By STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER
Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is working around the clock to redact thousands of pages from the Epstein files before their legally required release Friday.
White House officials are bracing for the release of the files after Trump has been the subject of rampant speculation about his connection to Epstein.
Also believed to be in the files are former President Bill Clinton, the former Prince Andrew, and others.
There are fears that the same rushed workflow and deadline could lead to similar mistakes to the release of the JFK assassination files, which unintentionally revealed the social security numbers of more than 200 people.
Pam Bondi’s DOJ lawyers are worried that the the Justice Department’s National Security Division don’t have the proper guidance on how to provide the most information legally possible.
Attorneys for the DOJ are reportedly working on over 1,000 documents per week to get the files ready in time to meet their deadline, CNN reported.
They must be able to edit the files to protect the victims of the late billionaire pedophile and meet executive and legal privacy requirements. Many are preparing for more to be redacted than is legally necessary.
‘Either they’re going to screw it up or they’re going to withhold things. It wouldn’t surprise me. Some of it may be incompetence as much as deliberate,’ a non-DOJ lawyer awaiting the release said.
The DOJ has asked additional counter-intelligence specialists to drop everything else they were doing to process the files. Some refused the assignment.
Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is working round the clock to redact thousands of pages from the Epstein files before their legally required release Friday. Pictured: Attorney General Pam Bondi
Anticipation about what those files will show is running high after they have been the subject of conspiracy theories and speculation about his friendships with Trump, former President Bill Clinton, the former Prince Andrew, and others
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
House Democrats have already released dozens of photos from Epstein’s estate showing Trump, Clinton and Andrew, who lost his royal title and privileges this year amid scrutiny of his relationship with the wealthy financier.
The latest batch of documents, which are being made public after the pedophile’s death in 2019, include disturbing images of women’s bodies and pictures of famous figures.
One set of photographs showed an unidentified woman’s body parts inscribed with quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a novel about a middle-aged man’s sexual obsession with a young girl, which is also pictured in the background.
Billionaire Bill Gates has again appeared in photos from the files, this time in two pictures next to women whose faces have been redacted.
The Microsoft founder was previously pictured alongside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and one of Epstein’s private pilots in photographs from the files.
Gates, who has previously admitted to seeking contributions from the financier for his philanthropy efforts, described his association with Epstein as a ‘huge mistake’ in a 2021 statement.
A picture of a dinner shows Epstein flanked by director Woody Allen, businessman Thomas Pritzker and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak as magician David Blaine appears to perform for them.
There are fears that the same rushed workflow and deadline could lead to similar mistakes to the release of the JFK assassination files, which unintentionally revealed the social security numbers of more than 200 people
The latest batch of images, which have been made public after the pedophile’s death in 2019, showed disturbing images of the financier with multiple women
Also among those photographed is famous linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, who is pictured alongside Epstein on a private flight. The photos do not implicate any of the individuals in Epstein’s crimes.
Democrats have selectively released the 68 pictures along with dozens of others in recent weeks, all of which have been pulled from a collection of 95,000 unseen images from Epstein’s estate.
Disturbing pictures from the latest release show a woman’s chest with a Lolita quote scrawled across it.
‘Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth,’ it reads, while another shows a woman’s back with the words ‘She was Dolores on the dotted line,’ another quote from the controversial novel.
Epstein’s notorious private jet, which ferried him and VIP guests to his infamous island and around the world, was nicknamed the Lolita Express.
Passengers on the $80million Boeing 727-100 included Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the former Prince Andrew, according to recently released flight logs.
Epstein regularly hosted famous friends at his residences, including Woody Allen, who often attended gatherings at the financier’s Upper East Side townhouse. Epstein is pictured with his arm around the filmmaker in one of the new photos.
The new tranche of pictures also includes a snap of Epstein’s passport, issued just four months before his arrest in 2019.
Billionaire Bill Gates has again appeared in a photo from the files, this time next to a woman whose face has been redacted
Among those photographed is famous linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, who is pictured alongside Epstein on a private flight
It features a page which has a notice stating that the passport bearer ‘is a registered sex offender who ‘was convicted of a sex offence against a minor’.
Another image from the latest release shows a Ukrainian passport belonging to a woman, with all identifying information blacked out.
Meanwhile a screenshot of text messages from an unknown sender seems to refer to an 18-year-old from Russia and mentions a person asking for ‘1000$ per girl’.
‘I will send u girls now,’ one of the messages reads, followed by another which says: ‘Maybe someone will be good for J?’
Other images show Russian, Lithuanian and Czech passports and a South African identity card, all of which appear to belong to women and also have the identifying details redacted.
It is possible that the travel documents belonged to Epstein’s trafficking victims.
His partner Ghislaine Maxwell would confiscate passports from the girls they trafficked while they were on Epstein’s private island, victims testified during her trial.
Another one of the images shows medicine to treat a urinary tract infection, with the details of the person who was prescribed the drug redacted.
Gates is seen pictured next to another woman, whose face has also been redacted, in an undated photo
The new tranche of pictures includes a snap of Epstein’s passport, issued just four months before his arrest in 2019
Further images from what appears to be a conference meeting in a large room with a kitchenette.
Epstein and group of unidentified men appear deep in conversation, with a chalkboard in the room scribbled with mathematical equations.
The latest release comes a week after more than a dozen new photographs were released showing Epstein parading with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and other powerful politicians and celebrities.
It is unclear why House Democrats have chosen to release the specific photos they have disclosed so far, but they have said that a review of some 95,000 photos turned over by Epstein’s estate is ongoing.
The estate provided no context for any of the images, which it turned over as part of lawmakers’ investigation into Epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, vowed to continue to make files from Epstein’s estate ‘to provide transparency for the American people.’
‘As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession,’ he said in a statement.
‘We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now.’
Epstein regularly hosted famous friends at his residences, including Woody Allen, who often attended gatherings at the financier’s Upper East Side townhouse
Trump, who was a longtime associate of Epstein’s from the 1990s to early 2000s, has repeatedly called the Epstein files a Democrat ‘hoax’ in recent months – despite campaigning on a pledge to release the documents once in office.
Mounting pressure from both Republicans and Democrats forced the Epstein bill to be passed by Congress on November 19. It was signed by Trump on the same day.
Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges in July 2019 but was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell the following month while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide.
Epstein files: What is being released?
Original source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15397369/Epstein-files-release-chaos-Trump-officials.html