(Washington) The Trump administration continued on Saturday to publish documents, many of them redacted, on the Epstein affair, the entire file not having been made public the day before as required by law, which sparked criticism from the opposition as well as from some conservatives.
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“The American Department of Justice continues to cover up influential men who assaulted or raped young girls or who participated in parties where these young girls were exhibited and mistreated,” accused Democratic elected official Ro Khanna, very involved in this issue, on Saturday on X.
With Republican elected official Thomas Massie, a former ally of Donald Trump who has also been very critical, he was at the origin of the law requiring the publication of these thousands of photos, videos and texts resulting from the investigation into this financier and sex criminal known for his links with prominent personalities, such as Donald Trump.
Among the approximately 4,000 files revealed on Friday, the deadline set by law for their publication, several photos show Jeffrey Epstein in the company of superstars such as Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger or even former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PHOTO, PROVIDED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton
Faces were nevertheless obscured, as well as large passages in documents, including a list of 254 “masseuses” with redacted names, or even 119 pages of a legal document from a New York court, crossed out without explanation.
PHOTO JONATHAN ERNST, REUTERS
Entire pages are redacted.
New documents were published on Saturday, according to several American media.
“Where is the transparency? »
A figure of the New York jet set of the 1990s, Mr. Epstein is accused of having sexually exploited more than a thousand young women, including minors, and died in prison in 2019 before being able to be tried for sex crimes.
His death, attributed to suicide by authorities, fueled countless conspiracy theories that he was murdered to prevent him from implicating high-profile figures.
The affair, with worldwide repercussions, has splashed several celebrities close to the financier, including Andrew, the brother of King Charles III, incriminated by one of the victims, but who proclaims his innocence.
The publication of the files held by the American justice system was demanded in particular by victims and members of Donald Trump’s “MAGA” base, obsessed by this scandal. Several of them expressed their disappointment.
“If everything is censored, where is the transparency? », deplored Marijke Chartouni, victim of the financier, to the New York Timeswhile another of these women, Jess Michaels, regretted that “the cover-up continues”.
Radical right elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former ally of Donald Trump who has been asking him for months to show transparency in this matter, accused on X the government of seeking to “protect “politically exposed people”” by redacting the published documents.
Faced with criticism, the number two of the Justice Department, Todd Blanche, assured that “we do not redact the names of people or political leaders, unless they are victims”.
Clinton in a jacuzzi
Questioned by the press on Friday, Donald Trump, whose name appeared little in the files initially published, made no comment.
But those around him immediately seized on a photo showing former Democratic President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), whose proximity to Mr. Esptein was already known, in what appears to be a jacuzzi, an image partly obscured by a black rectangle.
Bill Clinton “knew nothing and broke off all contact with Epstein before his crimes were revealed,” a spokesperson assured in a statement.
Formerly close to Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he moved in the same circles, Donald Trump has always denied having any knowledge of his criminal behavior and claims to have broken up with him before he was brought to justice.
While he said during his campaign in 2024 that he was in favor of publishing documents held by the government, he then balked at doing so for a long time, describing the affair as a “hoax” exploited by the Democrats.
But the Republican president ended up giving in to pressure from Congress and promulgated a law in November imposing this transparency effort on his government.
