A Timeline of What We Know About Trump and Epstein
Their relationship is now under scrutiny after the Trump administration decided to withhold parts of the files from the sex trafficking investigation into Mr. Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Mr. Epstein had many connections to rich and powerful people that both the right and the left suspect of being involved in the financier's criminality. Attorney General Pam Bondi agreed to release some materials, including flight logs from Mr. Epstein's private jets, but she held back others, including what officials described as child sexual abuse material.
The Department of Justice's review of the files 'revealed no incriminating 'client list,'' the department wrote in an unsigned July memo. 'There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.'
Mr. Trump has instructed Ms. Bondi to release only 'credible' information, and suggested he is concerned that innocent people could be unfairly smeared if the full files are released. He has condemned questions about his handling of the case as a 'hoax' perpetrated by Democrats and called Mr. Epstein a 'creep.'
Mr. Epstein was convicted of paying teenage girls money to perform sex acts. He hanged himself in his cell in 2019, according to local and federal authorities. Ms. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Mr. Epstein for nearly a decade to aid in his abuse.
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He said the government wouldn't be hurt by a postponement and that the government could still end the program if it went through the right steps. 'These orders are different in nature from injunctions, which prohibit an agency from taking a certain action at all, ever,' Cogan wrote. Government lawyers submitted a letter July 18 saying Noem acknowledged the temporary program would end Feb. 3, 2026, as scheduled under the last extension. What's next? Experts place no 'strong bets' given high stakes of the disputes As judges increasingly wade into class actions and administrative challenges, legal experts say the Supreme Court could eventually tinker with those legal strategies, too. 'I actually worry that sometimes the harder cases make bad law,' Zimmerman said. 'I do worry that with the political stakes involved, the Supreme Court might feel pressure to make a rushed or bad decision that could have effects on other types of really beneficial class actions. I hope that doesn't happen.' More: Trump wins again. Conservatives like Amy Coney Barrett again. Supreme Court takeaways Another possibility deals with the APA. Judges have 'set aside' regulations, effectively invalidating them for the entire country, which Bagley calls 'a national injunction under another name.' But he argued that judges could begin limiting regulatory remedies to the participants in lawsuits, rather than the whole country, just as the Supreme Court limited nationwide injunctions in CASA. 'I think we're going to see some development of the law,' Bagley said. 'I think we can't make strong bets at this point about how the law will develop.'
