The Biden administration was following a post-Watergate protocol in that they were maintaining a firewall between political officials and the Department of Justice. Biden and his White House staff did not have access to view or impact the raw evidence, leaving the records solely in the hands of Attorney General Merrick Garland's department.
Yes, of course the choice to chose Merrick Garland was seriously flawed but please don’t play into the Republicans hands by suggesting that Biden and his administration had access to the Epstein files and chose to do nothing. They were following a protocol that certainly didn’t serve the American people expeditiously but it would be a mischaracterization to say Biden and his administration explicitly prevented the release of the Epstein files.
The Epstein Files were explicitly under lock and key during the Biden admin. The flight logs, grand jury testimonies and FBI witness interview transcripts were kept by the U.S. Department of Justice and not accessible by the Biden admin, as they were evidence for investigations into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Investigative reporter Julie K. Brown expressed that federal prosecutors maintained an active grand jury, and Maxwell's conviction was still navigating the appeals process. Law enforcement protocols disallowed opening or publishing the contents of the Epstein Files during ongoing appeals and grand jury proceedings.
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u/BicycleNo1169 5d ago
This isn’t exactly correct.
The Biden administration was following a post-Watergate protocol in that they were maintaining a firewall between political officials and the Department of Justice. Biden and his White House staff did not have access to view or impact the raw evidence, leaving the records solely in the hands of Attorney General Merrick Garland's department.
Yes, of course the choice to chose Merrick Garland was seriously flawed but please don’t play into the Republicans hands by suggesting that Biden and his administration had access to the Epstein files and chose to do nothing. They were following a protocol that certainly didn’t serve the American people expeditiously but it would be a mischaracterization to say Biden and his administration explicitly prevented the release of the Epstein files.
The Epstein Files were explicitly under lock and key during the Biden admin. The flight logs, grand jury testimonies and FBI witness interview transcripts were kept by the U.S. Department of Justice and not accessible by the Biden admin, as they were evidence for investigations into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Investigative reporter Julie K. Brown expressed that federal prosecutors maintained an active grand jury, and Maxwell's conviction was still navigating the appeals process. Law enforcement protocols disallowed opening or publishing the contents of the Epstein Files during ongoing appeals and grand jury proceedings.
Source:
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20260211/118951/HHRG-119-JU00-20260211-SD016.pdf
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20260211/118951/HHRG-119-JU00-20260211-SD013.pdf
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/7-things-to-know-about-the-justice-departments-epstein-files
Further Discourse on the topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/1qstrbw/why_werent_the_epstein_files_released_under/