President Donald Trump demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate Democrats' ties to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but no action appears to have followed.
Politico reported Wednesday that when the Justice Department faced demands to release Epstein files, it cited an "open investigation" and withheld some documents. Bondi then assigned that to the Southern District of New York. However, two months later, it's unclear if that probe ever materialized—or if it was just a stall tactic.
Trump directed the DOJ to target high-profile Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. MS NOW columnist and producer Steve Benen questioned whether the announcement of the investigation was a dodge to the congressional law—signed by Trump himself—ordering the files' release.
The independent outlet Radar Onlinesued for the Epstein files in September 2023. On Wednesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether to send the case back to a lower court for review.
The court aims "in part ... to determine how to handle any disclosures to Radar in the context of the Justice Department's legal obligation to release millions of documents in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act," reporter Erica Orden wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Rovner, from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, remained silent on whether Trump's ordered probe into Democrats is active. Asked if Radar's access would "be reasonably expected to interfere with a law-enforcement proceeding," she pivoted instead to Ghislaine Maxwell's ongoing appeal to vacate her sex-trafficking conviction.
The judges were not convinced. "What do you think the odds are that there's going to be a new trial of Ghislaine Maxwell?" asked Judge Steven Menashi.
He had earlier chuckled, "It's probably not a reasonable expectation that this is going to result in a new trial."