President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice just made a damning admission about some key files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case that the agency possesses, one that could backfire spectacularly, according to analysts.
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Kel McClanahan, executive director of public interest law firm National Security Counselors, and Allison Gill, founder of MSW Media, discussed their ongoing lawsuit to retrieve training manuals the Trump DOJ created to guide agents through the redaction process for the Epstein files during a new episode of Gill’s podcast, “The Breakdown.” Gill noted that the DOJ made a “stunning” revelation in its latest denial of her company’s open records request to get the training documents, one that could put the DOJ in legal jeopardy.
Gill noted that a recent trove of Epstein files obtained by Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold revealed a PowerPoint slide deck she believed could be the sought-after redaction training materials. So, Gill and McClanahan filed their own Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the PowerPoint.
She characterized the DOJ’s denial of the request as, “We have the records, but we’re not giving them to you.” That appears to violate the section of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that required the DOJ to publish any documents concerning the alteration of the Epstein files themselves.
“They have them!” Gill said.
McClanahan described the admission as a “big deal.” He noted that the Trump DOJ cited aspects of the open records law that prevent it from disclosing personal information for privacy reasons, as well as sensitive law enforcement techniques or procedures.
McClanahan said the DOJ also invoked what he described as the “privilege exemption” in its denial of the records request, which is used to withhold material marked as attorney-client privileged.
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It’s the same exemption that the DOJ invoked when it tried to hide documents related to former Attorney General Bill Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, or lawyer John Eastman’s communications with the White House about the Jan. 6 riot. The DOJ ended up losing both of those cases, Gill noted.
McClanahan said invoking that clause could backfire on the DOJ.
“We are … in a perfect storm of bad luck for the agency here,” McClanahan said. “Before last year, it was called the ‘Withhold What You Want To Exemption’ because judges would swallow hook, line and sinker … that [the documents] would reveal the deliberative process,” McClanahan said.
He added that judges will likely view that exemption less favorably because the Trump DOJ has lost what’s called the “presumption of regularity,” or the assumption that government officers will act in good faith.
“While they’re going to argue that they’re entitled to it … this is a case over the Epstein files where there is so much misconduct, so many things floating around that cast doubt on this … that this falls under the misconduct exemption,” McClanahan said.
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