Earlier this week, the Justice Department released a memo stating that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and that there was no “client list” used to blackmail powerful figures. However, years of online conspiracy theories have suggested otherwise.
The Trump administration called the memo the product of an “exhaustive review.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said certain documents were withheld because they contained graphic content and child sexual abuse material.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has called on the DOJ to release more. “The American people deserve to know truth ref. Epstein, regardless of who it impacts,” she said. Luna questioned the idea that the withheld material only contains explicit victim content, saying there is “plenty of evidence and info not pertaining to CSAM/victims” that could be released.
She is not convinced that this represents the fullest possible transparency.
President Trump has been exonerated. He is not considered a person of interest in our Congressional investigation. Democrats continue to insist otherwise to smear him and sabotage his presidency. It’s a political game to them. pic.twitter.com/QlwlWE3YFd
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) February 27, 2026
A recent investigation by NPR reported that the Justice Department has withheld or removed some Epstein-related files that mention Trump. More than 50 pages of FBI interviews and notes about a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago (when she was a minor) are available in the internal records, but not publicly available. The FBI reportedly interviewed the accuser four times. But only the first interview is in the public database and does not mention Trump.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department insists that the unpublished documents are either privileged, duplicates, or tied to ongoing investigations. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote a letter to Congress.
In it, they insisted that no records were withheld due to:
“Embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.”
The White House maintains Trump has been “totally exonerated” in connection with Epstein. A spokeswoman told NPR that Trump has released thousands of pages after signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act and encouraged investigations.
RELATED: DOJ Forced To Respond to Accusations of Non-Compliance With Epstein Law
Recently, roughly 3 million pages of the Epstein files were released. Since then, lawyers representing his victims called the redactions “ham-fisted,” and said that the government exposed survivors to shield powerful figures. One attorney described the handling as “outrageous,” while another said thousands of redaction errors exposed victims who didn’t come forward.
Redacted Files: Trump’s name was mentioned 38,000 times.
Unredacted Files: Trump’s name was mentioned over 1,000,000 times.
This is a flagrant violation of the Epstein Transparency Act, which only permits the redaction of victim names.
People need to go to prison for this. pic.twitter.com/mNn8YdCX1T
— Micah (@micah_erfan) February 10, 2026
Lawmakers from both parties have demanded access to unredacted files for congressional oversight duties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued the law requiring full release is not being properly followed. Legally, a president does not personally control what the Justice Department publishes, as the DOJ is supposed to operate independently.
That said, presidents do have influence both formally and informally. So if Trump really wanted to be transparent, he could call for the release of all non-victim-related materials, support congressional review of unredacted files and declassify any executive-branch documents that are not legally restricted. He could also instruct DOJ to provide clearer explanations for withheld pages.
Blanche still says the public’s “hunger” for information may not be satisfied even then.
