The DOJ Withheld Epstein Files — That Mention Trump - Jessica Yellin | Substack

The DOJ Withheld Epstein Files — That Mention Trump

Plus: Cuban troops fire on US boat. Introducing our next, least-qualified Surgeon General. Trump administration targets Minnesota, again. And an interview with House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark.

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) protests as President Trump arrives to deliver his State of the Union address. Green’s sign references a video Trump posted, which depicted the Obamas as apes. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

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Today is my birthday. I want to say thank you.

When I was trying to build what became News Not Noise, I sat through meeting after meeting with people in the content business who told me it couldn’t be done. News is too polarizing. People want outrage. Noise sells. One person told me, flatly, that there was no way to build something sustainable in news that strips out the panic. I heard some version of that so many times I started to wonder if they were right.

You proved them wrong. Every single one of them.

But more than that — you’ve shown up to do something quietly radical: You’ve chosen to pay attention to the world as it actually is, not as the algorithm wants you to feel about it. That’s not a small thing. That is the thing. Because you cannot build the world you want without first being willing to see the world you have.

So on my birthday, I’m making you a promise. One of my intentions this year is to give you more than the daily headlines — to show you how the dots connect, to make space for the bigger picture alongside the breaking news. I’m stating it here so you can hold me to it.

Today I started my day with a conversation with Katherine Clark, the House Democratic Whip. We covered the status of the DHS partial shutdown (spoiler: don’t expect progress soon), how Democrats plan to counter Trump’s latest tariff maneuver, the very real threat to election integrity from postal service changes and the Save Act, and the unmistakably gendered tone of Tuesday night’s State of the Union. You can check that out here:

In today’s newsletter: The Epstein files have missing pages. They involve Trump and a child. Trump’s Surgeon General pick doesn’t believe in doctors. Bill Gates and Larry Summers learn what Epstein friendship actually costs. Closer to conflict with Iran? The Pentagon is pushing for AI in weapons systems without human control. The midterms are coming but mail protections aren’t. A small win for press freedom, for now. The BAFTAs had an historic moment, then a disaster.

And for News That Doesn’t Suck, a paleontological adventure straight out of Indiana Jones, grenade launchers and dinosaur bones included.

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Here Are Your Headlines

What Are They Hiding? [Trigger Warning: Graphic details of alleged sex abuse] The DOJ appears to have withheld dozens of pages of Epstein files, despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act mandating their release. Including interviews with a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a young girl. After the existence of the missing files was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and NPR, House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said he “reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the Department of Justice [and] can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.” The FBI seems to have interviewed this woman at least four times, which suggests it found her accusations credible. She claimed that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump when she was roughly 13 years old. She said Trump “forced her head down to his exposed penis, which she subsequently bit.” There is evidence that the DOJ shared files related to these interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorneys but the DOJ appears to have withheld them from the public. They released just one of the interviews, in which the victim does not mention Trump. Oh, and the DOJ initially failed to redact the victim’s name.

Bill Comes Due:Bill Gates on Tuesday apologized to staff of his eponymous foundation for his extensive ties to Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gates acknowledged he’d carried out multiple affairs with Russian women, though he insisted that was unrelated to Epstein’s victims. He claimed he “never spent any time with victims,” never “did anything illicit,” nor “saw anything illicit.” He also admitted he ignored his then-wife Melinda’s warnings about associating with Epstein.

Two Realities: Trump has repeatedly insisted in public that any action against Iran would be “easily won” — but several senior officials, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and Vice President JD Vance, have reportedly raised warnings about the risks of what many experts fear would be a protracted, complicated war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday gave lawmakers a rare briefing on Iran; Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) walked away saying, “We have not heard a single compelling reason why now is the time to start another war in the Middle East.”

Going Postal: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the US Postal Service cannot be sued, even if it intentionally misdelivers, refuses to deliver, or destroys mail. The timing is notable: In months, millions of Americans will submit their midterm votes by mail. “In the face of relaxed procedures,” Margaret Schaack wrote for the University of Chicago Law Review, “postal workers might feel emboldened to intentionally withhold mail-in ballots.”

No Guardrails: The Pentagon gave AI developer Anthropic until Friday to agree to let it use its AI model, Claude, without restrictions. Anthropic reportedly said no: Claude must not be used for domestic surveillance or in lethal autonomous weapons with no human oversight. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic’s CEO on Tuesday and warned him to agree to the administration’s demands or face two seemingly opposing threats: being labeled a supply chain risk, which would force government agencies to stop working with the company (not good for business); and invoking the Defense Production Act, which would force Anthropic to allow the military to use its AI model as it wants. The two threats are somewhat contradictory — you can’t simultaneously blacklist a company and force it to work for you — but consistency may not be this Pentagon’s strong suit. Meanwhile, the Pentagon this week signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s xAI, which will integrate Grok into the Defense Department’s classified systems. That happened fast.

All Steam Ahead: Despite its standoff with the Pentagon, Anthropic this week did abandon a key safety pledge that it had touted for years — never to train an AI without being able to guarantee adequate safety measures. Anthropic’s CSO said it didn’t make “sense for us to make unilateral commitments … if competitors are blazing ahead.”

Next Target: The FBI on Wednesday searched the home and office of Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of LA’s Unified School District. The affidavit is sealed so the reasons are still unknown. Carvalho came to the US as an undocumented immigrant. He is now a naturalized US citizen. Over the years he rose from homelessness to become superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he focused on eliminating achievement gaps between wealthy and poor students and helped raise graduation rates from 60% to 80%. As superintendent in LA, he has championed the idea that schools must be safe havens where students can learn without fear of deportation. Under his direction: no federal immigration officials can enter LAUSD campuses without authorization, volunteers escort children to and from school when heeded, and the district refuses to share student information with immigration authorities. “If you were once undocumented,” he said, “that level of concern for yourself and for others never leaves you.”