk proper now”—however in July, the DOJ stated in a memo that no such consumer record ever existed. That very same memo claimed that the division had carried out an “exhaustive assessment” of the recordsdata—however earlier this month, Bondi informed a decide that “greater than 2 million paperwork” have been nonetheless in “numerous phases of assessment.”
My colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick, who covers the DOJ, defined to me that the Epstein case has been affected by a protracted record of points, omissions, and breaches of Justice Division coverage—a sample that has endured ever since Epstein turned a spotlight of federal legislation enforcement. Though the discharge of the recordsdata is purportedly about “transparency,” the Justice Division has been affected by a lack of public belief. Trump has used the company to examine and even prosecute his enemies, and its workers have left by the 1000’s since he took workplace. This broader transformation of the DOJ has solely compounded the communication points across the Epstein recordsdata, and exacerbated conspiracy theories. (The division didn’t reply to a request for remark.)
The Epstein saga has additionally not too long ago entered a brand new part of political infighting. This week, the GOP-led Home Oversight Committee known as on former President Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify about Epstein. They refused—and, in a assertion, accused Committee Chair James Comer of selectively implementing subpoenas. “The selections you have got made, and the priorities you have got set as chairman concerning the Epstein investigation, have prevented progress in discovering the information in regards to the authorities’s position,” they wrote. There may very well be a component of fact right here—Comer could also be utilizing the Clintons as a distraction from Trump’s connections to Epstein—however they, like Bondi, are usually not above the legislation, and their refusal to cooperate solely hampers the bigger course of.
Every new revelation in regards to the recordsdata appears to multiply the unknowns. The Transparency Act, which handed with overwhelming bipartisan assist, represents one path to accountability. If solely Congress had the need to implement it.
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Night Learn
Excessive January Was Sure to Occur
By Yasmin Tayag
Many People enthusiastically partake in Dry January, however it’s hardly ever pitched as enjoyable. After the vacation stretch of workplace events and household gatherings, People have come to make use of the beginning of yearly to abstain from alcohol within the identify of well being and auspicious beginnings. It’s a time of self-discipline, of cleaning, of embodying your temper board, even when it makes you a drag at events. And it’s also, as weed corporations have realized, a advertising and marketing alternative.
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