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‘People are furious’: Trump faces backlash from within over the redaction of Epstein files
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‘People are furious’: Trump faces backlash from within over the redaction of Epstein files

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Extensive redactions and the partial release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have angered some Republicans and done little to defuse a scandal that threatened the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
US President Donald Trump, a Republican, on Friday (local time) praised the release of the so-called Epstein files as a show of transparency.
But a handful of Republican politicians and right-wing media figures joined Democrats in criticizing the revelations as inadequate and possibly in violation of a law that led to their release.
While the criticism fell short of a broader party response, it underscored that the Epstein controversy was far from put to rest and would likely continue into next year, when Republicans will fight to maintain control of Congress.

The release of files, which will begin Friday and be followed by a second, much smaller batch released Saturday, is intended to comply with a bipartisan law passed by Congress in November mandating the disclosure of all Epstein files in the possession of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

That was despite a months-long effort to keep them sealed by Trump, who once considered Epstein a close friend.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
The new disclosure represented just a fraction of the total data the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DOJ have said they possess related to Epstein and was heavily redacted, including hundreds of pages that were completely blacked out.

Instead, the released files extensively feature former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and political enemy.

Former US President Bill Clinton, pictured here with Mick Jagger and an unidentified woman, played a major role in Friday’s release. Source: US Department of Justice

Adding to the controversy, one file containing a photo of Trump appeared to have been removed from the released dataset on Saturday.

Its absence was noted online by Democrats in the House of Representatives, who demanded an explanation from the administration.

Later on Saturday, that photo was among up to 16 photos that were removed from the DOJ website, according to the New York Times, NPR and Associated Press.

‘People rage and run away’

Both Democrats and Republicans criticized the Trump administration for not releasing all the files and for extensive redactions.

Democrat Ro Khanna, co-author of the law requiring full disclosure, suggested a possible impeachment of Attorney General Pam Bondi over the inability to release the files in a timely manner.

Republican Thomas Massie also believed that Bondi had broken the law and warned in a message to X that she and others could face criminal charges in the future if the DOJ was in Democratic hands.

“People are furious and walking away,” she wrote on X.

Some conservative commentators also criticized the DOJ’s decision not to disclose more.
Owen Shroyer, a podcaster who was pardoned by Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 — but has since become a critic of the president — said he believed the DOJ was deliberately slow to make the revelations public.
“They hid the Epstein files. There’s no other way to say it now,” Shroyer wrote on X after Friday’s release.

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