The problem with the Epstein files release in 8 key points

While the Epstein files have largely remained above the fold due to possible criminal connections between Epstein and U.S. President Donald Trump, the release seemingly does not include any documents showing criminal wrongdoing by Trump. Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed that the DOJ did not protect President Trump in the released files. While Blanche claims ‘full transparency,’ House Democrats have announced that the FBI still has 2.5 million files sitting unreleased. It is unknown how many of the files incriminate Donald Trump, if any. While Blanche claims only a ‘very small’ portion of files went unreleased, his report is in stark contrast to the numbers the public has had since November (6 million files in total).

The mentions of Trump we did get from the DOJ were scattered, mostly anecdotal, and wholly unusable in a potential criminal trial. While Blanche may claim that the DOJ didn’t protect the DJT, the sheer number of times that Trump is mentioned in the files without being directly implicated is impressive. The picture the DOJ is painting is that Donald Trump was present for hundreds of sex crimes, and was even offered the opportunity to partake, but never did. The closest the documents get to implicating Trump in a sex crime is a series of allegations submitted to the FBI, two of which the agency deemed ‘unreliable’.   

One complaint claims that Donald Trump forced an unidentified female to perform oral acts on him in the 1990’s, when she was just 13. According to the victim, she bit Trump and was hit by the President afterwards. Another allegation claims that Donald Trump was one of the ‘brokers’ of Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal sex parties, and that, along with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Donald Trump was involved in the planning and recruitment for Epstein’s infamous parties. The complainant also reported that Donald Trump allegedly ran a sex trafficking ring alongside Jeffrey Epstein out of the Trump Gold Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

While this second accusation was deemed uncredible by the FBI, the agency never closed the door on the first accusation.

A memo from January 2020 showed that Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane significantly more times than the DOJ originally thought. Trump flew with Epstein at least eight times between 1993 and 1996 – the height of Epstein’s criminal escapades. In files released months earlier, a memo from Ghislaine Maxwell to Epstein claimed that Trump was ‘the dog that hadn’t barked’, implying the President knows proprietary information regarding Epstein’s actions, and that he’s refrained from making them public.

If the DOJ’s files are to be taken at face value, Donald Trump was a regular face at parties where pedophilia occurred, was on Epstein’s plane while pedophilia occurred, was offered sexual relations with minors multiple times, but never committed any crimes.

While his Department of Justice released three million files, with thousands of mentions of Trump, the President refused to comment on the files during a thirty-minute interview at the Oval Office on January 30. The interview was regarding (yet another) executive order, this time to allow an Indy car race in DC. Trump spoke about Minneapolis and Iran, the state tax increase in Virginia, and his new nominee to chair the Federal Reserve; he did not address any questions he was asked about Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the Epstein Transparency Act signed in November, the FBI had to release all files that are relevant to Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal sex-trafficking enterprise. The files released toe the line of relevancy, and feel as though the DOJ is trying to swamp journalists and investigators by releasing irrelevant files on top of the relevant ones. In the 3 million page release, there are hundreds of thousands of files that are simply space. The files contain tens of thousands of photos of Epstein’s island and various residences. Among the tens of thousands, there are only a select few that actually implicate Epstein or anyone else in wrongdoing. There are also thousands of court documents that are entirely redacted. According to Blanche and the DOJ, the redactions are meant to protect the identity of victims and related parties.

If the House Democrats are correct in claiming that there are another 2.5 unreleased files, it’s hard to imagine that those files are less relevant than hundreds of thousands of blank documents, or still-life photos of Epstein’s tacky décor. Todd Blanche and the DOJ seem confident that they’ve closed the book on Epstein, but if there are 2.5 million documents sitting unreleased, and Donald Trump still sitting smug in the Oval Office, neither House Democrats nor the media will let up on the Epstein issue.

There’s really only one reason that the Epstein files still dominate the news: Donald Trump’s involvement.

House Democrats and American voters on both sides of the political spectrum believe that Donald Trump committed crimes related to Jeffrey Epstein. A Reuters poll from December 2025 found that only 23% of Americans approve of how Donald Trump has handled the Epstein files, and while Donald Trump’s approval rate is still sky high among Republicans (more than 80%), only 44% of Republican voters approve of Trump’s handling of the files.

More than 50% of Republicans believe that the Trump administration is hiding something regarding the President’s relationship with Epstein. While the files released on January 30 may not include any admissible evidence, the Epstein story is far from being closed.