The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a disclaimer warning aimed at protecting President Donald Trump amid its latest Epstein files dump.
The files, approximately 30,000, comprise the third batch released by the Justice Department. All files were required to be released on December 19, but the DOJ has been releasing them in batches and said it could take up to several weeks for all the files to be made available.
“The latest documents appear to contain court records, emails, and some heavily or completely redacted files,” according to CNBC.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the DOJ stated in its warning posted to social media.
“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already. Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”
The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol wrote, “The Justice Department as Trump’s defense counsel. And a disreputable one at that.”
Politico senior legal affairs correspondent Kyle Cheney called the DOJ’s statement “bizarre.”
“Bizarre defensive post from DOJ saying if allegations of Trump had any credibility they would’ve been ‘weaponized’ against him. But… if they had credibility, then pursuing them, by definition, wouldn’t be weaponization.”
The Bulwark’s Sam Stein called it a “tweet that reads as if it came from Trump’s personal defense lawyer.”
Former Republican U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh added, “Technically, this tweet is coming from our government. But it sounds like & reads like it’s coming from Trump’s lawyers. Trump has so completely corrupted our Justice Department.”
