All posts tagged "jeffrey epstein"

Trump's insanity is hiding the one thing that will finish him

Americans spent last week cringing over President Donald Trump's behavior, both at home and abroad in Davos, Switzerland, especially as the wanna-be king asserted he will take Greenland one way or another, even admitting that his personal desire to obtain it played a bigger role in his decision than national security.

But while one must absolutely hold Trump accountable for his never-ending insane bullying on the world stage, everyone best entertain the strong possibility that it is less Trump flailing away as a man experiencing cognitive decline than being crazy like the proverbial fox. It sure appears that Trump is willing to look like a self-absorbed maniac on the world stage, so long as his inanity blocks Americans' focus on the potentially-explosive revelations in the Epstein files.

No scandal has hit Trump harder, none posing a greater risk, than what might explode from those FBI files against a man who places his personal interests over everything else, in every context. It all forces us to lay much of the blame or explanation of Trump's dangerous Greenland talk as merely a convenient distraction, buying Trump valuable time, even at the expense of further trashing the country's reputation with neighbors and former allies.

Almost as an aside, but very related to Esptein, it's worth noting that Trump has never sounded more like a brute than when asserting an American right to take Greenland. He asserts all American rights or interests in Greenland as wrapped up in military dominance and wealth. As a nearly untouchable, powerful man nonetheless hearing the word "No," from both Greenland and Denmark, Trump responds with little more than a version of, "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

It is almost impossible to not see how the same discussion might have occurred with a woman who continues to say, "No."

In Davos, Trump's behavior forced experts to question his sanity at levels over and above the torrid past. He stumbled, using "Iceland," instead of "Greenland" at least three times, while ripping Canadian leadership and the EU's defense of Denmark, while rambling about his grievances.

Trump even admitted he felt little need to act peacefully because he believed that he had been "overlooked" for the Nobel Prize — behavior no different than a 13-year-old failing to get what he wants and responding with over-the-top rebellious behavior.

He isn't doing this in a vacuum.

Congress notes that it has received a mere one percent of the Epstein documents — a near-stupefying fact, forcing everyone to wonder what can possibly be in those files, material so damaging that career officials like Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have put their own legal fates on the line by withholding materials the law clearly mandates be released.

There is a tendency to get lost amidst Trump's history of attacking clear truth — attempting to overturn an election, reversing the January 6 narrative, etc — such that we cannot even see the Epstein matter at its most basic level, in its shocking corruption and criminality.

Simply consider that we have a president who may be implicated as at least knowing of and perhaps participating in the biggest, most notorious child sex-trafficking ring in American history, and that the same president is personally interfering in the investigation, to protect himself and his friends as assailants.

Clear out all we know about Trump and lay the above out as a purely objective matter. It would be extremely tough to name anything more damning, more deserving of bipartisan questions regarding impeachment, than interfering with an investigation of powerful people engaging in child rape. Yet he's doing all he can to cover the investigation up, even calling victims "Democrats."

Commentators have long noted that Trump will do nearly anything to "wag the dog," to fog over Epstein headlines. We noted that he might declare martial law or invoke the Insurrection Act, even cancel elections, anything to distract. We all knew it was coming. Nonetheless, it's hard to see it play out in real time.

So while it is critical to hold Trump accountable for his insane behavior on the world stage, it is also critical to never forget that he has proved willing to do nearly everything necessary to generate outrage that doesn't flow from Epstein.

The Department of Justice has released a tiny fraction of its files, even sitting under the sword of Damocles that Congress put in place, forcing everyone to ask, Why?

Only one answer makes sense. Hold that fact and it becomes obvious why Trump is willing to make a joke of himself on the world stage, or invade Venezuela, or investigate Fed Chair Jerome Powell, occupy Minnesota, even to state that the Insurrection Act makes everything "easier," implying he simply wants to "rule."

It all appears planned. It is also working.

Everything is on the table — Greenland, insurrection, tariffs, Cuba, everything — so long as those files stay under the table. We should never forget and never stop pushing. Ultimately, Epstein may explain all.

Jason Miciak is a past associate editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, and an American attorney. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, and on Twitter @JasonMiciak, or Bluesky @jasonmiciak.bsky.social

This GOP Epstein gambit is plain hypocritical — and can't shield Trump for long

You’ve got to hand it to the Republicans. The hypocrisy they practice daily is truly world class, and never more so than as it applies to the Epstein Files.

You may have heard that on Wednesday, the ironically named House Oversight Committee — whose unwillingness to examine any culpability from the current administration in the matter of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein matter is quite the “oversight” — voted to charge former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with criminal contempt of Congress, over their refusal to testify in the Epstein investigation.

This would be the same Department of Justice probe that is now more than a month behind schedule in releasing more than 99 percent of the unclassified materials demanded under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Evidently, the GOP thought the legislation was called the Epstein Files Disappearing Act.

What’s the hold up? Such an excellent question. I might have overheard a few excuses:

“The boxes that contain them are just too heavy. We’re trying to hire some really strong guys to lift them.”
“We’re way behind on rent at the storage facility where they’re being housed, and they won’t let us access them until we get square.”
“They’re still being vetted by our crack team at the assisted living home.”
“We’re struggling to translate them from Latin.”

The few batches of documents the DOJ has released are just enough to paint Bill Clinton as a guy who liked to hang with Epstein and his convicted sex trafficking accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Remarkably, nearly every other name in the docs is redacted. Or perhaps they simply have odd names, spelled with thick black lines drawn through them.

Let’s face it: the excuse that more time is needed to scale the redactions and protect the victims’ identities is a complete crock. Even if we’re talking about more than two million docs and exhibits, dedicating a team of 20 or 25 (or 50 or 150) people to the task of poring over them shouldn’t take nearly this long.

It's clear this is a matter of delaying justice, and we all know what they say about justice delayed. But where is the contempt charge for Attorney General Pam Bondi? Nowhere to be found, of course.

When you’re Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the Republican Oversight chair, accountability is a one-way street, and the rule of law applies only to Democrats.

Indeed, it’s downright remarkable that this sit-on-their-hands, see no evil, hear no evil House suddenly sprang to life when the Clintons told them to get bent. Even nine Democrats awakened to advance the contempt legislation. (They were seemingly just overjoyed to be voting on something that crept forward.)

This is not at all to diminish Bill Clinton’s involvement with Epstein and Maxwell. It’s creepy at best: shameful and inexcusable. The fact he was once President of the United States shouldn’t grant him immunity, even if the Supreme Court would probably see it differently — or would if his name was Trump.

But the Clintons are correct in seeing this as the transparent piece of political retribution that it is, and the double standard it exposes could not be more stark and appalling.

Should the full House approve the contempt citations in early February, criminal referrals to the DOJ could carry fines of up to $100,000 each and a year in prison.

Oozing self-satisfaction, Comer declared this week that the Clintons “possessed information directly relevant to the investigation.”

Apparently, the 99 percent of the Epstein docs whose release is mandated by law but remain locked away are by comparison irrelevant.

It shold also be noted that Bill Clinton has offered to submit to an interview by Comer under oath, and both Clintons were prepared to present sworn statements noting what they would say in testimony.

Not good enough for Comer.

This isn’t about seeking real accountability. It’s a dog-and-pony show designed to disparage the Clintons and distract, as ever, from the incriminating horror that’s really in those files.

At the heart of going after a former president and former presidential candidate (and cabinet member) is Donald Trump’s petty and destructive attack on the Democratic Party. If this works out, you can bet he’ll come for Barack Obama next. It’s a hateful power play, nothing more.

The elephant rampaging through this room is Trump himself. Does Trump not “possess information relevant to the investigation”? By all accounts, he had a longer and closer relationship with Epstein than anyone. He’s also the guy who made sure Maxwell was transferred to the cushiest lockup imaginable, where they do everything for her short of plying her with champagne and caviar and buffing up her nails.

The delay tactics and bait-and-switch fails to address the fact that the Epstein docs are all about Trump and his pedophile buddies. This was why it hit so close to home for Trump, leading him to give a decidedly unpresidential finger, when that guy at the Ford plant shouted, “Pedophile protector!”

We should be shocked if we see 5 percent of these Epstein documents before the midterm elections. My educated guess is that as long as the Republicans are in charge of Congress, that will be just fine with the virtuous disciplinarians who claim to have suddenly located their law-and-order spines, just in relation to the Clintons.

Make no mistake, the former first couple are being punished for their willingness to address the Epstein inquiry at all, while Trump skates free. It’s the Republican way of justice.

Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

Legal expert intrigued as Trump 'sounds pretty desperate' to bury Jack Smith's report

A former prosecutor reflected on President Donald Trump's first year in office and what he has attempted to hide.

Joyce Vance argued that it's time for the public to have more information about the Jeffrey Epstein files and the Mar-a-Lago case in her Substack Wednesday.

Trump has called on Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon to block the Department of Justice report from special counsel Jack Smith and has acted in his "individual capacity" by filing a motion for Cannon to issue “an order prohibiting the release of Volume II of the Final Report prepared by so-called ‘Special Counsel’ Jack Smith and his office,” Vance wrote.

Vance pointed out that it sounds like Trump's own voice, using the term "so-called 'Special Counsel' Jack Smith," and said it was a move that attorneys should not allow their client to direct or even do.

"But apparently, Trump’s lawyer thinks she can get away with that, given who the judge is," Vance added.

The move from Trump and his legal team has revealed where the president's mindset falls.

"The bottom line is that Trump sounds pretty desperate to keep the special counsel’s report on the Mar-a-Lago indictment out of the hands of the public," Vance wrote. "'Release would also lead to the public dissemination of sensitive grand jury materials, attorney-client privileged information, and other information derived from protected discovery materials, raising significant statutory, due process, and privacy concerns for President Trump and his former co-defendants.'”

"It’s a consistent theme with this President. There is so much to hide, so much to keep out of the public domain. Like the Epstein Files. Like the Mar-a-Lago case," Vance wrote.

Vance urged Congress "to push full throttle to enforce the Transparency Act it passed," and argued that Trump has tried to conceal something.

"There should be calls every day for release of Epstein-related materials with reminders that DOJ is ignoring the law and that there is too much information pointing to the connection between Epstein and Trump to ignore," Vance wrote. "The fact that Trump is hoping to Venezuela and Greenland his way out of that quagmire suggests how important it is for us to continue to pursue the truth."

Vance explained that it's likely that it would ultimately be up to the legal system.

"When it comes to Mar-a-Lago, the government is almost certain to go belly up on making the special counsel report public out of deference to Trump," Vance wrote. "But it should be possible for other parties to pursue the matter in court. While any request is likely to fall on deaf ears before Judge Cannon, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has been a less friendly venue for the President. Special Counsel reports are routinely released at the end of the investigation, and particularly here, where an indictment was dismissed, not because it was found wanting, but because Trump was elected a second time, the public has a right to know."

Gavin Newsom's Press Office roasts Trump for 'plan to distract' social media post

Gavin Newsom's Press Office has mocked Donald Trump with a late night social media post detailing the president's "plan to distract".

An edited image of Trump meeting with fellow world leaders was circulated by the Governor of California's Press Office on X, and has since gone viral. Nearly 2,000 users liked the post, which featured Trump sat in the Oval Office next to an image of the US, Canada, and Venezuela all painted in stars and stripes.

The image was also captioned, "Plan to distract from the Epstein files." Governor Newsom's Press Office appeared to accuse Trump of using international conflict as a way to distract from the release of documents from late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A deadline of December 19 was given for releasing all of Epstein's files, but as of January 21, less than 1% of the files are publicly available. Governor Newsom's Press Office is not the only call for the Department of Justice to speed up their process of releasing the files.

Talk show host Stephen Colbert compiled a lengthy list of controversies which Trump and his administration had overseen through 2025, and suggested these were distraction tactics to cover up the slow trickle of Epstein file releases.

Following a clip package of Trump's controversial decisions during the first year of his second term in office, Colbert said, "You didn't remember most of that stuff, because every single day there's some new Trump horror dominating the headlines.

"Case in point, Trump invaded Venezuela a couple weeks ago, seized their leader, and brought him to Brooklyn. And absolutely nobody is talking about it, not even me, that's f***ing weird.

"It's probably the whole point. Today's maniacal criminality distracts us from yesterday's maniac crimes, which reminds me, where are the Epstein files? Nothing yet? Really? It's the law. You signed it. Just checking."

Stephen Colbert slams 'maniacal criminality' of Trump as he asks one big question

Stephen Colbert has ripped into Donald Trump, calling the president's first year in office one scattered with "maniacal criminality."

The talk show host slammed Trump's long list of White House activities from 2025 to 2026, from the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the demolition of the East Wing. But it is all noise to distract from a much larger and ongoing issue, Colbert says. The Late Show host, who will host his final episode in May 2026, grilled Trump for signing an order his government is now ignoring.

"Case in point, Trump invaded Venezuela a couple weeks ago, seized their leader, and brought him to Brooklyn. And absolutely nobody is talking about it, not even me, that's f***ing weird.

Colbert went on to call the last year "exhausting" but, as many other political commentators have done in recent weeks, put pressure on the Trump administration to continue releasing the Epstein files.

According to some House Republicans, the efforts made to get the Epstein files released have since been abandoned or, at the very least, delayed. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), one of the first House Republicans to demand disclosure, expressed indifference when asked about the DOJ's non-compliance.

She said, "I don't give a rip about Epstein. Like, there's so many other things we need to be working on. I've done what I had to do for Epstein. Talk to somebody else about that. It's no longer in my hands."

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), previously outspoken about demanding complete file release, has shifted to defending the DOJ. She characterized the December 19 deadline as unrealistic and stated, "I'm not going to rush the process on that—we're going to get them."

Media, take note: this is how you hold Trump to account over Epstein

For three seconds on the floor of a Ford Motor Co. plant in Dearborn, a solitary autoworker did what the political establishment has largely failed to do for three months: remind the country exactly who its president is.

As Michigan Advance reported, when Donald Trump walked through the facility Tuesday, a worker in a now-viral video shouted that Trump was a “pedophile protector,” a reference to the president’s long-running ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the still-unresolved question of why the full Epstein files have not been released.

Trump’s response wasn’t denial, reflection or restraint. He flipped off that Ford employee, since identified as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, a line worker and member of UAW Local 600.

That moment — crude, unpresidential and unmistakable — cut through weeks of both-sides noise and strategic silence. In one exchange, the country saw the same man it has seen for nearly a decade: thin-skinned, angry at accountability, and hostile to anyone who challenges him, especially working people.

And then Sabula was suspended.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), whose district includes many Ford workers, confirmed what Ford itself would not say publicly: Sabula was suspended immediately after the incident.

Tlaib didn’t mince words about what that decision said.

She expressed shock that Ford would punish a worker for stating something “factually true,” while saying nothing about a president who responded by flipping off one of their own employees.

“He’s the president of the United States and he did that,” Tlaib told me in a phone interview Tuesday night. “But they say nothing, and they punish him for speaking up … for survivors.”

That’s the part that should linger. This wasn’t just a heckle. Sabula’s comment went to the heart of a question that refuses to go away: why Trump’s Department of Justice has failed to follow the law and fully release the Epstein files, and why so many powerful people seem determined to let the issue fade.

Tlaib made that connection explicit, noting that the Epstein matter has slipped from headlines even as survivors and advocates continue asking when they’ll get justice.

There certainly has been a lot to be distracted by, whether it’s the killing of an unarmed mother of three in Minneapolis, a military incursion into Venezuela to depose its leader or threats to invade a staunch NATO ally’s territory.

But Sabula wasn’t distracted.

That’s what makes this moment so damning. For months, Republicans have tiptoed around Epstein, issuing vague statements about “process” and “transparency,” while refusing to say plainly what millions of Americans already believe: that Trump’s DOJ is obstructing accountability, and that the failure to release the files protects powerful men, not survivors.

Instead, it took an autoworker, with no press staff, pollsters or protective bubble, to say it out loud, at personal cost.

In doing so, Sabula exposed more than Trump’s ingrained cruelty. He exposed Ford’s priorities.

As Tlaib pointed out, Ford planned the visit, brought Trump onto the factory floor and failed to give workers a heads-up. They placed employees in a volatile situation with a deeply divisive president and then acted shocked when someone exercised their First Amendment rights.

Ford could have hosted Trump at headquarters. They could have limited his access. They could have coordinated with the UAW, which Tlaib noted has historically been involved in presidential visits but notably was not part of this one.

Instead, they made a choice, and then punished the worker who bore the consequences.

That choice sends a message. As Tlaib put it, it tells workers that standing up for sexual assault survivors is a firable offense, while accommodating power is corporate policy. It suggests a company more concerned with pleasing a president than protecting the people who build its cars.

It also reveals how normalized Trump’s behavior has become. A president flipping off a factory worker should be a national scandal. Instead, the fallout landed almost entirely on the person without power.

This is why those three seconds mattered.

They cut through the noise and reminded us that Trump, as well as his administration, still treats accountability as a personal insult. But it also means that institutions — from the DOJ to Fortune 500 companies — still bend to protect him.

Tlaib hopes the public will protect Sabula, noting the real risks he now faces for speaking out. She’s right.

We shouldn’t let a factory worker carry alone what should be a collective demand: release the Epstein files, follow the law, and stop punishing truth-tellers to appease an angry president.

For three seconds, America was reminded who Donald Trump is.

And it took a union member and working stiff to do it.

Jon King is the Michigan Advance’s editor-in-chief, having previously served as the outlet's senior reporter, covering education, elections and LGBTQ+ issues. King has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is the Past President of the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors Association who has been recognized for excellence numerous times, most recently in 2022 with the Best Investigative Story by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Cleary University. Jon and his family live in Howell.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Comer loses it as disruptor crashes big Clinton announcement: 'Get him out of here!'

A press conference led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY)was interrupted on Wednesday as the House Oversight Committee chairman announced his plans to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against the Clintons.

A man claiming to be a citizen journalist apparently started heckling Comer and other Republican lawmakers, Fox News reported.

"No, I'm still talking. I'm still talking," Comer said, responding to the man, whose name was not immediately known. He started yelling a question about the Clintons and the requested testimony, "Congressman, did you enter their sworn statements into the record?"

"Hey, get him out of here. You're not even a reporter," Comer said.

"Sir, I'm not paid, you're paid by the people," the man said.

Capitol police were seen stepping in between the man and Comer after he called for security.

The man shouted that he was "having a conversation."

"It's unfortunate this disruptor was here. We'll be happy to answer questions throughout the day about this," Comer said at the end of the press conference.

The Clintons have rejected Republican attempts to force them to testify about links to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, setting up a clash with Comer.

This is great. As Republican congressman, James Comer is attacking the Clintons for not showing up to testify, someone says: “The Cartoon Network called and they want you to take your job back.”

Comer then claims that it's a “paid disruptor,” before chastising the Clintons for… pic.twitter.com/iAMMzu4qm8
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 14, 2026

Bill and Hillary Clinton should testify over Epstein, top Dem says

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should testify before a congressional committee about their links with Jeffrey Epstein, a senior Democratic senator told Raw Story.

“People get subpoenaed, they should show up,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) told Raw Story at the Capitol Wednesday.

The Clintons have rejected Republican attempts to force them to testify about links to Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, setting up a clash with Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee.

Earlier this week, lawyers for the Clintons released a lengthy letter rejecting the legal premise of Comer’s subpoena.

In their own blistering letter to Comer, the Clintons pointed out that the Department of Justice had not fully complied with a law mandating that it release all files related to investigations of Epstein.

“Comer should subpoena [the] DOJ,” Luján said, laughing.

Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, a close ally of President Donald Trump, the DOJ is widely seen to be dragging its feet on the Epstein matter.

Trump’s once-close friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker who killed himself in prison in New York in 2019, is an enduring subject of fascination, reporting, gossip, and festering scandal.

“Look,” Luján said. “What Comer does, if he's gonna subpoena people, he should subpoena everyone that needs to be subpoenaed, and pull them in.

“And if he wants to make this look political, Comer is doing a pretty good job of that.

“But anyone involved in all of this Epstein bulls—, they should come in and they should fess up and the truth should be shared with the American people, right? No matter who they are, because everybody, because this was so bipartisan, everybody should do it. I mean, that's how I would describe it.”

The Epstein affair has indeed ensnared a number of prominent public figures. Bill Clinton has prominently featured in DOJ releases since Congress passed a law mandating such transparency. Trump’s name has also been shown to be in such Epstein files.

Trump has named the Clintons among liberal figures he says should be investigated in relation to Epstein.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, after theatrically displaying an empty chair during a supposed deposition of Bill Clinton, Comer said: “Jeffrey Epstein visited the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president.

“No one’s accusing Bill Clinton of anything, any wrongdoing. We just have questions.”

Comer also said he would charge the Clintons with contempt of Congress.

Speaking to the right-wing Real America’s Voice TV network, Comer said: "We expect the Clintons to come in, or I expect the Clintons to be met with the same fate that [Steve] Bannon and [Peter] Navarro were met with when the Democrats were in control.”

Bannon and Navarro, close Trump aides and advisers, both served prison time after refusing to answer subpoenas for testimony as part of investigations of the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters.

Democrats rejected Comer’s threats as political posturing.

On Wednesday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a target of Trump’s demands that his political enemies be prosecuted, told Raw Story Comer was not the only Republican in Congress working to Trump’s benefit in matters relating to Epstein.

“I think this is a political exercise by Jim Jordan,” Schiff said, referring to the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

“I think they will lose in court if it's litigated. But I think this is designed to deflect attention from the president's withholding of all the Epstein files.”

Trump gives middle finger to worker shouting 'pedophile protector'

President Donald Trump gave the middle finger Tuesday to a worker screaming "pedophile protector" during a tour at a Detroit factory.

Trump was touring a Ford F-150 plant in the Motor City just before his speech on the United States economy at the Detroit Economic Club when a worker started shouting at him as the president walked above the workers, TMZ reported.

In a video capturing the moment, Trump yelled back "F--- you!" He pointed his finger, then he switched to giving the bird.

The worker was calling Trump out for his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender — a former friend — who he said he cut ties and threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club when he had a falling out about poaching and recruiting his staff.

Trump has not been charged with any crime or involvement with Epstein's sex trafficking ring. He has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

BREAKING: 🚨🚨
President Trump says FUCK YOU and shoots the middle finger at a Ford worker who called him a pedophile pic.twitter.com/gO2GLHkR8i
— Tony D'carlo (@TonyD713) January 13, 2026

Ex-GOP rep claims Trump admin are 'hoping we forget' about Epstein files release

A former Republican Party representative has suggested the staggered release of Jeffrey Epstein's files is intentional as the administration are "hoping we forget" about the release.

In November last year, the Senate agreed in a near-unanimous vote to pass the Epstein files bill, with the legislation signed off by Donald Trump, despite his initial opposition to the documents' release. Though the federal law states the majority of documents must be ready to publish by December 19, less than 1% of the files have been shared with the public.

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, wrote that there are "more than two million documents potentially responsive to the Act" and that the administration are still working through the backlog.

The Department of Justice confirmed last week that only 12,285 documents of 125,575 pages had been officially released, according to The Guardian. Former GOP rep Adam Kinzinger believes this slow trickle of documents is intentional, and that the administration's sudden surge in country takeover plans is a distraction.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Kinzinger said, "It's easy to forget that the Epstein files still need to be released. They've released thousands of documents but they recently admitted to finding five million more documents."

"Now according to the law, these things should already have been put out. But now it's like they're hoping that we forget about it. Keep in mind that when the Republicans were running the Epstein files, and you see this with the online right, there was this demand that they be released but this was synonymous with the assumption or the accusation that this was all Democrats in the files."

"Now the weird thing is, I've never seen anyone on the left or centre say, 'Yeah, release the Epstein files except for the Democrats.' No, I think they've all said, 'Release them all, release everybody.'"

Kinzinger went on to claim the Department of Justice could be "stalling to protect Donald Trump" who has featured in the already released Epstein files.

"But if you still think the Department of Justice is playing the independent role it was intended to and not just acting as Donald Trump's lawyers, I'm sorry, you haven't been paying attention,' Kinzinger said. "We need to continue, even with all the chaos going on, to demand and call for the Epstein files to be released because the American people deserve to know the truth."