Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the Mar-a-Lago investigation as well as any of the Epstein files that reference President Trump, accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi of shielding potentially damaging information.
“This Administration has repeatedly claimed that President Trump is ‘the most transparent and accessible president in American history.’ So far, your DOJ has not only failed to live up to this promise, but you have also consistently hidden from the American public materials and information that may be damaging to President Trump,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel, wrote in a letter to Bondi also signed by 15 other Democrats on the committee.
“Your conduct is particularly worrisome as it appears to be part of a pattern of using the DOJ to cover up evidence of criminal wrongdoing by President Trump, including information allegedly contained in the Epstein files. We write today to demand that you release the Smith report immediately, as well as any evidence mentioning or referencing Donald Trump in the Epstein files.”
Bondi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Raskin’s call for details from the Epstein files comes after the Justice Department on Monday released a memo concluding the financier accused of sex trafficking died by suicide and did not keep a client list.
That clashes with an accusation made by Elon Musk, who during a feud with Trump said the president “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
The White House in February invited social media influencers to an event where they distributed binders labeled “The Epstein Files.”
But the move sparked backlash because the binders did not contain new revelations, but rather information that has long been public, such as pages from Epstein’s address book.
“This raises the question of whether the White House has moved to prevent the declassification and public release of the full Epstein files because they implicate President Trump, and whether these massive redaction efforts and the withholding of the files were intended to shield your boss from embarrassing revelations within those files,” they wrote.
Trump has denied being close with Epstein and fumed over questions about the matter during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
“Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump said.
Raskin also tore into the DOJ for complying with Republican investigations into Smith’s work, including breaking tradition by allowing career prosecutors to sit for interviews.
Raskin noted the department has also broken with tradition by failing to release Smith’s report on Mar-a-Lago after the case against Trump’s two co-defendants was dismissed. Trump was accused of taking and shielding from authorities more than 300 documents with classified markings.
The Justice Department typically releases special counsel reports at the conclusion of their investigations, and the Biden White House did so for Smith’s Jan. 6 report as well as former special counsel David Weiss’s report on Hunter Biden.
“It is particularly instructive that you have apparently decided to allow prosecutors to testify about their yearslong investigation of President Trump, even as you refuse to release the fruit of that investigation, forcing the prosecutors to defend themselves essentially with hands tied behind their backs,” Democrats wrote.
“It is not a coincidence that President Trump installed his personal legal team to top positions at the DOJ, appointing you, Todd Blanche, Emil Bove—who all served as his defense counsel at one time or another—to the three most senior positions at DOJ. … By doing so, DOJ has all but turned into President Trump’s personal law firm, ensuring that damaging information about him would remain hidden from public view. The American people deserve uncensored answers and authentic transparency from this Administration and a full understanding of Mr. Trump’s actions.”
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