Sam Mayfield<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAre (we) still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?\u201d President Trump asked this question in response to a reporter inquiring about Epstein during a cabinet meeting in the summer of 2025. The former sex trafficker died on Aug. 10, 2019, but it was during President Trump\u2019s 2024 campaign that the activities of the former financier became a focus point again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the cabinet meeting, the president went on to ask why the reporter was focusing on Epstein amidst other issues happening in the country. The truth is, however, that Trump himself had said that he would have \u201cno problem\u201d releasing the Epstein files. Both the president and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, made statements that gave the American people reason to believe the files would be released by his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration did not deliver. It took the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed 427-1 in the House of Representatives and was signed by President Trump the next day, to finally set a release date: Dec. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Christmas couldn\u2019t come early. Dec. 19 arrived, and many of the files that were released were heavily redacted, with some being completely black pages containing no readable text. Redactions were technically allowed, but only to \u201cprotect victims\u2019 identities\u201d and safeguard national security secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Co-author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Congressman Thomas Massie, said that the release of files on Dec. 19 neglected \u201cboth the spirit and the letter of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty thousand more files were released on Dec. 23, 2025, but according to TIME Magazine, as of Jan. 21, 2026, less than 1% of all files have been released, leaving an absurd amount of information still out of reach to the American public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigative journalist Stephen Findeisen (better known by Coffeezilla) has covered the investigation and commented on the illegality of the redactions, claiming that some redactions are hiding people who are \u201cnot victims at all, but rather possible perpetrators.\u201d Findeisen further observed the DOJ is not giving explanations for redactions, which was a required provision under the Transparency Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is this such a big deal? We already have thousands of documents on Epstein; why do we need more? And who\u2019s to say the Department of Justice isn\u2019t doing their job? Perhaps the deadline for releasing the documents was too short. Maybe if we just give the Justice Department more time, they will release all the Epstein documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there are a few reasons why the DOJ\u2019s excuses do not hold weight, and why we as the American people need to continue to press for all the files to be released. At the most basic level, the Department of Justice needs to release all the files because the law requires them to do so. But that fact is not what should interest us primarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any doctor (and Harvey Specter!) knows that to look for the cause of pain you must press until it hurts. We\u2019ve already seen how the DOJ has redacted information \u2014 not to protect victims\u2019 identities \u2014 but to protect those that perpetrated the crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is obvious that the government is trying to hide people that need to be exposed, and the information in the documents still unreleased is likely to be much more damning than those already in our hands. There is still justice to be served, but it cannot come fully until all the files are in the hands of the American people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there lies an even greater threat if we allow the DOJ and Trump administration to continue to block the release of the files; they might realize that the law is massively underdeveloped when it comes to regulating the DOJ and might take even greater advantage of the lack of accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a video covering this threat Findeisen asks, \u201cwho actually has the authority to punish the DOJ?\u201d After the two creators of the Transparency Act petitioned a federal judge to order an independent expert to supervise the release of the Epstein files, the judge, denying the request, wrote that oversight of the DOJ is not in his authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who watches the watchers? What good is a Transparency Act if there is no way to enforce it? When it comes down to it, there is very little we can do to stop this kind of brash disregard for the law. Defending the rule of law in times like these requires the right kind of people to be in power, whether that be in the House, Senate or president\u2019s office, and filling those seats well requires wisdom and discernment from every voter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is still hope, for even one person who\u2019s bold enough to speak out can cause a chain reaction that brings a life that waged destruction into the light, where justice finally has a chance to come home. So, to answer the question: yes, Mr. President, we are still very much talking about those Epstein files.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DOJ\u2019s Epstein cover-up must stop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[42,29,92],"class_list":["post-1241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-issue-2026-01-30","tag-perspectives","tag-sam-mayfield"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"DOJ\u2019s Epstein cover-up must stop","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1798,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions\/1798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}