The Perils of a Politicized Justice Department

The Perils of a Politicized Justice Department The DOJ is unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt for its handling of the recent Epstein-files release. Mandel NGAN / AFP / Getty Illustration by Vivek Thakker Illustration by Anna Ruch / The Atlantic* This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. This past Friday was the legal deadline for releasing files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the Justice Department blew right through it. In an interview Friday morning, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged that not everything would be ready by the deadline. Even the partial release was flawed . As my colleague Charlie Warzel reported, the first tranche is full of extensive redactions. Although Congress required by law that the documents be released in a searchable form online, the function wasn’t working right . The materials released on Friday included many references to and photos of former President Bill Clinton but conspicuously few inclusions of President Donald Trump, who was once a close friend of Epstein’s. Then, on Saturday, at least 16 documents initially included in the dump were suddenly removed. (At least one, including a photo with Trump in it, has been reinstated.) Good explanations might exist for all of these things. Processing such a huge number of documents-hundreds of thousands, according to the DOJ-is a huge challenge under any circumstances, and these files are especially sensitive because they likely contain information about underage victims of sex crimes. Congress also granted the DOJ discretion to withhold documents related to ongoing investigations. Blanche said yesterday that the DOJ would not redact any information relating to Trump. But the Justice Department is unlikely to receive much benefit of the doubt in this case. Representatives Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, who spearheaded the effort to force the files’ release indicated yesterday that they might seek to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for not releasing all of the documents. Epstein victims have also blasted the administration, my colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick reported . “I feel really disappointed,” Sharlene Rochard told her. “America is getting a look tonight into how we have all felt for years.” A series of compounding failures led the DOJ to this moment. For years, the federal government failed to act effectively to stop Epstein’s crimes. One of the documents included in the Friday release was a 1996 complaint to the FBI alleging that Epstein possessed and distributed child pornography. The DOJ finally got around to investigating Epstein a decade later, only to let him strike a sweetheart plea deal. The government seemed to finally be pushing harder in 2019, but then Epstein died, in what was ruled a suicide, in a federal facility. The Trump Justice Department has done more damage just in the past few months....

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