release

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Special counsel Jack Smith is requesting that the full video of his deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on his investigations into President Donald Trump be released to the public.

Smith’s attorneys sent a letter to committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday asking that his closed-door deposition be released. During the deposition, Smith defended his decision to file charges against Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.

“Mr. Smith respectfully requests the prompt public release of the full videotape of his deposition. Doing so will ensure that the American people can hear the facts directly from Mr. Smith, rather than through second-hand accounts,” wrote Lanny A. Breuer and Peter Koski, Smith’s lawyers, in the letter.

“We also reiterate our request for an open and public hearing. During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed all legal requirements, and took actions based on the facts and the law. He stands by his decisions,” the letter said.

“I was there. There is no reason not to release the video and transcript,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in reply to a CBS News reporter’s post about the letter on X, The Hill reported. “If @Jim_Jordan refused Jack Smith’s request for a public hearing – like every other Special Counsel – because he allegedly wanted to avoid the 5-minute rule, he got that.”

Jordan has said he had not ruled out public testimony.

Smith’s opening remarks were published by The Hill.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said.

“Our investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place.

“He then repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents,” he said.

Smith said during his testimony that he’d do it again with the same facts.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told The Hill on the day of Smith’s testimony that he wouldn’t be against public testimony.

“I do think that we’re dealing with unprecedented events here, so it’s entirely appropriate. And I think people on both sides, maybe for different reasons, think that what happened here bears scrutiny,” Kiley said.

US Justice Department says it requires weeks to process newly found Epstein-related files under transparency and court rules.

More than a million additional documents that are potentially related to late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein have been uncovered, according to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a social media post on Wednesday, the DOJ said it is reviewing the documents and will need “a few more weeks” before proceeding with a congressionally mandated release of the information.

“The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have informed the Department of Justice that they have uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,” the DOJ said in a statement, adding that more time is needed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell.

The DOJ insisted in its statement that its lawyers are “working around the clock” to review those documents and make the redactions required under the law, passed nearly unanimously by Congress.

“Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President [Donald] Trump’s direction to release the files,” the DOJ said.

Full disclosure

A dozen US senators are calling on the Justice Department’s watchdog to examine the department’s failure to release all records pertaining to Epstein by Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline, saying victims “deserve full disclosure” and the “peace of mind” of an independent audit.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a member of Trump’s Republican Party, joined 11 Democrats in signing a letter on Wednesday urging Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume to audit the Justice Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

“Given the [Trump] Administration’s historic hostility to releasing the files, politicisation of the Epstein case more broadly, and failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a neutral assessment of its compliance with the statutory disclosure requirements is essential,” the senators wrote.

Full transparency, they said, “is essential in identifying members of our society who enabled and participated in Epstein’s crimes”.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the transparency act, posted on Wednesday on X: “DOJ did break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing the deadline.”

Despite the deadline, the Justice Department has said it plans to release records on a rolling basis. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information.

More batches of records were released over the weekend and on Tuesday. The department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.

“The reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply to protect victims,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told the NBC television network’s Meet the Press programme on Sunday.

“So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don’t want us to protect victims,” he argued.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla Model 3 sedans, which might have a deadly flaw in the emergency door release mechanism.

The NHTSA investigation covers about 180,000 Model 3 sedans and is in reaction to recent media reports and a defect petition that suggest the occupants of the Tesla sedans and first responders had trouble using the emergency door release mechanisms after a crash, Electrek reported.

The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation’s probe into the matter applies to the 2022 model year Tesla Model 3 sedans and their electronic door handles.

“The petition cites that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled and not intuitive to locate during an emergency,” the ODI said.

The problem might have contributed to several deaths in fatal crashes, according to media reports.

The front manual emergency door release latch is located ahead of the window switches, which many passengers accidentally pull instead of using the door-opening button, which could damage the door window.

The rear doors are more complicated to open, which makes it important for Model 3 owners to learn how to use the emergency door mechanisms and to explain how to their passengers.

Instructions are included in the owner’s manual. A Tesla dealership can show owners how to use the mechanisms and afterward show their passengers how to use them in an emergency and to prevent damaging windows via accidental deployments.

Those who are unsure of whether their Tesla Model 3 sedan is subject to the investigation can do a search on the NHTSA recall page by entering their respective state and license plate number or the vehicle identification number or year, make and model.

The results will reveal if the vehicle is subject to a recall in this matter or any other.

WASHINGTON — A dozen U.S. senators are calling on the Justice Department’s watchdog to examine the department’s failure to release all records pertaining to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline, saying victims “deserve full disclosure” and the “peace of mind” of an independent audit.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined 11 Democrats in signing a letter Wednesday urging Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume to audit the Justice Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Given the [Trump] Administration’s historic hostility to releasing the files, politicization of the Epstein case more broadly, and failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a neutral assessment of its compliance with the statutory disclosure requirements is essential,” the senators wrote. Full transparency, they said, “is essential in identifying members of our society who enabled and participated in Epstein’s crimes.”

Murkowski and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led the letter-writing group. Others included Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Adam Schiff of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois, both Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, Gary Peters of Michigan, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a co-sponsor of the transparency act, posted Wednesday on X: “DOJ did break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing the deadline.”

Despite the deadline, the Justice Department has said it plans to release records on a rolling basis. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information. More batches of records were posted over the weekend and on Tuesday. The department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.

“The reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that to protect victims,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don’t want us to protect victims.”

Records that have been released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context. Records that hadn’t been seen before include transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who described being paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.

Other records made public in recent days include a note from a federal prosecutor from January 2020 that said Trump had flown on the financier’s private plane more often than had been previously known and emails between Maxwell and someone who signs off with the initial “A.” They contain other references that suggest the writer was Britain’s former Prince Andrew. In one, “A” writes: “How’s LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”

The senators’ call Wednesday for an inspector general audit comes days after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the Justice Department to comply with the disclosure and deadline requirements. In a statement, he called the staggered, heavily redacted release “a blatant cover-up.”

Sisak writes for the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — The Senate’s top Democrat urged his colleagues Monday to take legal action over the Justice Department’s incremental and heavily redacted release of records pertaining to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the Justice Department to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that required disclosure of records by last Friday.

“Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “This is a blatant cover-up.”

In lieu of Republican support, Schumer’s resolution is largely symbolic. The Senate is off until Jan. 5, more than two weeks after the deadline. Even then, the resolution will likely face an uphill battle for passage. But it allows Democrats to continue a pressure campaign for disclosure that Republicans had hoped to put behind them.

The Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis by the end of the year. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring victims’ names and other identifying information. So far, the department hasn’t given any notice when new records arrive.

That approach angered some accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act. Records that were released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.

There were few revelations in the tens of thousands of pages of records that have been released so far. Some of the most eagerly awaited records, such as FBI victim interviews and internal memos shedding light on charging decisions, weren’t there.

Nor were there any mentions of some powerful figures who’ve been in Epstein’s orbit, like Britain’s former Prince Andrew.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department’s decision to release just a fraction of the files by the deadline as necessary to protect survivors of sexual abuse by the disgraced financier.

Blanche pledged that the Trump administration would meet its obligation required by law. But he stressed that the department was obligated to act with caution as it goes about making public thousands of documents that can include sensitive information.

Blanche, the Justice Department’s second-in-command, also defended its decision to remove several files related to the case from its public webpage, including a photograph showing Donald Trump, less than a day after they were posted.

The missing files, which were available Friday but no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one of a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Blanche said the documents were removed because they also showed victims of Epstein. Blanche said the Trump photo and the other documents will be reposted once redactions are made to protect survivors.

“We are not redacting information around President Trump, around any other individual involved with Mr. Epstein, and that narrative, which is not based on fact at all, is completely false,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Blanche said Trump, a Republican, has labeled the Epstein matter “a hoax” because “there’s this narrative out there that the Department of Justice is hiding and protecting information about him, which is completely false.”

“The Epstein files existed for years and years and years and you did not hear a peep out of a single Democrat for the past four years and yet … lo and behold, all of a sudden, out of the blue, Senator Schumer suddenly cares about the Epstein files,” Blanche said. “That’s the hoax.”

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

Imax is having a moment. More than 50 years after debuting at the 1970 Osaka world’s fair with the 17-minute experimental film “Tiger Child,” the format has become the ascendant king of spectacle. Today, Imax counts 1,829 screens in 89 countries — just 1% of theaters — yet makes up an increasingly vital part of the theatrical box office, with 50% market share growth since 2018 and an estimated $1.2-billion take in 2025. And the company shows no signs of slowing down.

“As long as there are filmmakers who are fans as well as studios who are fans, we’re going to make a difference,” says Chief Executive Richard Gelfond, who acquired the company in 1994 with business partner Bradley Wechsler.

Breaking into mainstream Hollywood didn’t come easy. For decades Imax films were largely documentaries, often about space exploration, nature or discoveries, with systems installed in museums and science centers. The flash point came in 2008 with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” which featured 28 minutes filmed with Imax 70mm cameras. Film buff and industry content creator Lizzy Gonzalez vividly remembers when the Joker (Heath Ledger) unmasks himself during the chaotic bank heist. “It was my earliest Imax experience, and my jaw dropped in awe,” she says. Ever since, she’s been hooked, admitting the premium format is “the only legit movie experience that immerses you in the story.”

Directors are now leaning in, with the “Filmed for Imax” (FFI) lineup expanding to 14 titles in 2025 — doubling last year’s total. The program lets filmmakers shoot with Imax cameras or other approved cameras and provides additional production support, such as a longer window with the equipment and more publicity during release. “In previous years, Imax used to do about 10% of the box office in North America, but [with] FFI movies we’ve averaged about 15%. It means more dollars to whoever makes them and more profit to the studio,” says Gelfond.

Regina Hall in “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Not all movies exhibited in Imax formats are shot under the FFI banner — indeed, from James Cameron’s original “Avatar” to Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the majority of Imax releases are instead enhanced using digital media remastering. But movies that take advantage of FFI, including “Sinners,” “Superman” and “F1,” are seeing box-office benefits and a palpable moviegoing experience.

“Today’s audiences are searching for an emotional connection; they want to feel something, to step inside the filmmaker’s vision. That’s exactly what we wanted to give them by shooting in 65mm Imax,” says “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who was the first woman to shoot in the format. “When you sit in a dark theater and take in a full 1.43:1, 15-perf Imax image, it fills your field of view, and you finally understand what cinema can be.”

Claudio Miranda, the cinematographer behind Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and “F1,” agrees. “For me, Imax is all about immersion. It brings audiences more into the movie than any other format, surrounding them from the north, south, east and west with the film, which is needed for a story of the size and scope of ‘F1.’ Joe and I operate under the shared understanding that audiences react more viscerally to a film that’s been shot authentically, and they can feel it in their bones if it’s not. So we gravitate towards telling immersive, human stories.”

Imax is improving technical capabilities too, including a new Imax 70mm film camera system nicknamed “The Keighley” in honor of late Chief Quality Officer David Keighley, who oversaw hundreds of Imax projects. Its most significant improvement is reduced noise. The previous model was bulky, heavy and notoriously loud. Thanks to the quieter design, Nolan’s “The Odyssey” will become the first theatrical movie shot entirely on Imax film cameras, something he couldn’t achieve on “Oppenheimer” due to sound issues.

“Brad Pitt” in “F1.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic has already caused a stir, as most Imax tickets sold out a year before its release next July. Imax superfan Shane Short, who saw “Oppenheimer” 132 times and once sat next to Arkapaw during a screening of “Sinners,” says it’s a good thing. “What really pulls me into movies is the emotional aspect when connecting with something. For me, it’s hard to get that in a normal theater. Imax is truly the ultimate immersive experience that draws me in.”

Of course, Imax is not the only big-screen game in town. There’s AMC Prime, Cinemark XD, Regal RPX, Dolby Cinema, Real3D and 4DX, to name a few. All share one thing in common: an extra premium for a ticket. “The upcharges for a lot of people are worth it,” says Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “When you go into Imax or other premium formats, it’s really about the sound and vision coming together. And for the right movie, the right screen, fans who don’t go to the movies every day are going to splurge.”

How much that will cost audiences going forward is left up to theaters. “By way of our agreement, it’s not our place to get involved,” says Gelfond about pricing. “We believe there could be more elasticity if it’s a big release, but again, it’s up to the exhibitor.” Any indication of a price squeeze on consumers will likely surface in the next two years with the forthcoming “Project Hail Mary,” “Supergirl,” “The Batman: Part Two” and “Dune: Part Three,” for which director Denis Villeneuve shot scenes using the new Imax 70mm cameras.

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Victims of Jeffrey Epstein have criticised the United States government after it released a partial trove of documents from cases against the late convicted sex offender with heavily redacted pages and blacked-out photos.

The growing outcry on Saturday came as US media reported that at least 16 files from the tranche, which were published online, had disappeared from the public webpage.

The deleted files included a photograph showing President Donald Trump.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) began releasing the trove on Friday to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November that ⁠mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed.

It said it plans to release more records on a rolling basis, blaming the delay on what it said was a time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information.

But the tens of thousands of pages made public offered little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years. They also omitted some of the most closely watched materials, including FBI interviews with victims and internal DOJ memos on charging decisions.

Meanwhile, a 119-page document titled “Grand Jury-NY”, likely from one of the federal sex trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019, was entirely blacked out.

One of Epstein’s victims, Marina Lacerda, reacted angrily to the large number of redactions and unreleased documents.

“All of us are infuriated by this,” she told the news outlet MS NOW on Saturday. “It’s another slap in the face. We expected way more.”

Lacerda, who said Epstein abused her when she was 14 years of age, was a crucial witness in the 2019 investigation that led to the filing of sex trafficking charges against the late financier.

Epstein killed himself in jail that year shortly after his arrest.

Lacerda told The New York Times in a separate interview that she felt let down.

“So many of the photos are irrelevant,” she said.

Another survivor, Jess Michaels, told the news outlet CNN that she spent hours searching through the released files for her victim’s statement and records of her call to an FBI tipline, but found neither.

“I can’t find any of those,” she said. “Is this the best that the government can do? Even an act of Congress isn’t getting us justice.”

Marijke Chartouni, who said she was abused by Epstein when she was 20 years old, decried a lack of openness.

“If everything is redacted, where is the transparency?” she said on Friday in an interview with The New York Times.

Some lawmakers also expressed frustration.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who helped spearhead the legislative push, accused the White House of failing to comply “with both the spirit and the letter of the law that Donald Trump signed just 30 days ago” in a social media post on Friday.

That law required the government’s case file to be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, the unexplained 16 missing files led to speculation online about what was taken down and why the public was not notified, compounding longstanding intrigue about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo in a post on X, writing: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”

“If they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide,” said senior Democrat Chuck Schumer. “This could be one of the biggest cover-ups in American history.”

The Trump administration, however, denied that it was not being forthcoming with the released materials. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a TV interview with ABC that there was no attempt “to hold anything back” to protect Trump.

The DOJ also issued a statement on X late on Saturday. “Photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information,” it said.

Separately, celebrities who appeared in photos made available as part of Friday’s release include former President Bill Clinton, late news anchor Walter Cronkite, singers Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, British entrepreneur Richard Branson and the ⁠former Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey.

Many of the photos were undated and provided without context, and none of those figures has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor also appears in one photo lying across the laps of several women. The former duke of York, who was stripped of his royal title over his ties to Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing.

Notably missing were references to Trump himself, despite his frequent inclusion in previous releases of Epstein-related documents. Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s and had a falling out before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.

Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.

Amid the outcry, the DOJ sought to draw attention to Clinton, with two agency spokespeople posting on social media images that they said showed him with Epstein victims.

Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said in a statement that the White House was attempting to “shield themselves” from scrutiny by focusing on the former president.

“They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they ‌want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” he wrote.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers unhappy with Justice Department decisions to heavily redact or withhold documents from a legally mandated release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein threatened Saturday to launch impeachment proceedings against those responsible, including Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general.

Democrats and Republicans alike criticized the omissions, while Democrats also accused the Justice Department of intentionally scrubbing the release of at least one image of President Trump, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggesting it could portend “one of the biggest coverups in American history.”

Trump administration officials have said the release fully complied with the law, and that its redactions were crafted only to protect victims of Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender accused of abusing hundreds of women and girls before his death in 2019.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), an author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of the investigative trove, blasted Bondi in a social media video, accusing her of denying the existence of many of the records for months, only to push out “an incomplete release with too many redactions” in response to — and in violation of — the new law.

Khanna said he and the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), were “exploring all options” for responding and forcing more disclosures, including by pursuing “the impeachment of people at Justice,” asking courts to hold officials blocking the release in contempt, and “referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice.”

“We will work with the survivors to demand the full release of these files,” Khanna said.

He later added in a CNN interview that he and Massie were drafting articles of impeachment against Bondi, though they had not decided whether to bring them forward.

Massie, in his own social media post, said Khanna was correct in rejecting the Friday release as insufficient, saying it “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

The lawmakers’ view that the Justice Department’s document dump failed to comply with the law echoed similar complaints across the political spectrum Saturday, as the full scope of redactions and other withholdings came into focus.

The frustration had already sharply escalated late Friday, after Fox News Digital reported that the names and identifiers of not just victims but of “politically exposed individuals and government officials” had been redacted from the records — which would violate the law, and which Justice Department officials denied.

Among the critics was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who cited the Fox reporting in an exasperated post late Friday to X.

“The whole point was NOT to protect the ‘politically exposed individuals and government officials.’ That’s exactly what MAGA has always wanted, that’s what drain the swamp actually means. It means expose them all, the rich powerful elites who are corrupt and commit crimes, NOT redact their names and protect them,” Greene wrote.

Senior Justice Department officials later called in to Fox News to dispute the report. But the removal of a file published in the Friday evening release, capturing a desk in Epstein’s home with a drawer filled of photos of Trump, reinforced bipartisan concerns that references to the president had been illegally withheld.

In a release of documents from the Epstein family estate by the House Oversight Committee this fall, Trump’s name was featured over 1,000 times — more than any other public figure.

“If they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide,” Schumer wrote on X. “This could be one of the biggest coverups in American history.”

Several victims also said the release was insufficient. “It’s really kind of another slap in the face,” Alicia Arden, who went to the police to report that Epstein had abused her in 1997, told CNN. “I wanted all the files to come out, like they said that they were going to.”

Trump, who signed the act into law after having worked to block it from getting a vote, was conspicuously quiet on the matter. In a long speech in North Carolina on Friday night, he did not mention it.

However, White House officials and Justice Department leaders strongly pushed back against the notion that the release was somehow incomplete or out of compliance with the law, or that the names of politicians had been redacted.

“The only redactions being applied to the documents are those required by law — full stop,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche. “Consistent with the statute and applicable laws, we are not redacting the names of individuals or politicians unless they are a victim.”

Other Republicans defended the administration. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, said the administration “is delivering unprecedented transparency in the Epstein case and will continue releasing documents.”

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He’d been convicted in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution in Florida, but served only 13 months in custody in what many condemned as a sweetheart plea deal for a well-connected and rich defendant.

Epstein’s crimes have attracted massive attention, including among many within Trump’s own political base, in part because of unanswered questions surrounding which of his many powerful friends may have also been implicated in crimes against children. Some of those questions have swirled around Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years before the two had what the president has described as a falling out.

Evidence has emerged in recent months that suggests Trump may have had knowledge of Epstein’s crimes during their friendship.

Epstein wrote in a 2019 email, released by the House Oversight Committee, that Trump “knew about the girls.” In a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of conspiring with Epstein to help him sexually abuse girls, Epstein wrote that “the dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him … he has never once been mentioned.”

Trump has ardently denied any wrongdoing.

The records released Friday contained few if any major new revelations, but did include a complaint against Epstein filed with the FBI back in 1996 — which the FBI did little with, substantiating longstanding fears among Epstein’s victims that his crimes could have been stopped years earlier.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the president’s most consistent critics, wrote on X that Bondi should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain under oath the extensive redactions and omissions, which he called a “willful violation of the law.”

“The Trump Justice Department has had months to keep their promise to release all of the Epstein Files,” Schiff wrote. “Epstein’s survivors and the American people need answers now.”

Dec. 19 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Friday released records from the Jeffrey Epstein case in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law last month by President Donald Trump.

The DOJ has made the files publicly available online on the Justice Department website’s section on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but the names of victims and other identifying information have been redacted. Congress overwhelmingly approved the legislation and it was signed by Trump on Nov. 19 with a 30-day deadline to release files.

“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement shared with NBC News.

Friday’s files release gives the public access to hundreds of thousands of records, with more to be released over the next several weeks, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a letter to members of Congress, as reported by CBS News.

“We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story to the extent it needs to be protected is completely protected,” Blanche added.

The DOJ had 187 attorneys review the documents ahead of their release and 25 more on a quality control team, he said.

“Protecting victims is of the highest priority for President Trump, the Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice,” Blanche said in the letter.

He also said Trump has said he wants full transparency on the matter and has supported the release of the Epstein case files for several years.

The president signed the supporting legislation in November to expedite the release of the Epstein case files.

The documents include information that was already made public, along with files that are “very likely to have never seen the light of day before,” CNN crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz said.

The records are in addition to the tens of thousands of files already released regarding the federal case against former financier Epstein.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have also released files and photos from Epstein’s estate.

On Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein hung himself while jailed in Manhattan and awaiting a federal trial that accused him of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

The release of hundreds of thousands of pages of the case files and other information will keep news outlets busy going through them well into the foreseeable future.

The released files include documents, telephone records, audio recordings and photographs, but many lack context that explains why they are included in the case files.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department released a library of files on Friday related to Jeffrey Epstein, partially complying with a new federal law compelling their release, while acknowledging that hundreds of thousands of files remain sealed.

The portal, on the department’s website, includes videos, photos and documents from the years-long investigation of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, who died in federal prison in 2019. But upon an initial survey of the files, several of the documents were heavily redacted, and much of the database was unsearchable, in spite of a provision of the new law requiring a more accessible system.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, unequivocally required the department to release its full trove of files by midnight Friday, marking 30 days since passage.

But a top official said earlier Friday that the department would miss the legal deadline Friday to release all files, protracting a scandal that has come to plague the Trump administration. Hundreds of thousands more were still under review and would take weeks more to release, said Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general.

“I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks, so today several hundred thousand and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more,” Blanche told Fox News on Friday.

The delay drew immediate condemnation from Democrats in key oversight roles.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, accused President Trump and his administration in a statement Friday of “violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring,” and said they were “examining all legal options.”

The delay also drew criticism from some Republicans.

“My goodness, what is in the Epstein files?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is leaving Congress next month, wrote on X. “Release all the files. It’s literally the law.”

“Time’s up. Release the files,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on X.

Already, congressional efforts to force the release of documents from the FBI’s investigations into Epstein have produced a trove of the disgraced financier’s emails and other records from his estate.

Some made reference to Trump and added to a long-evolving portrait of the social relationship that Epstein and Trump shared for years, before what Trump has described as a falling out.

In one email in early 2019, during Trump’s first term in the White House, Epstein wrote to author and journalist Michael Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls.”

In a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of conspiring with Epstein to help him sexually abuse young girls, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him … he has never once been mentioned.”

Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that…”

Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing, and downplayed the importance of the files. He has also intermittently worked to block their release, even while suggesting publicly that he would not be opposed to it.

His administration’s resistance to releasing all of the FBI’s files, and fumbling with their reasons for withholding documents, was overcome only after Republican lawmakers broke off and joined Democrats in passing the transparency measure.

The resistance has also riled many in the president’s base, with their intrigue and anger over the files remaining stickier and harder to shake for Trump than any other political vulnerability.

It remained unclear Friday afternoon what additional revelations would come from the anticipated dump. Among the files that were released, extensive redactions were expected to shield victims, as well as references to individuals and entities that could be the subject of ongoing investigations or matters of national security.

That could include mentions of Trump, experts said, who was a private citizen over the course of his infamous friendship with Epstein through the mid-2000s.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution in Florida, but served only 13 months in custody in what was considered a sweetheart plea deal that saved him a potential life sentence. He was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking, and died in federal custody at a Manhattan jail awaiting trial. Epstein was alleged to have abused over 200 women and girls.

Many of his victims argued in support of the release of documents, but administration officials have cited their privacy as a primary excuse for delaying the release — something Blanche reiterated Friday.

“There’s a lot of eyes looking at these and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim,” Blanche said, noting that Trump had signed the law just 30 days prior.

“And we have been working tirelessly since that day to make sure that we get every single document that we have within the Department of Justice, review it and get it to the American public,” he said.

Trump had lobbied aggressively against the Epstein Files Transparency Act, unsuccessfully pressuring House Republican lawmakers not to join a discharge petition that would force a vote on the matter over the wishes of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). He ultimately signed the bill into law after it passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who introduced the House bill requiring the release of the files, warned that the Justice Department under future administrations could pursue legal action against current officials who work to obstruct the release of any of the files, contravening the letter of the new law.

“Let me be very clear, we need a full release,” Khanna said. “Anyone who tampers with these documents, or conceals documents, or engages in excessive redaction, will be prosecuted because of obstruction of justice.”

Given Democrats’ desire to keep the issue alive politically, and the intense interest in the matter from voters on both ends of the political spectrum, the fact that the Justice Department failed to meet the Friday deadline in full was likely to stoke continued agitation for the documents’ release in coming days.

In their statement Friday, Garcia and Raskin hammered on Trump administration officials — including Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi — for allegedly interfering in the release of records.

“For months, Pam Bondi has denied survivors the transparency and accountability they have demanded and deserve and has defied the Oversight Committee’s subpoena,” they said. “The Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself.”

Among other things, they called out the Justice Department’s decision to move Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, to a minimum security prison after she met with Blanche in July.

“The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ,” Garcia and Raskin said.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), in response to Blanche saying all the files wouldn’t be released Friday, said the transparency act “is clear: while protecting survivors, ALL of these records are required to be released today. Not just some.”

“The Trump administration can’t move the goalposts,” Schiff wrote on X. “They’re cemented in law.”

Dec. 18 (UPI) — Congressional Democrats released 68 photos from the Jeffrey Epstein estate on Thursday, bringing the total number to more than 95,000 that have been turned over to the House Oversight Committee investigating names on a list of prominent people who were associated with the now deceased sex offender.

Epstein, the former financier and friend of the ultra-wealthy and politically powerful, was convicted of sexual behavior with minor girls. He later died by suicide in a Manhattan prison while awaiting trial.

To date, only a small fraction of the photos have been released to the public, but those that have been released featured President Donald Trump, top Republican strategist Steve Bannon, former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and movie mogul Woody Allen, among other high-profile people, in candid shots with Epstein.

While not dyeing their association with the convicted sex offender, all have denied wrongdoing. None have been charged.

The latest trove of photographs was released prior to a Friday deadline, when the Justice Department will be required to release all of the government’s Epstein files with a few exceptions.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said the committee is reviewing materials from the Epstein estate and working with victims shown in the photographs who are not identified or threatened.

“Certainly the most disturbing photos are certainly the ones that are more sexual in nature,” Garcia said during a Thursday briefing on the Capitol steps. “We’re having a conversation about the best way to deal with those and talking to the lawyers and the survivor groups, because we want to be very cautious of the trauma that the survivors are going through.”

The new law says the photos must be published online and in a publicly searchable database.

The White House has accused Garcia and other Democrats of releasing “cherry-picked photos with random reactions to try to create a false narrative” with the intention of putting Trump in a negative light.

Legislators have been publishing photos related to convicted sex offender as Justice Department faces Friday deadline to release more.

Democrats in the United States House of Representatives have released dozens more photos from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The release on Thursday comes a day before the Department of Justice faces a deadline to release a more comprehensive set of files related to Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting sex-trafficking charges.

In a statement, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said they would “continue releasing photographs and documents to provide transparency for the American people”.

“It’s time for the Department of Justice to release the files,” they said.

The latest trove includes photos of Epstein with public intellectual Noam Chomsky, as well as images of billionaire Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen and former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon at Epstein’s compound.

One release shows a screenshot of a text exchange in which an unknown sender appears to discuss recruiting young women.

“I have a friend scout she sent me some girls today. But she asks 1000$ per girl. I will send u girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J?” the post says.

Other images show women’s passports and the body of an unidentified woman with messages written on her skin, next to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a novel about a man’s sexual obsession with a child.

Like a trove of images released last week, the materials released on Thursday were not accompanied by any further context or details. Last week’s images also showed Bannon, Allen, and Gates, as well as former US President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Another image showed US President Trump surrounded by three young women, his hand clutching the waist of the woman to his right.

Trump has acknowledged a prior relationship with Epstein, but has denied taking part in the sex abuse ring that Epstein ran. He said the two men had a falling out years before Epstein’s arrest.

In emails previously released by House Democrats, Epstein said that Trump “knew about the girls”. In another, Epstein described Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked”.

The president had initially opposed a more complete release of files related to Epstein, but faced mounting pressure, including from within his own Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.

Speculation has focused on the influential figures in Epstein’s orbit, and any involvement they made have had in his crime. The intrigue has been fueled by the murky circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in a New York jail cell, which was ruled a suicide.

Last month, Trump pivoted on the issue, signing into law a bill requiring the Justice Department to publish materials connected to the Epstein investigation.

However, the Justice Department has remained silent on whether it will meet Friday’s deadline outlined in the law, dubbed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Maxwell, a former British socialite and Epstein accomplice, says her conviction for trafficking a ‘miscarriage of justice’.

Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has asked a federal judge in the United States to set aside her sex trafficking conviction and quash her 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell made the long-shot legal bid in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, saying “substantial new evidence” had emerged proving that constitutional violations spoiled her trial in 2021 for recruiting underage girls for wealthy financier Epstein, who died in 2019.

In the lengthy filing, Maxwell, 63, argues that “newly discovered evidence” proves that she “did not receive a fair trial by independent jurors coming to Court with an open mind”.

“If the jury had heard of the new evidence of the collusion between the plaintiff’s lawyers and the Government to conceal evidence and the prosecutorial misconduct they would not have convicted,” Maxwell wrote.

She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice”.

Maxwell submitted the filing herself, not in the name of a lawyer.

Proceedings of the type brought by Maxwell are routinely denied by judges and are often the last-ditch option available to offenders to have their convictions overturned, the AFP news agency reports.

Maxwell’s filing also comes just days before records in her legal case are scheduled to be released publicly as a result of US President Donald Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The law, which Trump signed after months of public and political pressure on his administration, requires the Department of Justice to provide the public with Epstein-related records by December 19.

The circumstances of Epstein’s death and his influential social circle, which spanned the highest reaches of business and politics in the US, have also fuelled conspiracy theories about possible cover-ups and unnamed accomplices

Critics also continue to press President Trump to address his own once-close relationship with Epstein.

The Justice Department has said it plans to release 18 categories of investigative materials gathered in the massive sex trafficking probe, including search warrants, financial records, notes from interviews with victims, and data from electronic devices.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges but was found dead a month later in his cell at a New York federal jail, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, once a well-known British socialite, was arrested a year later and convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021.

In July, she was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command and soon afterwards moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.

Maxwell’s transfer from the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Tallahassee – a low-security prison in Florida – to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, was carried out without explanation at the time.

Saying the unedited video of a September 2 strike on a boat in the Caribbean is “top secret,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that its viewing will be restricted to select lawmakers, not the general public.

Dec. 15 (UPI) — An individual detained by police as a person of interest in the Brown University shooting will be released, authorities said late Sunday as the investigation into the crime continues.

The person of interest was taken into police custody early Sunday following a tip that led police to a Hampton Inn in the Rhode Island town of Coventry.

The announcement of the person’s imminent release was made before midnight Sunday in a social media statement from Providence Police.

“We know that this is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community, and we want to reiterate what we said earlier, which remains true, which is ever since the initial call a day and a half ago, we have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said during a late Sunday press conference about the individual’s release.

“And so the status of safety in our community remains unchanged and we believe that you remain safe in our community.”

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha explained that evidence initially pointed toward the individual taken into police custody, but as the investigation has continued, the evidence “now points in a different direction.”

“So, what that means is that this person of interest needs to be — and should be — released,” he said.

Police are continuing to investigate and develop leads as they hunt for a suspect, he said, as he asked the public to be patient as investigators comb through the facts.

“There is too much at stake for the victims of this horrific crime and their families to take chances with respect to this investigation,” he said.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez added that neither the individual’s apprehension nor their release was the result of an error, noting that such developments are part of the investigative process.

“Investigations will tell us whether something is valid or not, whether something needs to be ruled out. It’s not a mistake. It’s just how investigations work,” he said. “And our responsibility is to make sure that we conduct the proper investigations.”

Two people were killed and eight were injured in a late Saturday afternoon shooting at the Brown University campus as students were taking exams in the Barus and Holley Engineering Building.

Police had initially taken another person into custody, but later released them after determining they were not a suspect.

Authorities have released a short, 10-second clip from surveillance video showing a person of interest in the shooting.

During the Sunday press conference, Perez said the individual seen in the clip is not the person who was detained and is being released.

“I would describe that person as a person of interest,” Neronha added.

“There are a lot of unknowns in this case, and that’s one unknown … that what we’re working towards,” he said.

Brown University said in a late Sunday statement that Providence police have kept officials informed of their search efforts.

“We know that this update may prompt numerous questions,” the university said in a statement. “We continue to make every effort to ensure the safety and security of the campus. We are also advising every member of the Brown community to be vigilant in their own activities on campus.”

Dec. 12 (UPI) — Democrats from the House Oversight Committee released new photos Friday from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The photos feature prominent people, including President Donald Trump, filmmaker Woody Allen, former President Bill Clinton, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and media mogul Richard Branson. Many of the images have redacted faces, mostly of women, though the committee has not said who redacted them or why.

None of the images released show any illegal activity or nudity.

On Dec. 3, the group released a cache of images from Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Little St. James.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said in a statement that the latest release from the estate included “over 95,000 photos, including images of the wealthy and powerful men who spent time with Jeffrey Epstein” and “thousands of photographs of women and Epstein properties.”

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Garcia said in a statement. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

The committee spokesperson accused Democrats of “cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump.”

“We received over 95,000 photos and Democrats released just a handful. Democrats’ hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked. Nothing in the documents we’ve received shows any wrongdoing. It is shameful Rep. Garcia and Democrats continue to put politics above justice for the survivors,” the spokesperson said.

Gates has previously told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “It was a huge mistake to spend time with [Epstein], to give him the credibility of being there.”