DOJ Refusing to Release Old Epstein Emails That Could Expose Trump

The Department of Justice claims that it’s released every document that’s required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But the agency previously said it collected more than six million pages of material during its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, and it only released around three million. So what’s in the rest of the Epstein files?

The DOJ claims that the other three million pages are either duplicates, unrelated to Epstein, or protected by legal privilege. But because of the administration’s lack of transparency in regard to Epstein, many are concerned that something is still being hidden.

CBS News analyzed the available files to try to figure out which documents appeared to be missing, and found a number of notable omissions: questionable redactions, missing emails from older accounts, lack of massage scheduling records after 2009, missing prison surveillance footage, and more.

Notably, most of the emails in the released files were from an email account created in 2008, around the time Epstein went to jail: jeevacation@gmail.com.

But Epstein had other, older email addresses that were mentioned in only a few, highly redacted publicly released files. One missing account, littlestjeff@yahoo.com, was from the early 2000s—the time when Epstein was most in touch with Donald Trump.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is innocent of all charges when it comes to his connection with Epstein. But, as this analysis by CBS reveals, we may still be missing major pieces of the puzzle.

U.S. intelligence is warning that the Israeli government is probably going to try to undermine the Trump administration’s peace deal with Iran.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed former and current U.S. officials, reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to continue bombing and occupying Lebanon, even though the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding demands a “permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”.

“Continuing to occupy part of Lebanon is a recipe for disaster,” an unnamed U.S. official told the Post. “Without a full Israeli withdrawal, the likelihood of resumed hostilities between the [Israeli military] and Hezbollah is all but certain.”

ّIsraelis have publicly denounced the 14-point MOU, with media commentators in the country calling it a “catastrophic capitulation” and a “diplomatic Oct. 7,” referencing the Hamas-led attack from 2023. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Friday seemingly advocated for a genocide in Lebanon, posting on X in Hebrew that “for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry. All of Lebanon should burn.”

Netanyahu has used constant warfare, from relentless war crimes in Gaza to bombing Iran and Lebanon, to deflect against corruption charges and save his political fortunes. Any end to these conflicts would only hurt his chances in Israel’s October elections. He and his far-right, fascistic political allies in Israel are willing to slaughter countless innocent people across the Middle East to save themselves and continue their settler colonialism.

A business tied to a longtime Trump donor was given the no-bid contract to clean up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this spring, reported The New York Times.

The filtration work of the Ohio firm, ironically called Greenwater Services, has come under scrutiny because … well. You’ve seen the pool.

Greenwater Services is owned by the J.J. Carafo Investment Trust, led by John J. Carafo. Carafo is a longtime Republican donor who Trump has described as a “fantastic man.” Carafo, who has previously skirted campaign finance law, also pleaded guilty in 2001 to conspiracy to bribe Democratic Representative James A. Traficant Jr.

The $1.7 million contract was directly awarded to Carafo’s company by the National Park Service, bypassing the usual competitive bidding process. Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, said the department did not know about Carafo’s political affiliation when his firm was hired.

“This company was selected because they had the expertise, work force and materials” needed to finish the job by the country’s 250th anniversary, she told the Times.

Carafo and Greenwater Services did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.

Because the president wants the reflecting pool “American Flag Blue” by July 4, other firms have been hired for their ability to complete jobs on a short timeline, like Virginia firm Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was given a no-bid contract of $14.7 million to put bright blue waterproofing material on the pool’s floor. That paint is already peeling.

At this point, it might just be easier to turn the flag green.

Former President Barack Obama said the U.S. is worse off because of current President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.

“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, put enormous strain on our military,” Obama said in an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin.

“A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” Obama continued. “I am very happy to see a ceasefire. And I’m hopeful that it holds.”

The interview was conducted before the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center on Thursday, and aired Friday morning on the Today show. Obama pointed out that under the 2015 JCPOA agreement his administration negotiated with Iran, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.

“This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity,” Obama continued, referring to Trump’s decision to withdraw from that deal in 2018, despite the agreement also involving the European Union, Russia, China, the U.K., France, and Germany. International observers also said that Iran was complying with the JCPOA at the time.

Obama faced criticism from the right and his own party over the nuclear agreement, but the deal had the support of the international community, and it didn’t leave the U.S. in a worse position. Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran is under fire from virtually everyone, including Democrats, Trump’s MAGA base, Republicans in Congress, and Israeli officials, who are calling it a “surrender” and “total capitulation.”

In his speech at the opening of his library Thursday, Obama emphasized principles in the Constitution that Trump has flouted throughout his time in the Oval Office, and praised protesters in Minnesota who rallied against the Trump administration’s brutal immigration effort in the state, saying, “These are the values and traditions I believe in.” What values does Trump believe in, except for acting in his own self-interest?

The Trump administration will be allowed to replace an exhibit on slavery at George Washington’s home in Philadelphia, a federal appeals court panel said on Thursday.

The ruling struck down a lower court decision that said the National Park Service must restore the exhibit, which it had torn down to comply with the president’s executive order last year on “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”

In January, NPS removed the six-panel outdoor display, which documented the lives of people enslaved by Washington during the fight for independence. It was unveiled in 2010 after years of community advocacy, WHYY reported.

“It was the grand opening of the first slave memorial of its kind on federal property in the history of the U.S. We thought it would last forever. But 15 years later, the destruction came,” activist Michael Coard said to NPR.

Philadelphia quickly sued the Interior Department to restore the exhibit, and won. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to put the panels back up, comparing the administration’s efforts to those taken by the totalitarian government in George Orwell’s 1984.

But now, the Trump administration will be allowed to replace the exhibit with its own version of history. The three-judge panel on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals praised the administration’s plan for a new installation, saying that it was “full of historical context.” The new exhibit will no longer center slavery or enslaved people’s role in the creation of the United States, and has been accused by advocates of “whitewashing.”

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said she would fight the decision, writing, “We cannot and WILL not rest until the full story of American history—including the existence of Slavery at the President’s House here in Philadelphia—is told, for our Nation and the World to see.”

As the country celebrates Juneteenth, the commemoration of the day when the last enslaved people in America were finally emancipated, the administration is fighting to erase Black history.