Commentary by K.E. Bell
It certainly appears the coverup is unfolding right before our eyes. First, on February 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had the Epstein client list on her desk, then she said there is no such list.
Next, according to a Bloomberg report in March, FBI Director Kash Patel ordered up to 1,000 FBI agents to scour the Epstein files and redact Donald Trump’s name because he was a private citizen when the Epstein case was opened.
The public face of the coverup kicked into high gear when in July Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal attorney, met with convicted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, seemingly to ensure she wouldn’t expose Trump or the other high-powered men surrounding Epstein. Apparently satisfied with that meeting, he ordered Maxwell’s move to a minimum-security prison.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson then chipped in with a stall tactic when he kept Congress out of session for 54 days using the government shutdown as an excuse. This conveniently avoided securing the final vote on the discharge petition that would require a vote to release the Epstein files.
Johnson brought the House back into session around the same time the Democrats caved on the 43-day government shutdown, which was the longest in US history. Their capitulation was horrible for the country, but it shined more light on the suspected coverup. It gave Johnson no choice but to finally seat Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who did indeed provide the final vote to move the discharge petition forward to the House floor, which in turn spurred all House Republicans but one to vote with the Democrats to release the Epstein files.
Now, the Department of Justice has violated the law, thus keeping the Epstein files from coming to light.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) required the DOJ to release all of the files by December 19. Instead, the DOJ released a small percentage of the files, many heavily redacted. A 119-page record of New York grand jury testimony consists of only the title of the document with the rest of the pages blacked out entirely.
The EFTA permits redactions only for victim privacy, child sexual abuse material, and ongoing investigations, the last of which must be narrowly tailored. It also requires “a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress” for all redactions. The DOJ redacted its brains out and provided no justification.
What the Department of Justice calls compliance I call a “f*** you” to the rule of law.
For its part, the DOJ says the complete files will come out in the coming weeks. If you believe that I have an abandoned island to sell you.
The problem is that the criminals are in charge of the Justice Department. The DOJ is not going to arrest itself. That means there is likely no accountability while Trump is in office. But the statute of limitations runs five years, and these brazen criminals are acting like they will never face justice for their actions.
Congress his little recourse, but it should do everything it can. While the EFTA is a law, there are no penalties for breaking it. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), who introduced the EFTA, have suggested filing inherent contempt charges against Pam Bondi. They should do that and more. They should introduce articles of impeachment as well for Bondi, Patel, and Blanche. That effort almost certainly wouldn’t be successful, but it would apply more pressure and keep the lawbreaking in the public spotlight.
Justice will likely have to wait. The DOJ has plenty of reason not to release the Epstein files, both for the embarrassment and the culpability of those involved.
Blanche continues to say the DOJ is not covering for Trump. Bondi speaks of absolute transparency while breaking the law by withholding the files. Patel told Congress that there is nobody else worth charging for sex trafficking. Releasing the files in full could very well prove they’re all wrong and/or lying, and Patel would be especially vulnerable because he could be brought up on charges for lying to Congress.
It's very likely that there is more than just Trump to protect. Epstein ran in elite circles with heads of state, high-powered politicians from the US and abroad, celebrities, and even intelligence officials, again at home and abroad. The latest drop of files shows there were 10 coconspirators, and yet Patel and Bondi (or the incredibly weak Merrick Garland for that matter) haven’t found occasion to charge any of them.
Even before the Trump era, it became apparent that justice doesn’t apply to these types of people, and that’s only supercharged in the age of cash for pardons. The DOJ seems intent on protecting them too, unless they’re Democrats.
What’s lost here is justice for the girls, now women, victimized by Epstein. The coverup protects rapists and pedophiles while marginalizing the 14-, 15-, and 16-year-old girls whose lives he ruined.
I can’t imagine a form of “justice” more disgusting, and I can’t wait for these sick people complicit in the coverup to get their justice. It will just have to wait.
Bell is contributing pundit for The Hustings, where he writes for the left column.