Trump administration responds to allegations DOJ won’t release all the Epstein files by deadline: Live updates

The Department of Justice furiously hit back at claims from Democrats and critics of Donald Trump that they will fail to meet the Friday deadline to release the Epstein files.

A spokesman for the DOJ responded to a Politico headline reading: ‘DOJ won’t meet Friday deadline to release all the Epstein files.’

‘Ridiculous framing,’ Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs wrote on X. ‘The DOJ is releasing a massive tranche of new documents that the Biden and Obama administrations refused to release.’

‘The story here: the Trump administration is providing levels of transparency that prior administrations never even contemplated.

‘The initial deadline is being met as we work diligently to protect victims.’

Democrats in Congress have warned the Trump administration of legal action if all of the files aren’t released by the end of Friday.

Just an hour before the Epstein files are expected to drop, Donald Trump bragged about the ‘Trump gold card’ allowing companies to buy documentation for foreign workers to remain in the US.

‘It’s the green card on steroids, and it’s a pathway,’ the president acclaimed.

He said $1.5 billion has been brought in from ‘gold card’ sales so far, and Trump said it would go towards reducing US debt.

Individuals can pay $1 million for the ability to obtain permanent residence in the US on an expedited basis, while corporations will pay $2 million per employee they sponsor for the new program.

Gold cards give foreign citizens the right to live and work indefinitely in the US.

Senator Adam Schiff joined Democrats in slamming the DOJ for not planning to release all of the Epstein files today.

‘The Epstein Files Transparency Act is clear: while protecting survivors, ALL of these records are required to be released today. Not just some,’ he wrote on X.

‘The Trump administration can’t move the goalposts. They’re cemented in law.’

Images from the Epstein files released on Thursday included a screenshot of text messages from an unknown sender that seems to refer to an 18-year-old from Russia and mentions a person asking for ‘1000$ per girl.’

The infamous ‘Epstein Files’ refer to the evidence compiled by the Justice Department and FBI during an investigation in Florida that led to the disgraced financier’s conviction in 2008. He was later indicted in New York City in 2019.

Very little has been released publicly from the alleged files until the signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The law requires that ‘all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials’ be released within 30 days of its signing on November 19, meaning the deadline is December 19.

A newly released cache of images linked to Jeffrey Epstein has sparked renewed outrage after several photographs showed disturbing quotes from the controversial novel, Lolita, scrawled on a woman’s body.

The images were made public on December 18 by Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee and are part of a vast archive of around 95,000 photographs recovered from Epstein’s estate.

Several of the photographs focus on a single disturbing theme – handwritten excerpts from Lolita scrawled across a woman’s body. The novel, written by Vladimir Nabokov and published in 1955, centres on a middle-aged man’s sexual fixation on a 12-year-old girl. The late financier’s private jet was infamously known as the Lolita Express.

New York Times columnist David Brooks, who criticized Democrats for releasing Jeffrey Epstein files, was pictured in the documents released Thursday.

In one of the snaps, Brooks was seen mingling with Google co-founder Sergey Brin while seated together at a table at an event for high profile individuals.

The other image depicts the 64-year-old columnist alone, smiling into the camera.

Both pictures are from the same 2011 ‘Billionaires’ Dinner’ event, which Epstein – who had been released from prison for the first time two years earlier – also attended.

Reps. Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin issued a statement claiming Trump was violating federal law after the DOJ confirmed it will not release all Epstein files.

‘Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring,’ the statement read.

‘For months, Pam Bondi has denied survivors the transparency and accountability they have demanded and deserve and has defied the Oversight Committee’s subpoena.

‘The Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself, even as it gives star treatment to Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.’

Bill Gates has been dragged back into the scandal surrounding sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein following the latest tranche of evidence from the pedophile’s estate.

The Microsoft founder was again featured in images released from Epstein’s estate this week, part of an ongoing disclosure from House Democrats offering a new glimpse into Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.

In undated images from the latest tranche, Gates is seen with two women whose faces were blurred.

An additional picture reveals that Epstein kept a framed photo of Gates on the wall at his mansion on his private island.

Here is a closer look at all the individuals linked to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal who have died by suicide.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 988

Students Rosie P. Couture and Lola DeAscentiis are under scrutiny after two videos were posted to TikTok in November relating to Larry Summers, 70, telling a class about his ‘regret’ and ‘shame’ over seedy emails he sent to the disgraced pedophile.

The former US Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton reiterated his pledge to ‘step back from public activity’ in the clip, but said he would still fulfill his teaching obligations ‘for a time.’

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that President Trump has always wanted ‘full transparency’ with the release of the Epstein documents, but that their focus has been on protecting victims.

‘Just so everybody appreciates, President Trump has said for years that he wants full transparency and he wants the Department of Justice to release everything that we can with respect to this investigation and cases,’ Blanche claimed.

‘President Trump signed that law 30 days ago, and we have been working tirelessly since that day to make sure that, that we get every single document that we have within the Department of Justice, review it and get it to the American public,’ he added.