fall for that. Some people are that stupid, but I think most people will see through his BS.

For whatever reason the Epstein scandal has stuck to him (presumably because hatred of people who prey on children is pretty universal) in a way no other scandal has. None of the graft, none of the political incompetence, the E. Jean Carrol case, January 6th, etc. Presumably there's something he's implicated in even if I don't think there's some smoking gun of Trump abusing minors.

The purpose of an investigation is to determine whether or not to present a criminal case to a grand jury.

If the grand jury fails to indict, then release the Epstein files.

If the grand jury indicts, then Clinton, Summers, etc. have Discovery. THEY ask for the Epstein files.

If the investigation drags on, a credible argument can be made that there is nothing in the Epstein files showing any criminal malfeasance by Clinton, Summers, etc.

It's been confirmed the the Biden DOJ was doing an investigation of Epstein to decide who should be charged and for what. Trump's DOJ shut it down immediately - reversing 2 and a half centuries of precedent whereby a new administration's DOJ would continue and Finish work that was being done by the prior administration. There are a bunch of DOJ employees, some former, some probably still working for the DOJ, who where intimately involved in the investigation who know what's in the files and know who was likely to be charged with crimes. You can be sure that information will be leaked at some point if it isn't released willingly.

Should say release all of the files. No excuse then.

during the Biden administration. Ghislaine Maxwell had an appeal in the works that was only resolved in December of 2024 (she lost the appeal). And at that point Trump had won the election, and the DOJ was busy wrapping things up in the transition. Besides, the DOJ had an open investigation going against other names in the files which the Trump administration shut down as soon as he took office, as has been reported recently. So Trump’s about to blow their smart-ass talking point out of the water.

Not that it matters. No one’s going to talk about it except a few leftist podcasters.

All discussions I have heard talk about the type of challenges that have been brought against a congressional subpoena.

And yeah, there are all sorts of ways such subpoenas have been challenged that have delayed release, or even thwarted the release of some portion of the subpoenaed documents.

But this is NOT that.

This is a bill -- the Epstein Files Transparency Act -- that requires Bondi to publish all unclassified records in a searchable and downloadable format. Specifically, House (H.R.4405) and Senate (S.2557).

I'm not a lawyer, but this strikes me as legally quite different from a congressional subpoena.

Yeah, sure, the WH would likely take a shot at invoking executive privilege of some sort -- that national security and the functioning of government demands that certain documents not be released -- but how would that fly in this situation?

If it were treated the same as a congressional subpoena, there is still a VERY high threshold. Simply claiming "ongoing investigation" would be shot down instantly, unless there was:

1) A showing of evidence of a crime that triggered the investigation.

2) A showing of how the release of the documents would compromise the investigation.

So, if this were are congressional subpoena, yeah, we could expect DOJ litigation over the above.

But this is NOT a subpoena. It is a BILL.

Perhaps there there are obvious implications to lawyers based on some previous example of a bill like this, But, I haven't heard ANY discussion of any previous bills that were similar, much less any discussion of the sorts of challenges brought against those bills and how those might differ from challenges to a congressional subpoena.

If there are discussions that just haven't been on my radar, I would love a pointer!

If the bill passes and becomes law, I'm pretty sure they can't use a departmental RULE or GUIDELINE (explicitly NOT a law) to avoid having to release the files. The law would REQUIRE the files to be released and there are no exceptions written into the law, so no way can a rule or guideline stop the law from being enforced.

One way or the other, I have little doubt there will be some twists and turns as this plays out.

fucking surprise

Don't know why they continue to play his fucking games, like anything he fucking says has any connection to reality.

He'd love to release the Epstein files, but they're under audit. We'll see those files as soon as we see his fucking tax returns.

The media will report why he "says" the files can't be released, then they'll move on to something else, like who is Kim Kardashian dating, or who got the stupid rose from the Golden Bachelor?

In case it is not already clear, that maneuver would be an obvious confession.

Even this supine Congress may be willing to impeach and convict the SOB. Can you imagine victims, under oath, testifying in a Senate trial? Or how about FBI agents testifying about what they saw (I mean saw, not read) while reviewing the files?

Is it really that far fetched? Clearly the tide is turning against Trump on all fronts.