Washington, 20 December (H.S.): The U.S. Justice Department commenced the phased disclosure of voluminous Jeffrey Epstein investigation records on Friday, fulfilling a congressional mandate amid explosive political scrutiny, with documents illuminating the late financier's elite entanglements—including President Donald Trump—while heavily redacting victim identities and sparking accusations of selective transparency.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the initial tranche encompassing several hundred thousand pages, featuring a seven-page roster of 254 masseuses entirely blacked out to protect potential victim information, alongside unprecedented photographs: one portraying a younger former President Bill Clinton reclining in a hot tub partially obscured by a black rectangle, another depicting Clinton swimming with a dark-haired woman resembling Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's convicted accomplice serving 20 years for underage recruitment.

President Trump's name surfaces in a contact book of uncertain provenance, though no wrongdoing is alleged; once Epstein's Palm Beach associate in the 1990s, President Trump severed ties pre-2019 arrest, initially resisting release before yielding to bipartisan pressure via the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed last month, dismissing prior pushback as a Democrat hoax.

This deadline-driven rollout—preceded by congressional subpoenas yielding estate materials like disparaging Epstein-Trump emails and Massage for Dummies excerpts—avoids new charges per Blanche, prioritizing active probes and victim safeguards, yet draws Democratic fire from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer labeling it a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar