There’s a idea within the authorized world known as “consciousness of guilt,” which in layman’s phrases signifies that if a defendant acts responsible after committing a criminal offense, prosecutors can use that conduct as proof to show guilt. The Trump administration’s conduct with the Epstein recordsdata launch is a good instance of that authorized idea.
Over the weekend, the Division of Justice—which has been bastardized into President Donald Trump’s private authorized group and revenge squad reasonably than an impartial regulation enforcement company—deleted at the least 16 of the Epstein recordsdata that had been launched. A kind of deleted recordsdata depicted Trump himself.
Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche tried to defend the deletion of the photograph, however ended up making issues even worse for himself and Trump.
“You can see in that photo there are photographs of women. We learned after releasing it that there were concerns about those women,” Blanche informed NBC’s Kirsten Welker as to why the picture—which was an image of pictures in a drawer that confirmed Trump—was deleted.
“Are you saying that one or more of those women is a victim of Epstein?” Welker requested, catching Blanche in a bind, as which means Trump was included in pictures with Epstein victims.
The deletion of recordsdata got here after the DOJ didn’t observe the regulation and solely launched among the paperwork referring to the late accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—although the invoice Congress handed compelled the administration to launch the entire recordsdata it possessed.
That was predictable, as Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi had telegraphed after Congress’ invoice handed that the DOJ wouldn’t be complying with the regulation.
It additionally seems among the redactions have been finished to make sure individuals look responsible.
For instance, a photograph of former President Invoice Clinton, late pop icon Michael Jackson, and singer Diana Ross was included within the recordsdata. That picture had large squares blacking out photos of different individuals within the photograph, implying that the trio was with victims of Epstein’s abuse. Nonetheless, the photograph had been public for many years, and the redacted faces have been of Ross’ and Jackson’s kids—making the picture deceptively redacted to suggest guilt in a despicable politicalization of the recordsdata.
After all, Trump has been performing responsible about his ties to Epstein for months.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks in regards to the Epstein Information Transparency Act, on Nov. 18, exterior the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
He refused to launch the Epstein recordsdata himself, vowing revenge in opposition to any Republican lawmakers who would be part of Democrats to power the paperwork to be launched. In reality, his as soon as shut relationship to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went up in flames after she helped power the Epstein recordsdata vote.
Finally, now that the administration is taking part in quick and free with the regulation, Democrats and Republicans alike are vowing to hunt punishment.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY)—who authored the laws that compelled the recordsdata to be launched—mentioned they are going to search to carry Bondi in contempt.
And Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned he’s introducing laws to “initiate legal action against the DOJ for its blatant disregard of the law in its refusal to release the complete Epstein files.”
