‘No major revelations’ in heavily redacted release of Epstein files • FRANCE 24 English

‘No major revelations’ in heavily redacted release of Epstein files • FRANCE 24 English

This was an eagerly awaited and and much hyped moment and we eventually from the Justice Department got the release of more than 13,000 files from the investigations into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Uh but no real major revelations um no particularly new light shed on uh Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct or his connections with these uh prominent people in American society. Uh the files uh did contain, you know, for example, um a graphic police interview with someone who said she was recruited to give Epstein um partially nude massages when she was a minor. Uh there are photos of a of a book called Massage for Dummies. Um there are flight logs, a surveillance video from the prison where Epstein killed himself in 2019. um various other items, pertinent investigations. But I think what’s grabbing most attention in the US right now is that former President Bill Clinton features quite heavily in these files. In particular, there are photographs of Clinton uh in a hot tub, for example, or in a swimming pool along with the Epstein associate Gileain Maxwell. There’s another picture of Clinton um alongside a woman whose face is uh blacked out. Um, now, of course, there had been a long-standing association between Clinton and Epstein. He has long denied any wrongdoing or any knowledge of Epstein’s illicit activities and certainly denies ever going to Jeffrey Epstein’s island. Uh, nonetheless, the White House has seized on this, has put out on social media claims that uh it’s Clinton, not Trump, who’s the uh who’s the big loser from these files so far. Um and indeed, um I think critics would note despite Trump’s long association with Jeffrey Epstein, there’s very little about Trump in this latest bash of documents. And I think critics will say um there’s an attempt here to point the finger at Clinton as a distraction from Donald Trump’s own problems. >> Yeah. You mentioned some of the criticism. What else are we hearing in reaction to to the release of some of these files? Well, um certainly some of the victims have uh welcomed FBI documents to relate to their cases. Other victims have expressed disappointment that this is only a partial release. Um and and certainly that is the line being taken by the opposition Democrats who um are are pretty incensed with um what they’ve seen um so far. Um if you remember uh all year there’s been this campaign for the release of the Epstein files. Uh Donald Trump was very resistant but eventually um it became inevitable in Congress that both Democrats and Republicans were going to vote for the full release of the files and Trump signed that into law. Um and it’s stipulated by the end of December the 19th um all the files will be made public and and searchable in a database and the justice department has failed to do that. Um Chuck Schumer, Democrat in the Senate said this is just a fraction of uh all the documents. Uh Thomas Massie, a Republican who is pushing hard for this uh said um this is a you know a gross failure of uh of what the Justice Department was supposed to do a a violation of the law. And now Democrats are exploring their legal options as to how can they how can they force further release of these files. The Justice Department says it’s a it’s a herculean task. They have to uh uh redact many names. But uh even so, um you’re hearing some Democratic voices saying this is just a continuation of the cover up and uh in fact it’s just likely to further feed the conspiracy theories around the Epstein case.

Democrats on Friday voiced frustration that the long-awaited release of the Epstein files included many heavily redacted pages, claming that the amount of information concealed contravened what was mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act and would encourage conspiracy theories around the Epstein case.
#EpsteinFiles #BillClinton #MichaelJackson

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