Stephen Fowler

I found a file that blacked out part of the zip code of the very public U.S.

Attorney's Office in New York City, plus hundreds of pages completely blanked out with no explanation.

And at some point, the DOJ is supposed to explain to Congress what's under those black boxes and why they haven't shared it.

Speaking of sharing, these new files are posted publicly but aren't organized in any sort of chronological or contextual order in a way that's led to numerous controversies and conspiracies swirling about in the absence of full files and full transparency into what we're looking at.

Such as what?

Well, there are some documents made public that are fake but are included because, under the definition of the law, they are files related to the investigation that are supposed to be released.

There are unverified fantastical claims about Donald Trump, Epstein, and others included in FBI tip forms.

fake video purporting to show Epstein's death by suicide in his federal prison cell, and a forged letter that appeared to be written by Epstein for convicted sex offender Larry Nassar that claimed Trump shared a, quote, love of young, nubile girls.

In fact, when the Justice Department posted about the Nassar letter being a forgery, they also said that, quote, just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual.

Well, pretty much.

This outcome of distrust across the board was in some ways inevitable, though.

During the 2024 election, President Trump promised to release the Epstein files.

It was part of a campaign message arguing the government was run by powerful people hiding the truth from Americans.

At the start of 2026, many people agree and believe that President Trump is now one of the powerful few keeping the public in the dark.

The White House disagrees.

And I'll note conspiracies are not limited to Trump supporters.

I've seen recent viral social media posts that use these unverified, salacious allegations and out of context court records to claim without evidence that Trump is accused of criminal wrongdoing and that the government is altering records to cover it all up.

All right.

Three things.

One, what is Congress going to do about the Department of Justice failing to meet the deadline and over-redacting documents, especially since the law doesn't include punishment or enforcement mechanisms?