By Ben Meiselas
Donald Trump is having what can only be described as an awful Saturday, and the public can feel it in the silence. The president has effectively shut down press access, retreating to Mar-a-Lago after a brief, deranged, low-energy appearance in North Carolina before what he labeled a “rally.” He took no questions, offered no accountability, and then disappeared.
This retreat comes as his administration faces mounting scrutiny over its handling of the Epstein files, which by law were required to be released in full. Instead, the Department of Justice has produced only a fraction of the records in its possession, and even that small slice is overwhelmingly redacted. Roughly 5 percent of the files were turned over, and of that, nearly everything is blacked out. This is blatant obstruction.
And it gets worse. Among the materials briefly posted to the Department of Justice website was an image from Epstein’s home that included photographs of Donald Trump in a drawer in Epstein’s credenza. That image, identified as file 468 in the DOJ’s own index, was visible long enough for the public to notice. Then, without explanation, it vanished. The file numbering now skips directly over it, as if it never existed. Poof. Gone.
Deleting a file after it has been produced is a serious act with legal implications. The law governing the Epstein records was explicit: all unclassified materials were to be released by a set deadline, with redactions permitted only to protect victims’ identities. There is no legal basis for erasing records because they are embarrassing or politically damaging to powerful men.
Yet that is precisely the rationale the Trump administration has embraced. The Justice Department has taken the extraordinary position that the perpetrators named in the Epstein files are themselves “victims” who must be shielded from exposure. In other words, the men accused of participating in a sex trafficking network are being protected from reputational harm, while the public is denied the truth.
The manipulation did not stop there. The administration was also caught inserting a decades-old, publicly available photograph of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein materials, with faces redacted to imply the presence of underage victims. In reality, the photo shows Ross with her own children at a fundraiser, entirely unrelated to Epstein. One of Ross’s children publicly identified themselves in the image. The implication was false, but the damage was intentional: confuse the public, muddy the waters, and redirect attention away from Trump.
As the president sealed himself off from reporters, his grift op—I mean, political operation—continued unabated. Fundraising emails went out, urging supporters to donate money while the White House refused to answer basic questions about compliance with federal law.
Even within Trump’s own political orbit, the backlash has been sharp. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly slammed the administration’s approach, citing the plain language of the statute. The law, she noted, explicitly prohibits withholding or redacting records due to embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including for government officials and public figures. That provision was designed for this exact moment.
Conservative commentator Joe Walsh argued that the only plausible explanation for Trump’s willingness to absorb such a massive political hit is fear of what the files reveal about him personally.
Meanwhile, right-wing media has largely looked away. While most outlets focused on the administration’s failure to release the Epstein files, Fox News filled airtime with trivial distractions, from viral animal clips to culture-war detours. This is not accidental. It is how propaganda works. Flood the zone with nonsense long enough to evade accountability.
The stakes here extend beyond Epstein. This pattern of secrecy includes withheld military footage of alleged war crimes, unanswered questions about Trump’s own medical records, and a broader governing philosophy rooted in secrecy and cover-ups.
We deserve sunlight. When that light is deliberately blocked, erased, or replaced with manufactured distractions, the damage is real. We’ll continue shining out light on the darkness of this administration, and with your help, our messages will continue to be spread far and wide.
