Democracy watchdog sues for files on Trump-Epstein relationship
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President Donald Trump, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi at a news conference at the White House. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images.
The nonpartisan Democracy Defenders Fund has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department over the agency's refusal to release documents from the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that mention President Trump and his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Why it matters: The DOJ has repeatedly resisted efforts to make all of the documents in its possession public, and the suit comes as Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell offered new insight into Epstein and Trump's relationship in recently released transcripts.
What they're saying: "The games the administration is playing with re-releasing already public documents while withholding the Trump-Epstein files and other key information is another betrayal of survivors," former Amb. Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund said.
- "In a democracy, transparency isn't optional. It's the law, and it's the bare minimum the American people are owed."
- The White House and the Justice Department did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Driving the news: The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to force the administration to respond to a series of Freedom of Information Act requests the group filed over a month ago.
- The requests seek all records related to the DOJ investigation into Epstein and Maxwell that mention Trump, including any code word or pseudonym that "is used to refer to Donald J. Trump or Mar-a-Lago."
- The suit specifically mentions that there are records the DOJ hasn't released that could be of public interest, after Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told the president that he was in the Epstein files.
- Bondi also directed 1,000 FBI agents to search roughly 100,000 Epstein-related files last March and "flag" any documents that mention the president.
Zoom out: The administration has pursued multiple avenues to satisfy the public's appetite in learning more about the Epstein files, including long-shot bids to release the investigation's grand jury transcripts and conducting new interviews with Maxwell.
- In those interviews, Maxwell said she had never seen the president "in any inappropriate setting," and that he was "a gentleman in all respects."
- Trump has not ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, and victims of the sex offender said they felt "horror and outrage" over the "preferential treatment" the Bureau of Prisons offered Maxwell by moving her to a minimum security prison in Texas last month, calling it "a cover up."
Go deeper: Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell: "I do not believe he died by suicide"
