Doj Lawyer Mum On Status Of Epstein Investigation Into Democrats

In November, as tensions over the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein reached a fever pitch, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to investigate links between the deceased sex offender and several prominent Democrats.

Two months later, it’s unclear if that investigation has materialized. On Wednesday, an assistant U.S. attorney from the Manhattan office gave no indication to a panel of appeals court judges that such an investigation might give the government reason to withhold certain Epstein files from the celebrity and entertainment news website Radar Online, which has sued for them.

The existence — or lack — of any such investigation is significant, not only because President Donald Trump directed DOJ to examine high-profile Democrats including former President Bill Clinton and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, but also because critics of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files accused Trump of ordering the probe as a pretext to withhold certain documents.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday about whether it should send Radar’s lawsuit against the FBI back to the lower court for review, in part to determine how to handle any disclosures to Radar in the context of the Justice Department’s legal obligation to release millions of documents in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Pressed on the issue of the government’s ability to withhold documents from Radar based on whether they could “be reasonably expected to interfere with a law-enforcement proceeding,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Rovner did not discuss the investigation.

Instead, she addressed only the effort filed by Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell to vacate her sex trafficking conviction.

Rovner said Maxwell’s effort could justify withholding documents because “it could result in a new trial.”

The judges, however, seemed skeptical of Maxwell’s petition, which she filed by herself, without the assistance of a lawyer. “What do you think the odds are that there’s going to be a new trial of Ghislaine Maxwell?” asked Judge Steven Menashi, after earlier noting with a chuckle that “it’s probably not a reasonable expectation that this is going to result in a new trial.”

Though Radar’s lawyer, Daniel Novack, addressed what he called the “elephant in the room” — the Bondi-ordered investigation of ties between Epstein and Democrats — Rovner never raised it as a potential issue.

The judges said they would rule at a later date.