Trump plans to exploit loophole to 'classify' swathes of Epstein files: biographer

Donald Trump is looking at ways that he could "classify" huge parts of the Jeffrey Epstein files through a loophole, according to his biographer Michael Wolff.

The writer, who spend months inside the White House during Trump's first term, believes the president could still effectively prevent the public release of files. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 427 to 1 to release the files, with the Senate unanimously voting to support that resolution. Trump signed the bill into law, a U-turn from his previous position on the files being a "Democratic hoax".

But the files could remain outside of the public eye should Trump use a loophole that Wolff has said would completely undermine the release. Speaking on The Daily Beast's Inside Trump's Head podcast, he said, "They don’t have to turn over files which are relevant to an ongoing investigation.

"Everything can be an ongoing investigation. Nor do they have to turn over files that are classified. And, basically, they can classify anything. So hell, what are we left with?"

"Basically you can classify anything. Whether that would hold up in a court is kind of irrelevant. Could you argue that that’s part of an ongoing investigation?

"Well, there’s an ongoing investigation of all of Epstein’s crimes. Is that related to that? And do you have to justify that? That’s also not clear. Or by the time you justify that, everything has moved on anyway."

Wolff went on to suggest that what feels like a major turning point in releasing the files could be more of a marginal move than anything else.

He added, "We have only marginally moved off the place where we were before there was this legislation. Trump is in charge and it almost is worse because what he will do now, of course, is release aspects of these files that incriminate other people."

Trump is unraveling elsewhere too, according to an analyst who believes the president is being dogged by his economic policies. Alex Shephard of The New Republic suggested the president's past "month of humiliations and stinging defeats" has been disastrous for the administration, and that a failure on one key issue is affecting him most of all.

Shephard wrote, "High costs destroyed Biden’s presidency, and they’re destroying Trump’s now too."

"He seems to understand this, because he’s unraveling. His public statements have become increasingly volatile and erratic." Trump has been taken to task by Democrats and Republicans on his response to the cost-of-living crisis.