Daniel Torok / Official White House / Flickr
President Donald Trump’s name is among those of several other high-profile individuals that the FBI has redacted from Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold reported Aug. 1.
The revelation follows a July letter from Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who disclosed that in March, the FBI assigned about 1,000 personnel to comb through over 100,000 Epstein-related records. Durbin said the agents worked in two-week, 24-hour shifts and were instructed to “flag” any documents mentioning Trump.
“What happened to the records mentioning President Trump once they were flagged?” Durbin asked in his letter to the Department of Justice.
Leopold, citing three sources familiar with the matter, reported that after the flagged records were identified, they were sent to a team of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officers for review.
When they redacted the names, the officers cited exemptions designed to protect individuals from “clearly unwarranted invasions of personal privacy” and shield personal information in law enforcement records that “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy.”
Leopold explained that it is standard practice for federal agencies to redact names in public records releases. He also wrote that the appearance of a name in such files is “not evidence of a crime or even a suggestion of wrongdoing.”
According to Leopold, the chances of Trump’s name ever being unredacted are “slim to none” unless either all individuals mentioned in the files are deceased or Trump waives his privacy rights.
The Bloomberg report also outlined a key timeline of events related to the government’s handling of the Epstein files.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that his name appeared in the files. On July 7, the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and that no client list exists.
The memo sparked a wave of public backlash and online speculation — including from many of Trump’s supporters. As CatholicVote reported July 16, Trump later dismissed the Epstein files as a “hoax” promoted by Democrats.
Still, public pressure for transparency has continued to grow. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted July 18-21 found that 81% of Americans want all Epstein-related documents released. A majority — including 84% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans — believe the government is covering up information about Epstein’s client network and death.
Trump’s approval among younger voters has also taken a sharp hit. According to that same survey, his support among Americans aged 18-29 has fallen from 55% in February to just 28% today.
