General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf embarrassing and damaging Trump details are in the Epstein Files...
Why wasn't it released by Biden between 2021 and November of 2024...
Might have gotten rid of this guy for once and for all...
Trump's reaction indicates there is SOMETHING in there that can hurt him... but what?
And before someone says "The DOJ wouldn't leak it!!"
I respond... "come on?!?..."
BTW my OP is based on the same topic being discussed on MSNBC, with Morning Joe recently...

MichMan
(15,503 posts)Kingofalldems
(39,731 posts)Hope this helps with your CONCERNS. In short he could not do it legally.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fact-check-why-former-president-biden-didn-t-release-the-epstein-files-even-if-they-mentioned-trump/ar-AA1IRx1B
WarGamer
(17,561 posts)BTW my OP is based on the same topic being discussed on MSNBC, with Morning Joe recently...
Kingofalldems
(39,731 posts)WarGamer
(17,561 posts)should he "give it up"?
What's that even mean?
Kingofalldems
(39,731 posts)And MAGAts all over the internet are asking the same question which was answered for you above.
FHRRK
(1,146 posts)And is Morning Joe that ignorant ex repuke Rep from FL?
I'm a CA guy, laid back, chill.
So have no clue about Morning J., other that is he the ignorant ex puke?
senseandsensibility
(22,943 posts)as if he is some arbiter of what Dems should be talking about.
WarGamer
(17,561 posts)So the conversation isn't moot.
Keepthesoulalive
(1,561 posts)He went to kiss his fat ass when he won. Something about wanting to start a dialogue.
sheshe2
(92,935 posts)https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/11/18/morning-joe-scarborough-mika-brzezinski-trump-meeting/76400312007/
he was interested in finding common ground with Democrats.

W_HAMILTON
(9,344 posts)
MichMan
(15,503 posts)From 2021 through 2025 when Biden was president the Epstein files were under strict federal court orders. Federal judges controlled the records to protect the privacy of trafficking victims including minors. Biden could not overrule those protections and no president can bypass federal judges to release sealed court evidence to the public.
Why then the resolutions in the House and Senate demanding release?
Scrivener7
(56,493 posts)(separate from the DOJ file that can't be released) because he says there are thousands of bank transaction records that can easily be investigated and traced and that will inevitably show the money trail of Epstein's trafficking operation.
Shouldn't be a problem for Donny if he never had anything to do with the trafficking.
I'm linking Wyden's speach on the Senate floor, and a summary of it. You owe it to yourself to watch the speech. He was amazing.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220496968
Raven123
(6,869 posts)1) Covid
2) Covid
3) Covid
4) the economy
5) Recovering our reputation with the world
6) Supporting Ukraine
7) Biden is not vindictive and would not release the files just to take down Trump. That is a RW strategy.
8j Even if #7 werent true, do you honestly think MAGA would have believe Biden? No. These people finding out the hard way is the only way they will get it, if they get it
Melon
(584 posts)Information because the administration is not vindictive? Pleeease. That doesnt hold water. Why do everything else if the administration had solid info against Trump? I think its because there is way too much dirt on both sides.
still-prayin4rain
(336 posts)republianmushroom
(20,705 posts)He didn't want to politicize the DOJ.
WarGamer
(17,561 posts)BOSSHOG
(43,356 posts)Garland thought inertia was progressive
underpants
(191,549 posts)Unlike Trump of course.
Of all the crap the Clustertrump is throwing at the wall that actually makes sense is collateral damage. Thats nonsense coming from Trump but its the most likely reason that existed. Epstein did horrible things, horrible, but he was also an access point for money. Start up, expansion, movies, etc. You and I can realize that a name showing up in a report arent necessarily involved with both but it could ruin peoples lives and frankly there are lots of Pizzagate types out there.
Scrivener7
(56,493 posts)have been released, I really hope that's because it was being thoroughly investigated. But I don't know that it was.
still-prayin4rain
(336 posts)Johonny
(24,198 posts)The 2020 election was about Trump's presidency. The 2024 election was about Biden's. It was the 2016 election where Trump's character was in play. Trump's friendship (decade plus long) with Epstein came out. Trump's sexual predatory nature. Trump's marriages, affairs, rape and sexual assault, the accusations of using Miss Teen USA to oogle young girls. All this was last really hashed over in 2016, when a lot of the new voters were in grade school through college and not giving a shit. It was assumed to be a known known that his voters didn't care about.
What changed was in the last election Bro Culture went heavy into both politics and into Trump's political brand. Bro culture is awash with Internet conspiracies. And the Epstein conspiracy is a big one. A lot of his new male voter base is heavy into Influencers and conspiracies. And many of these people didn't know how involved Trump was with Epstein. Rogan spent all his air time on Hunter Biden's laptop, he didn't ask Trump about any of this shit.
The fact Trump is acting like he is covering up something (the thing conspiracy peddlers love most is the appearance of a coverup) is more damaging than likely any one thing they will likely find out new information wise. His current shifty activities are the thing this culture feasts on. Trump is, more or less, now the deep state. By 2028, he will have been president for a majority of these people's adult lives. It is obviously getting harder and harder for him to pretend to be a government outsider. And these conspiracy people hate the government and their love their cover-ups.
No matter what he releases, it won't be evidence of a left wing global sex trafficking ring Qonon bull shit that never existed, so he's fucked. He has become one of them now. This is the humor in all this. He lost Bro Musk and Bro Musk controls Twitter, so good luck stamping this out over there. Bro Rogan isn't thrilled with him. Now he's got Bro Tucker etc . . . These guys are all competing for the same narrow audience and that audience loves themselves Epstein conspiracy shit.
uponit7771
(93,097 posts)There was a time when a politician's close friend being the worst pedo ever would've sunk them ... no more with the MAGA cult
Arazi
(8,173 posts)My understanding iirc, is the evidence was held by the FBI which was Christopher Wray. A Republican and a Trump appointee.
Combined with Garlands decision to abide by particularly strict norms and Bidens determination to get back to norms and you have the perfect storm of indecision
fujiyamasan
(491 posts)It almost seemed like the previous administration was intent on forgetting about Trump, until they realized the crimes were too serious to ignore (national security theft). Why else did Biden simply refer to him as the former guy?
Hell, it took until the January 6th commission for Garland to basically do anything.
Ive gotta ask what norms were even left after january 6th? You had a president that refused to leave office and basically formented a coup!
snot
(11,207 posts)I think voters on both sides wanted to see the records (redacted to protect victims) released and the abusers prosecuted. Some would of course try to discount charges against abusers from their own tribe and claim that the prosecutions were biased, but so long as there was substantive evidence for the prosecutions, I doubt anyone could persuasively claim that Biden was just being "petty."
Too many voters are concerned that there's a different, more lenient system for the powerful than there is for the rest of us, and want both to see real justice done and also have the chance to start figuring out which abusers might have been secretly blackmailed into making decisions that were inconsistent with our welfare or even treasonous.
fujiyamasan
(491 posts)Was Garland so far up the GOPs arse that he refused to partake in anything that seemed political?
Or was it to protect or avoid embarrassment of anyone? Why is the reaction by so many dems so muted? Why is Pelosi considering this a distraction? Is the leadership so inept to realize this story actually resonates with people and they cant take advantage of it?
So far, aside from Rho Khannas resolution call to release everything, I am far from impressed. I used to respect Pelosis political judgment, but I seriously hope she doesnt run again.
Sogo
(6,474 posts)It seems to me that Biden was pretty much hands off and let Garland run DOJ entirely. (That's likely why we never got any traction regarding Trump's 2020 insurrection.)
Trump is more than hands on; he's likely calling the shots in many cases.
Emile
(36,013 posts)no_hypocrisy
(52,355 posts)my best guess is that he didn't choose to release it for two reasons:
1. His faith. I have no doubt that Joe Biden would have meditated on this, asked his priest for guidance, and believed it would be sinful to purposely hurt another soul, especially after the latter had not held back on hurting him and his family.
2. His integrity and pragmatism. Joe Biden believed that he could win a second term without releasing the Epstein files. And if he did release the files and won, a certain segment of the population would believe that he won by playing dirty, by using the cruelest strategy against his opponent. (Don't get me wrong. The same segment would be cheering TSF for doing the same thing to Biden. Which he did. Hypocrisy reigns.)
tulipsandroses
(7,698 posts)there was evidence in those files that proves trump sexually abused underaged girls. I do think there are things that would embarrass him.
Michael Wolff has repeatedly said that Epstein showed him a picture of trump with topless young girls. He also said the picture shows the girls laughing and pointing at a stain in the front of trump's pants.
Wolff does not say the girls are underaged. It is interesting that he is suing WSJ and Murdoch, but Wolff has been telling that specific story for months. I have yet to hear him say he is suing Wolff. He just calls him a failed writer, blah blah blah.
If those girls in the photographs were 18, then there was nothing to prosecute. Would that have been enough for MAGA to turn on him? Or do they say its nothing like the Access Hollywood tape?
Wolff interviewed Epstein before he died. He talked about their lewd and lascivious behavior with women. trump has gotten away with so much, it would be easy to admit that yeah, I was a dog, what he said is true but they were all adults. Or maybe he thinks that is a bridge too far- even though he was with adults, cavorting with a known sex offender when he has been fueling fire to the "Democrat pedophile sex ring".
But I may be wrong. I'm not ruling anything out. Just going by what information is already out there.
W_HAMILTON
(9,344 posts)Do you really wonder why the """Biden's""" DOJ/FBI didn't release this information?
The same DOJ/FBI there during the Obama administration that threatened mutiny to pressure Comey to go against DOJ guidelines and interfere in the 2016 election to the detriment of Hillary? The same DOJ/FBI that repeatedly screwed over Hillary that election cycle and yet was not cleaned out by the meek Merrick Garland?
The same DOJ/FBI that leaked to The New York Times in the lead-up to the 2016 election that they saw "no clear link" between Trump and Russia?"
The same DOJ/FBI that was described as "Trumpland" in a detailed report by one of the few reputable news organizations we have left? (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/fbi-leaks-hillary-clinton-james-comey-donald-trump)
The same DOJ/FBI that slow-walked the Trump investigations for literally over a year until a special counsel had to be appointed to take them over?
I mean, a sizable portion of his MAGA base is angry with him over raping children, and yet... -- oh, you!
Kablooie
(18,951 posts)So there was no reason to release scandal material which is a low blow. Everything was going to be on the up and up.
miyazaki
(2,472 posts)A revelation this damning would cause spontaneous combustion.
Fine with me.
Brainfodder
(7,532 posts)While JB was president, the previous was too busy attacking his son and in court for 34 convictions?
WarGamer
(17,561 posts)Peacetrain
(24,126 posts)I do not know if it for Maxwell or a news outlet that sued for the files.. but the cat is out of the bag, and that ornery tiger is not going back in the bag,,