Key Highlights
- Key US politics stories from 20 December 2025Donald Trump’s justice department was hit with legal threats and scathing outrage after authorities released a limited, heavily redacted trove of Jeffrey Epstein files in an apparent violation of the law mandating the near-complete disclosure of these documents by Friday.“The justice department’s document dump this afternoon does not comply with [Republican] Thomas Massie and my Epstein Transparency Act,” Ro Khanna, the California Democratic congressman who co-authored the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by 19 December, said in a video statement.“It is an incomplete release, with too many redactions.
- Thomas Massie and I are exploring all options,” he also said, among them possible impeachment of justice department officials, finding them in contempt of Congress, and the possibility of “referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice”. Trump justice department slammed after limited Epstein files releaseFrustration mounted on Saturday as the US justice department released some new Jeffrey Epstein files, including transcripts, while removing more than a dozen others from its website with no explanation. At least 16 files disappeared from the department’s public webpage, according to an Associated Press tally.
- The documents included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers.
- In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, is a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
- “Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago.
