'They can release the files': Expert busts DOJ on 'one rule' it won't break
President Donald Trump has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release grand jury transcripts in the Jeffrey Epstein case, but a former Florida prosecutor said that won't be enough to satisfy his angry MAGA base.
The president is facing backlash from his base supporters after the Department of Justice disputed some of their long-standing conspiracy theories about the disgraced financiers, and former Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aronberg told "CNN This Morning" what options the administration had to respond to new reporting on Trump's own longtime relationship with Epstein.
"It's pretty clear there is no client list," Aronberg said. "The people closest to this say there is no client list. Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, says there is no client list, but there are files, documents, images that have not been turned over to the public, in part because of privacy rules. But the reason why this is not going away is that the Trump administration officials, namely Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, Donald Trump's son, they have all been perpetuating this myth. They've been using this lie as a way to help their own careers, and now it's biting them in the butt."
"I mean, this is what happens when you continue to feed the alligator," the ex-prosecutor added. "The alligator is always hungry, and eventually it's going to bite your face off, and so this is a problem of their own making, and their base is not going to be satisfied by these grand jury records, and not only will they be redacted, the Trump administration says they're only going to request and release the pertinent ones. What's pertinent? Well, it's in the eye of the beholder, so this issue is not going away."
It's not clear a federal judge in New York, where Epstein was investigated, will release the transcripts, which are kept secret as a general rule, but Aronberg noted that the Trump administration has thus far shown great enthusiasm for shattering norms.
"They can release the files," Aronberg said. "Now, it would go against DOJ policy. It has been a tradition that the Department of Justice will not release the names of people who are uncharged, unless you are charged, you're not going to be put out there, and that is something that's been the policy of the Department of Justice for years."
"But, you know, if there's anything this administration does, it's break norms, break rules," he added. "But this is the one rule they're abiding by, and the fact that that birthday card is out there makes people believe, well, maybe that's the explanation for not turning over these files to the public. Maybe they just don't want the president to be embarrassed by his relationship with Epstein. The truth is, though, is that it's been well-documented that Trump has been friends with Epstein. There's no evidence that Trump has been part of a child sex trafficking ring, but they don't want to keep this smoke around any further. But they're not going to get rid of it by putting their head in the ground. They're going to get rid of it by transparency. After all, they fed this beast from the beginning."
Watch video of Aronberg's remarks here or click the link.