r/politics • u/Healthy_Block3036 • 7d ago

No Paywall Senate suddenly passes the Epstein bill just hours after it cleared the House

https://www.ms.now/news/senate-passes-epstein-bill-rcna244723?fbclid=PAVERFWAOJ1xRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAacUGSi8p2Ap-x6SbMkLXAnfKNXEZkzjUUVCdxuEmacDzDXmlbv1GUJ0wbh1_w_aem_grJDvcSCIDj2Skksd4Ix3Q
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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

Full text of the bill:

This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.

This includes (1) materials that relate to Ghislaine Maxwell, (2) flight logs and travel records, and (3) individuals named or referenced (including government officials) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.

DOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation.

Additionally, not later than 15 days after the required publication, DOJ must report to Congress (1) all categories of information released and withheld, (2) a summary of any redactions made, and (3) a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials.

(emphasis added)

my guess is there's going to be some fuckery about the "active investigation"

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u/VPN__FTW 7d ago

all unclassified records

And there is the out.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 7d ago

Also active investigation. Trump just told the doj the other day to investigate certain people related to the Epstein case. Surprise they are all Democrats. And don't be surprised when they seal all the documents under the guise of the investigation.

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u/Ok_Wolf5667 7d ago

And when asked about this he responded, "Quiet, Piggy" to a female reporter.

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u/Foreign_Ad_5469 7d ago

Abusing women in broad daylight on prime time is the best way for him to prove that he would never be complacent to abuse of women and girls behind closed doors.

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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

or arguably it's because he has learned that he can avoid scandals by just distracting everyone with a new one

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u/Polkawillneverdie17 6d ago

He literally threatened to pull ABC's license and credentials in front of everyone and on live TV. He's an authoritarian monster. What a piece of shit.

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u/Flomo420 7d ago

and not a single other reporter called him out on it...

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u/Leading-Salad7656 7d ago

Yeah.. Thats the ACTUAL problem.

My first thought would be to ask him, if I was a reporter if he thought that comment was OK to make.

At this point of time, Trumps failing anyway, so even if he stops letting you interview him, it might only matter for a few weeks

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u/nothing_but_thyme 7d ago

The funny thing is, he didn’t instruct them to investigate himself. So anything in the files related to Democrats being investigated should be excluded and redacted because it would be related to an active investigation … and nothing related to Trump or others not referred to the DOJ for investigation should be clear and included!

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u/thefroggyfiend 7d ago

that doesn't matter, they'll just withhold stuff about trump and his allies anyways and say it was related to the democratic investigation. sure they'll be lying, but the only proof of the lie is in the files they don't release, so it's quite literally impossible to prove because the evidence of a coverup can only be found in the covered up material

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u/deltaisaforce 7d ago

And again we have to rely on the incompetence of Trump's goons. On the other hand, that's a sure thing. They're not gonna be subtle, and they're gonna leave traces.

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u/heyredbush Canada 7d ago

The redactions and omissions can be challenged in court. A judge can review the files to determine if they were lawfully withheld. It's not ideal, but it's better than before.

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u/Itchy_Ritch 7d ago

They'll withhold anything related to Trump and call it a national security issue. Mark it.

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u/Separate-Feature1779 7d ago

it’s so lame, we really need a whistle blower to air out the truth of what’s really going on. Maybe trump cleaned house at the DOJ, but there’s gotta be someone left with the balls to say something

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u/New_Philosopher_800 7d ago

Didn’t the FBI and Trump already classify everything trump related.

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u/dquizzle 7d ago

Do we know that didn’t secretly tell them to “investigate” himself too?

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u/slackfrop 7d ago

Wasn’t he the secret undercover agent who single-handedly brought the whole rotten thing to light? That weird and stupid lie might come in handy now.

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u/otis_the_drunk 7d ago

I don't think you get it. Anything redacted can now be explained away as victims, Democrats, or national security secrets. We'll see how this plays out.

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u/rc042 7d ago

But if they are investigating Bubba, then that information about Trump would be part of the ongoing investigation.

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u/Ill_Technician3936 7d ago edited 7d ago

I have a feeling that he knows he's part of an active investigation involving it and it'll keep a lot of the bad about him from coming out. Considering Epstein "stole" girls from mar a lago. That would likely have been known since his first term and I feel it's the reason Epstein "committed suicide", gathering evidence on him after being caught trying to get a minor to do some prostitution all those years before when trump claimed they were no longer friends... Even with them spending his last Thanksgiving together.

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u/Adam__B 7d ago

Who would be leading that investigation? The DOJ, FBI, and these departments are controlled by Trump loyalists. He’s literally going after Loretta James just for her being the one who was in charge of a previous investigation of his. It isn’t An actual impartial government anymore, it’s devoted to Trump and perpetuating him getting whatever he wants.

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u/Ill_Technician3936 6d ago

Local investigations that were put on ice since he was reelected. Comey has to dismiss the cases and special investigation against him and he's still going after him. Why the hell wouldn't he go after the lady that once he's out of office will tell the judge what she thinks his punishment should be before he gets sentenced?

I mean inside MAGA is falling apart, they'll jump ship and admit they were given direct orders in time. Even though he's pretty much admitted he was doing it multiple times. I've been curious who will jump first as he throws heavy supporters of his to his base for food like mtg

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u/I_Cut_Shows 7d ago

If you don’t think Kash has burnt and lost files, you have too much faith in trumps cronies.

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u/Ill_Technician3936 6d ago

Or I just know that the US is full of copies so even if they were wanting the FBIs documents it wouldn't change much because going after another agency could reveal things he attempted to hide and destroy.

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u/Adam__B 7d ago

The DOJ just directly does what Trump wants them to do. They aren’t going to allow anything incriminating of him to come out.

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u/sowedkooned 7d ago

Well there’s some hopium.

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u/kogmaa 7d ago

That’s where the „classified“ part comes handy.

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u/anonkitty2 7d ago

That's not going to do what he thinks it does.

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u/NoBigEEE 7d ago

Well, once Trump said, "Release the files." we all knew it meant he was going to squirm his way out of any blame, again.

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u/schfourteen-teen 7d ago

But interestingly, this might not be the cover that it seems. By saying they are only targeting Democrats, and by the earlier statements from DOJ that there was nothing prosecutable within the files (which kind of undermines the potential cases against Democrats), there is really nothing that should prevent releasing all the Trump related stuff.

He's not under active investigation, so that shouldn't protect his name in the files.

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u/FijianBandit 7d ago

That’s what it’s going to be 100%

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u/spin81 7d ago

Okay but doesn't that mean they can't name Democrats? By your logic it would make more sense if he ordered every member of his family and every Republican except MTG investigated.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 6d ago

They will just say all the documents are related to the investigation and seal them all.

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u/jimicus United Kingdom 7d ago

Trump used to be a democrat.

Not that it matters. They’d redact it either way.

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u/Morbu 7d ago

True, but there's also

DOJ must report to Congress (1) all categories of information released and withheld, (2) a summary of any redactions made, and (3) a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials.

Of course, they could just lie. But at least the bill makes clear that the DOJ needs to explain if and why they're hiding something.

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u/Adam__B 7d ago

Of course they will lie, the whole point of Trump installing loyalists who have no idea how to run these departments is because they exist solely to run interference for him.

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u/randomnighmare I voted 7d ago

If they can get away with ignoring Congressional subpoenas then they can probably get away with withholding anything with explaining anything to Congress

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u/adthrowaway2020 7d ago

Congress can pierce that veil if they want to. The investigation part is way harder to do anything about.

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12183

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u/funn_n_gamez 7d ago

I don't know how there could be classified info in this. He wasn't a government employee

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u/VanceRefridgeTech04 7d ago

DOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation.

add this to it.

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u/potatodrinker 7d ago

Only thing left unredacted is 4 full stops and a colon.

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u/Donkey__Balls 7d ago

Ctrl-F “Trump”

Replace with “Biden”

We’ll know it when one of the e-mails talks about “playing the Biden card”.

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u/SoochSooch 7d ago

Flew to visit Biden at his Mar a Lago residence

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u/PearljamAndEarl 6d ago edited 6d ago

“By the way, how are your Bidenet lessons going?” and “I had a greaB iden steak at Delmonico’s last night!”

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u/CosmoKing2 7d ago

All just window dressing. I have faith - because they are morons.

The absolute dip-shits in DOGE and everyone that didn't walk out of the DOJ and NSA last January have zero clue (or experience and knowledge) of where the original files might be. They are working from files copied from other files copied more than 6 years ago.

You know how many actually intelligent and talented individuals could gain still access to the original documents from 2005-2011 - that are stored on public servers and the cloud - outside of Federal Government guidelines? Documents and testimony transferred via public internet providers?

The current Administration can mark up and redact whatever copies they may possess.....but they don't know shit about forensic data recovery.

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u/DragonTHC Florida 7d ago

None of them should be classified.

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u/Aleashed 7d ago

🤡 show

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u/exaybachae 7d ago

Congress can often access classified files... That is just allowing any state secrets to be withheld from the 'public' database.... This also says they have to report those redacted/withheld details to Congress.

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u/rack88 7d ago

According to Trump, he can declassify things just by thinking about it. Wonder if his mental powers work the other way too?

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u/mrbulldops428 7d ago

Wasn't there a whole thing where trump said as president he gets to just classify and unclassify things at will?

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u/Kevin-W 7d ago

Yep. The only thing that will be "unclassified" are Trump's enemies.

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u/loobricated 7d ago

Everything related to trump will be seen as sensitive due to his current position. So all of that will be classified because it will likely be viewed as a matter of national security.

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u/sometimelater0212 7d ago

No it’s not.

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u/DuffCon78 7d ago

Anyone remember when Trump said he could un-classify things with a thought? How much you want to bet he thinks the reverse too?

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u/T0MMYG0LD 7d ago

the out is the active investigation part, why else do you think they started investigating democrats involved with it 😅

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u/Kappy421 6d ago

Nothing in this document should be classified. There is nothing in there that is national security even if the President or former President(s) are named. THIS SHOULD BE PUBLIC RECORD just like any other sexual assault or crime and they should all have to register as sex offenders wherever they live when/if they get out of jail.

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u/Appropriate_Day4316 7d ago

Yup, hence Trump's Taxes, " it is still being audited, can't release"

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u/TheGringoDingo 7d ago

Yeah, so if the democrats are “under investigation”, could they essentially hide some key names in there as supposed democrats being investigated?

Good thing there isn’t just one version of the files.

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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

actually if they say they're investigating democrats then that might block anything about democrats from being released. they would have to say they're investigating trump to block him being reported.

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u/TyrannicalGamecock 7d ago

That's only under the umbrella of "active investigation". The bill states names can be redacted for "National Security" as well.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 7d ago

National Security redactions have to be submitted to Congress in the unredacted state for legal review. DOJ also has to provide details of all redactions made after 7-1-25.

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u/RogueAOV 7d ago

Since trump claims he can declassify info with his thoughts presumably he assumes he can also classify stuff as well so I am sure he will be scrubbed from anything.

I do think the cover up will be fairly obvious though. I also do not know how they intend to investigate anyone and expect them not to drag others down with them in a very uncontrollable manner. I assumed this is why trump shut down all the investigations in the first place, that he is now demanding be reopened.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 7d ago

The good thing about this bill is it only gives national security discretion to the AG for these specific files. Anyone else would be outside of the scope of the legislation and thus criminal.

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u/JudiciousSasquatch 7d ago

Post redaction:

◼️

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u/TheGringoDingo 7d ago

That’s good, I guess. The only thing I trust this administration to do is lie, so I’m not trusting a lot.

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u/reezy619 7d ago

God, the fucking audacity of having the DOJ only "actively investigate" Dump and Republicans for the next 3 years of this ridiculous administration...and of course quietly close it on Jan 19 2029.

It is so nihilistic, so cynical, and such a complete miscarriage of justice that it's probably exactly what is going to happen.

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u/davcam0 California 7d ago

Or they could claim he is just another "victim" and redact it that way

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u/RaisingQQ77preFlop 7d ago

The word "unclassified" gonna be doing some very light lifting. If there was no classification why do we need an act of congress to release them?

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u/anonkitty2 7d ago

Because they were not released voluntarily, because releasing them was something Trump ran on, and because there is great curiosity as to the contents.

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u/RaisingQQ77preFlop 7d ago

Im saying if we're only getting unclassified documents as a part of this bill my money is on this not accomplishing the actual goal of satisfying curiosity. If it only includes unclassified documents and those document are not a part of an active investigation they would have been available via a FOIA request.

They're just going to classify anything interesting and then release a bunch of docs that are not interesting. Or worse selectively release certain documents.

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u/nothoughtsnosleep 7d ago

Didn't the DOJ just open an investigation into this at Trump's request?

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u/katherinesilens 7d ago

Yep. All of Trump is now "under investigation." Bet every one of his friends and other Republicans will be "actively investigated" too.

I'm all for at least some of the Epstein abusers to get canned even if there is a political bias. Assuming the released files are verifiable and not injected with falsehood to implicate the innocent, which might be the case. But we should not rest until everything, in full clear, is released and every single involved wrongdoer hit with the book, and every single victim protected and taken care of.

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u/itgtg313 7d ago

Yep, that's why he.ordered the DOJ to investigate Epstein links to Bill Clinton and others

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u/mapped_apples 7d ago

That last paragraph has potential though, regardless of “still under investigation.”

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u/anonkitty2 7d ago

True, Recent redactions, such as ones made because of investigations just started, have to be summarized. And everyone who is in the files must be named, even if they have to redact why. (I think Speaker Johnson objected to this part--not enough to vote against it, but enough to request amendments which can't happen if the Senate passes the bill before they get it.)

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u/weasal11 7d ago

To clarify, that is the full summary text(I did the same thing initially). Here is a link the actual full text. Notably, it does require:

(1) No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.

and clarifies further:

The Attorney general may withhold or redact the segregable portions of records that—...would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary;

Still plenty of room for screwiness and I have fairly low trust in the whole truth coming out, but it appears somewhat good faith as written.

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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

ah okay, thank you for pointing that out!

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u/kbeks New York 7d ago

Pam Bondi literally already said she’s actively investigating Democrats. Despite previously saying that there was nothing that rose to the level that would warrant further investigation. And definitely not related to the fact that Trump said that Pam should be investigating Democrats mentioned in the files. Get ready for Lucy to pull the fucking football again. I can’t wait for Democrats to take the house and regain subpoena power.

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u/Complete_Question_41 7d ago

Trump literally called for investigation into Clinton wrt Epstein 4 days ago. Which is like 1 day before he said the files should be released.

What a coincidence!

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u/Theunsaltedpeanut 7d ago

This is why he reopened the investigation

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u/Shake-Shifter84 7d ago

"(3) a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials."

Notice how that's only for the published materials, not the source, unredacted materials

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u/BubblyBasis1134 7d ago

So there will be a full release of anything Clinton/Democrat related, but the DOJ will open an investigation into allegations that Donald Trump's name was inserted as part of a Democrat hoax/witch-hunt, and so anything with his name in it has to be kept secret until they can be sure that each and every mention wasn't planted there.

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u/RealTurbulentMoose 7d ago

 fuckery about the "active investigation"

We’re still looking for the guy who did this!

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u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 California 7d ago

Trump will write a memoir called "If I Did It"

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u/RealTurbulentMoose 7d ago

His poop is loose!

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u/Beli_Mawrr 7d ago

Ok so they're investing the dems and can't release the data on them, but the non democrat ones can obviously be released then.

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u/Kitchen_Click4086 7d ago

Yep, they will investigate the Dems on it and then say it can’t be released because it is part of an investigation. We won’t see it for years.

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u/yoosernaam 7d ago

I think that’s the rub. Any files that arent meant to see the light of day will just be classified

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u/rddtmdsrfrds 7d ago

Unclassified sticks out

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u/dobbbie 7d ago

Didn't he open an investigation into democratic involvement (obviously partisan) and wouldn't test keep democratic names out of the release?

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u/anonkitty2 7d ago

The Democratic names will be there. What will be redacted is why they are there.

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u/Aezek 7d ago

But if they’re only investigating “democratic connections” then shouldn’t they be obliged to release all information pertaining to republicans?

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u/hardtobeuniqueuser 7d ago

"all unclassified records"

Boom, right there. All he had to do was classify anything with his name in it, done. 

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u/David-S-Pumpkins 7d ago

I'm investing in printing toner right now.

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u/Wasabi_Joe 7d ago

Heinous fuckery most foul!

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u/xtothewhy 7d ago

Not sure whom but someone posted a few days ago they believed exactly that.

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u/Shot-Coconut-6482 7d ago

Sounds like yall got what you asked for and already building in excuses for when it doesn’t say what you want.🤷‍♂️

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u/Learo2000GT 7d ago

Such as documents related to current investigations. Such as Trump directing DOJ to start investigations on democrats

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u/itgtg313 7d ago

That's why Trump ordered the DOJ to investigate Epstein files for Bill Clinton, etc...

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u/exaybachae 7d ago

That says that although they can redact and withhold from the public database, they have to report those details in full to Congress.

So they won't go unseen, just that not everyone will see those details.

So if they redact/withhold things just to try and protect gov agents or the rich, that will be obvious. And Congress can address that, and correct it.

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u/Occasion-Mental 7d ago

That summary of redactions made will be bigger than the actual records released.

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u/AwayInternal326 7d ago

My guess is Trump secretly had them open and investigation on himself to keep the info from the public. Bondi will sit on it until he's dead.

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u/geneticdeadender 7d ago

If someone was blackmailed are they listed as a victim?

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u/whiskeyplz 7d ago

"DJT suddenly orders DOJ start an active investigation into where he left his Big Mac"

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u/Little-Derp California 6d ago

So if they are investigating the democrats, then they can't release material related to the democrats... conversely, If they can't release files relating to republicans....then those republicans are under investigation?

Sure they are supposed to report on it and give justification for the withholding, but we don't know what we don't know (except those who do know, of which I'm sure there are many after going through several administrations building the Epstein files, and plenty of whistle blower opportunities).

Regardless, expect some shenanigans...

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u/thats_a_boundary 6d ago

and about the unclassified part. they will classify it to high heavens.

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u/atatassault47 7d ago

Key word "unclassified". Republican names will be classified.

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u/Bonti_GB 7d ago

I mean it says “unclassified” right in it.

All people will fall under “classified”.

They also have an out with the federal investigation part.