Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Redacted: Donald & Jeffrey

By Joyce Vance, Dec 20, 2025

Editor’s Note: Above are links and information about the new post from Joyce. Below is a brief excerpt and the insights are alarming. Thank you Joyce.. — DrWeb

Once again, I’m apologizing at the top of a longer-than-I’d-like-it-to-be Saturday night column. Nonetheless, whether you’re just getting in from a holiday party or waking up early for a busy day (or perhaps late, given ongoing festivities), I hope you’ll take a moment to work your way through all of it. [Joyce]

There are no surprises here. Republicans were willing to let the government shutdown linger to avoid reopening and the inevitable passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Even after the shutdown ended, House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed swearing in newly elected Arizona Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva for 50 days after her September 2025 special election because she was the vote that would put the discharge petition for the Act in motion. They may have voted for the bill, but that was only after public pressure had made its passage, and the consequences for members who didn’t vote for it, all but inevitable.

So while there are lots of pictures of President Clinton, there are very few of Trump, and reporting that one that was initially released was clawed back. By the end of the day, the AP was reporting 16 items had been removed from the released documents. There is page after page of redaction, and also redactions on documents that look interesting but have all possible meaning and context removed. It’s not exactly full-throated compliance with a law called the “Transparency Act.”

Part of DOJ’s release of Epstein Documents on Friday.

None of this is surprising. Not DOJ’s failure to comply with the law—Friday was the deadline Congress set for turning over the files, not a start date, which was how DOJ treated it. Not DOJ’s failure to release material that would give the survivors more insight into the crimes committed against them and who was responsible. That’s important for survivors, not just so that they can understand and heal, but because they’ve had to fight to be believed, and they have been so easily cast aside.

There was one instance in the release that illustrates this. Maria Farmer had reported in 1996 that Epstein stole nude photos of her sisters Annie, then 16, and a younger sister who was 12 at the time. Among the documents released Friday is one that confirms she was telling the truth. She came forward despite Epstein’s threats of harm to her. She was broadly disbelieved.

The highlighted portion of the document reads: “Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers. Epstein at one time requested REDACTED to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools. Epstein is now threatening REDACTED that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down”

Also lacking in the release was anything that clarified Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. There were plenty of salacious photos of Bill Clinton—interesting in light of Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ admission to Vanity Fair that Trump wrongly claimed the files implicated the former president in visits to Epstein Island. But there is nothing that helps us better understand Trump’s involvement. Wiles acknowledged that Trump “was on [Epstein’s] plane … he’s on the manifest. They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever — I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together.” Trump has denied any wrongdoing but is apparently unwilling to release materials that would bear that out if it’s the case.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article: https://joycevance.substack.com/p/redacted-donald-and-jeffrey