THE WHITE HOUSE WILL NEVER RELEASE ALL THE FILES

Yesterday was the day when all the Jeffrey Epstein files were supposed to be released. That didn't happen.

Garcia: In our initial estimation—It could be that we're only getting about 10% of what the DOJ has. And of that 10%, 5% of that has already been released. And the other 5% is highly redacted. So we're getting very little so far

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 6:41 PM

What was missing?

Financial records, internal memos from prosecutors who investigated Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking ring, key material obtained from the searches of Epstein’s palatial homes — none of it figured prominently in the documents released Friday.

Interested in records that would help explain how Epstein grew so wealthy? None to be found.

Want to read emails from federal prosecutors deciding who to charge — and, equally importantly, who not to charge — during their 2019 investigation? You’re out of luck.

Curious about the role of Maurene Comey, the prosecutor who co-led the probes into Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, before being fired without explanation in July? Nothing from her to see here.

We all think the administration is trying to protect Donald Trump, but it may also be trying to protect the kinds of people he regards as his C-suite peers:

... the documents and photos were largely silent about a roster of ... well-known people who have long been associated with Mr. Epstein and his finances, including businessmen like Leon Black and Leslie H. Wexner.

The lead sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act are not satisfied:

Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago. @RepRoKhanna is correct. https://t.co/gZQyQBUT4R

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 19, 2025

In his video on X, Khanna said:

“We will prosecute individuals regardless of whether they’re the attorney general, or a career or political appointee. We need full transparency and justice for the survivors.”

He added in his written post: “Any person who attempts to conceal or scrub the files will be subject to prosecution under the law.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has promised a drip-drip of files:

“The volume of materials to be reviewed ... means that the Department must publicly produce responsive documents on a rolling basis,” Blanche wrote. “The Department’s need to perform rolling productions is consistent with well-settled case law that statutes should be interpreted to not require the impossible.”

Blanche also said in TV interviews that while “hundreds of thousands” of documents would be released in the initial round, hundreds of thousands more would be processed over the next few weeks.

Maybe this will happen. Maybe a few more documents will trickle out between now and the Monday after New Year's, when normie Americans will be distracted. Or maybe the follow-ups will be like the Trump healthcare plan -- something we're supposed to get in the next two weeks, forever. Whatever happens, I'm certain that we won't get a full document release.

Culturally, the pressure is off. Some documents were released in time to meet the deadline for all of them, and GOP/QAnon voters (the only voters the administration cares about) got what they wanted, more or less: lots of pictures of Bill Clinton. Republican voters don't care about getting to the bottom of this case. They don't care about following the facts wherever they lead. They don't care about justice for the victims. All they care about is their ongoing war against Democrats. They're either happy now or frustrated because they were hoping for evidence against Clinton that was genuinely incriminating. They want Clinton and other people they hate, like Bill Gates, tried and convicted (and maybe executed). But shamed is reasonably satisfying.

Now there's no deadline to meet. No one's going to create a new one. In this Congress, you won't get 218 House members to vote for impeachment of any Republican over this, or vote for any reprimand, really -- remember that one of the few sincere GOP antagonists of the White House on this issue, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is leaving Congress altogether in a couple of weeks.

This just feels like the culmination of the Epstein moment, the Epstein year -- I question whether the moment can be sustained after ordinary people have seen these documents and photos. Most people don't pay close attention to the details of political stories -- I'm sure they believe a lot has come out, not just a tiny percentage. I think this document dump relieved a great deal of the pressure on the White House. And if Democrats win one or both houses of Congress back next year, this might seem like a story that's far back in the rearview mirror by 2027 -- never mind 2029, which is the earliest moment a post-Trump Justice Department could possibly prosecute anyone for failure to comply with this law (and there'll be many more crimes to focus on then, assuming the new administration doesn't just decide to "turn the page").

I hope I'm wrong about this. I hope we don't find ourselves in mid-January with perhaps 15% of the documents released and the White House saying that, well, actually, there are no additional document releases scheduled. But that's what I expect.