DOJ Responds to Secret Tape of Official Detailing Epstein Files Plan

The Justice Department on Thursday scrambled to address alleged revelations about the Epstein files published by James O’Keefe—founder of the far-right Project Veritas, known for its hidden-camera stings, in which individuals are secretly filmed disclosing information about the organizations that employ them.

O’Keefe shared a video that, he said, showed an undercover operative eliciting eyebrow-raising statements from a top DOJ official, acting Deputy Chief of Special Operations Joseph Schnitt, about the department’s files on the notorious late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, as well as a supposed deal with Epstein’s convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

In the secret recording, Schnitt acknowledges that the Epstein files do exist—“thousands and thousands of pages of files”—and goes on to detail the DOJ’s plan.

“They’ll redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files,” the official said over lunch. He also noted that Maxwell was “transferred to a minimum-security prison too recently, which is against [Federal Bureau of Prisons] policy because she’s a convicted sex offender.” He added, “They’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”

O’Keefe’s supposed bombshells here, as always, warrant skepticism, as they are notoriously sensationalized and often deceptively edited.

According to O’Keefe, the Justice Department provided a statement asserting that Schnitt’s claims were false—but effectively confirming the veracity of the video. The statement said, “Joseph Schnitt had no role in the Department’s internal review of Epstein materials,” and his comments “have absolutely zero bearing with reality and reflect a total lack of knowledge of the DOJ’s review process.”

Later, the official X account of the Department of Justice sought to clear the air in the most bizarre way: by posting an unedited iPhone screenshot (complete with airplane-mode icon and battery percentage) of an email from Schnitt to his superior.

The email states that the recorded meeting took place in August, when Schnitt met twice with a Hinge date who claimed to be “an au pair in Georgetown” named Skylar. She “gave no clues that she was a reporter or recording our dates,” he said, and his comments were based “on what I’ve learned in the media and not from anything I’ve done at or learned via work”

“I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Maxwell other than what is reported in the news,” Schnitt wrote, per the DOJ’s screenshot. “I also never divulged anything about what I do at work.”

Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump’s nominee for a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said that he would keep his job at the White House even if he’s confirmed to the Fed.

At a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Thursday, Miran said that he planned to take an unpaid leave of absence from the White House, but retain his job. His admission shocked senators, who grilled him about the plan.

“Your independence has already been seriously compromised,” Democratic Senator Jack Reed said. “You are going to be technically an employee of the president of the United States, but an independent member of the board of the Federal Reserve. That’s ridiculous.”

Senator Reed has good reason to be worried. The president would clearly prefer for the Federal Reserve to bend to his whims, rather than serve as an independent body. He’s been pressuring the institution to lower interest rates for months, he’s threatened to sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and he’s also attempted to illegally remove Governor Lisa Cook from her position.

Were Miran to be employed by the White House while also serving on the Fed board, the public would likely lose trust in the Fed’s independence. And that could have serious economic consequences—not just in the U.S. but all over the world.

Miran denied accusations that he would act as a political pawn, saying, “If I’m confirmed to this role, I will act independently, as the Federal Reserve always does, based on my own personal analysis of economic data.”

However, his idea of what acting “independently” means is concerning: In 2024, he co-wrote a paper for the Manhattan Institute where he argued that presidential control over the Fed should be increased.

But who knows whether he’ll stick to his recommendations.

He also wrote, “To further insulate board members from the day-to-day political process, they should be prohibited from serving in the executive branch for four years following the end of their term.”

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s shady attempt to claw back funds through a rare legal move called a pocket rescission, ordering the president to unfreeze billions of dollars of foreign aid.

U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali ruled Wednesday that while the Trump administration retained “significant discretion” as to how the funds ought to be spent, it had no power over whether or not to spend the nearly $5 billion in funds that had already been allocated.

Last week, Trump wrote to Congress requesting back $4.9 billion in funding approved for international aid efforts, including $3.2 billion in development assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Congress then had 45 days to decide whether to approve Trump’s request, but the White House Office of Management and Budget asserted that it could freeze the funds until the fiscal year ended on September 30, ensuring the funds’ cancellation.

Trump had already bypassed Congress to dismantle USAID, and now he planned to do it again.

But the judge wrote that Congress would have to approve the rescission, because the law was “explicit that it is congressional action—not the President’s transmission of a special message—that triggers rescission of the earlier appropriations.”

Ali couched his decision by saying that it would likely not be the final word in the case, and that “definitive higher court guidance now will be instructive.”

Vice President JD Vance didn’t take well to senators pressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his wanton mismanagement of the Department of Health and Human Services. In response to the health secretary’s contentious Thursday Senate Finance hearing, the vice president lost his cool on social media.

“When I see all these senators trying to lecture and ‘gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal ‘therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma,” Vance wrote on X, adding, for good measure, “You’re full of shit and everyone knows it.”

Senators had questioned Kennedy’s various concerning moves since taking the helm of the Health Department—grilling him, for instance, on his firing of the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his anti-vaccine agenda, promises he broke from his Senate confirmation, and his general ignorance on public health matters.

Kennedy frequently flailed under the pressure, which came not only from Democrats but also Republicans—such as Thom Thillis, who highlighted Kennedy’s shady penchant for self-contradiction, and Bill Cassidy, who raised concerns about his vaccine skepticism.

But the vice president apparently can’t distinguish between conducting oversight on an official wreaking havoc on the nation’s health system and cheerleading child mutilation.

Senator Bill Cassidy deftly grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Senate hearing Thursday, forcing Kennedy to contradict himself on the topic of vaccines.

Cassidy, who chairs the Health Committee, is a Republican and a medical doctor. He’s had to walk a fine line when it comes to Kennedy, who holds many views not based in scientific fact. Cassidy wavered on confirming Kennedy, before ultimately casting a key vote in his favor after securing promises from the future health secretary on vaccines.

On Thursday, he managed to tie Kennedy in knots.

He began by praising President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 vaccine development and rollout, Operation Warp Speed. “President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed,” Cassidy said. “Mr. Secretary, you agree with me that President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Kennedy replied.

“But you just told Senator Bennet that the Covid vaccine killed more people than Covid?” Cassidy asked.

Kennedy denied it. However, he did tell Senator Michael Bennet that he agrees with Dr. Retsef Levy, one of his new appointees to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, who said that “evidence is mounting and indisputable that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm, including death, especially among young people.” Previously, during his confirmation hearing, Kennedy had also called the Covid vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made”—an outright lie.

Cassidy continued to press Kennedy, saying he was “surprised” that the secretary had canceled $500 million in contracts for mRNA vaccine research—the technology that made Operation Warp Speed, and the remarkably quick development of the Covid-19 vaccine, possible.

To defend himself, Kennedy claimed that he supported the Covid-19 vaccine when Trump pioneered it because there were low levels of natural immunity to the virus and people were getting dangerously sick.

He also said that under Trump, the vaccine was “perfectly matched” to the virus, and there were no mandates—unlike under Biden.

So essentially: Trump vaccine good, Biden vaccine bad. Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Secretary!