Washington Post editorial board comes out against releasing the Epstein files

[Celerity]

51. From the editorial: Now that the law has passed so overwhelmingly, it is essential for the government to promptly comply

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/20/jeffrey-epstein-files-trump-justice-department/

https://archive.ph/KQxcS



snip

Federal prosecutors have the power, with a judge’s signoff, to seize almost anyone’s records. That information can become public if it is evidence in a criminal case. It shouldn’t solely because there is political clamoring to view it. That norm prevents the Justice Department from becoming a roving political instrument. Of course, the norm of law-enforcement secrecy works best when people trust law enforcement. The criminal-legal system failed in Epstein’s case to do justice in the first instance, then failed again by allowing him to die in jail in 2019 before he could go on trial. The apparent extent of Epstein’s abuse and connections to the rich and powerful are fodder for conspiracy theories.

People in Trump’s orbit indulged Epstein conspiracies for political gain before they blew up in their faces. Now Democrats are indulging them because they think Trump himself might be tainted, even as the president vigorously denies any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct. Trump says the two had a falling out before the financier was charged with any crime. The mistrust is now so widespread that opposing disclosure was futile. Higgins had no hope of stopping the political stampede, but don’t expect the coming disclosures to refute the conspiracy theories.

After all, the measure Trump signed Wednesday contains an exception for information that could interfere with “an active federal investigation.” Trump ordered up just such an investigation last Friday — contradicting his own Justice Department’s statement that the case was closed. Bondi claimed Wednesday that she received new information but declined to provide details. The bill also does not waive grand jury secrecy rules and allows the Justice Department to withhold material that “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” In announcing on social media that he signed the law, Trump showed his intention to keep leveraging Epstein’s crimes against Democrats. The president said Epstein was “a lifelong Democrat,” noted that it was the Trump Justice Department that indicted him in 2019 and accused Democrats of using the files to “distract” from his achievements.

Now that the law has passed so overwhelmingly, it is essential for the government to promptly comply. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is right that it will be a “mistake” if the Trump administration plays games. For example, it will be scandalous if the Justice Department tries to use the privacy exemption to withhold information about Republicans while putting out similar information about Democrats. Politicians claim to want to restore public trust in institutions, but often they’re merely exploiting the loss of trust for their own gain. The result in this instance was a stampede for “transparency” that could surface some information in the public interest while also distorting the Justice Department’s role. Don’t expect it to be the last.