...
By Hugh Cameron
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Representative Jamie Raskin has said unredacted copies of certain documents in the Epstein files appear to contradict President Donald Trump’s longstanding assertion that he barred the late sex offender from his Florida club.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Maryland Democrat said one of the documents he reviewed at the Justice Department’s new satellite office in Washington, D.C., was an email from Jeffrey Epstein to his co‑conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. He said the email included details relayed by Epstein’s lawyers about a conversation with Trump’s attorneys around 2009.
Raskin, who is the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, said Trump was quoted as saying that while Epstein was never a member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, he had nevertheless been a guest and had “never been asked to leave.”
Read More on News
“And that was redacted for some indeterminate, inscrutable reason,” Raskin added. “It seems to be at odds with some of the things that President Trump has been saying recently about how he had kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club.”
The White House, in response, directed Newsweek to several X posts from Todd Blanche, in which the Deputy Attorney General said that victims’ names and “personally identifiable information” of certain individuals had been redacted, but stressed that the Justice Department is “hiding nothing” and “committed to transparency.”
...
Why It Matters
The president’s ties to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, have been a key point of interest over the past year. While Trump had a close relationship with Epstein and features prominently in the millions of files released by the Justice Department since late last year, the president has not been formally accused of wrongdoing, has denied allegations of misconduct and maintained that he fell out with Epstein and kicked him out of his club in the mid-2000s.
What To Know
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November, the Justice Department was ordered to release all of the documents in its possession relating to Epstein, with only limited redactions permitted to protect victims and avoid jeopardizing ongoing investigations.
The Department has so far released around 3.5 million files concerning Epstein, but Raskin said they have withheld “three million documents.”
Raskin is one of several members of Congress who have been granted access to view unredacted copies of the Epstein files at a satellite office in Washington, D.C.
“I went over there and I was able to determine, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims,” Raskin told reporters on Monday. The Democrat added that he and other members of Congress had been given only four computers to review the files, and that he had only been able to see between 30 and 40 on Monday.
Separately, on Monday, the Department of Justice unsealed a document detailing a 2019 FBI interview with a former Palm Beach police chief. In the interview, the individual recounts a phone call from Trump in which he described Ghislaine Maxwell as “evil” and said that “people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting.”
“Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump reportedly said.
According to the Miami Herald, the interview was with former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter and took place in 2006, shortly after Epstein’s criminal sex charges became publicly known.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in July, said: “For years I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein...He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘don’t ever do that again.” He did it again, and I threw him out of [Mar-a-Lago]. Persona non grata. I threw him out. And that was it.”
Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin told reporters on Monday: “I think that the Department of Justice has been in a cover-up mode for many months and has been trying to sweep the entire thing under the rug. And the more deeply that I get into it…the more I believe that the survivors here, the victims who are now active citizens for justice, really are leading the way.”
“And we need to be having hearings with the survivors to hear from them about their experiences so they can explain what happened and they begin to set forth a theory of what took place,” he continued. “We need to be investigating the money. We need to be investigating the organizational hierarchy. There’s no way you run a billion-dollar international child sex-trafficking ring with just two people committing crimes.”
What Happens Next
Raskin said he and others hope to view the unredacted files in full, but that this would likely prove “an extremely time consuming and painstaking process.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi is due to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, and Raskin said this would give him and other lawmakers the chance to “go through every redaction in order to ask thorough questions.”
Update, 02/10/26, 5:11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 02/10/26 10:41 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the White House.
In a polarized era, the center is dismissed as bland. At Newsweek, ours is different: The Courageous Center—it's not "both sides," it's sharp, challenging and alive with ideas. We follow facts, not factions. If that sounds like the kind of journalism you want to see thrive, we need you.
When you become a Newsweek Member, you support a mission to keep the center strong and vibrant. Members enjoy: Ad-free browsing, exclusive content and editor conversations. Help keep the center courageous. Join today.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines