'If You Can Keep It': What Should Accountability Look Like In The Epstein Case?

A sign showing a photo of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is displayed as US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, speaks during a conference to announce oversight efforts on the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. hide caption

toggle captionIt’s been a month since the Justice Department released more than 3 million documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In that time, dozens of people were scrutinized for their close ties to Epstein, who died by suicide while in prison in 2019.Among those named in the documents is Donald Trump. The president has long denied any crimes related to Epstein. And there’s no public evidence that the allegations against him are credible.But a new NPR investigation reveals that the Justice Department withheld some of the Epstein files related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor in the ‘80s.

In this installment of our weekly politics series, “If You Can Keep It,” what did the DOJ remove exactly? And what does accountability look like for those connected to Epstein’s crimes?Find more of our programs *online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at **plus.npr.org/the1a.*