Trump news at a glance: Anger grows about redactions, apparent removal of Epstein files from DoJ website | Trump administration
Donald Trump’s justice department was hit with legal threats and scathing outrage after authorities released a limited, heavily redacted trove of Jeffrey Epstein files in an apparent violation of the law mandating the near-complete disclosure of these documents by Friday.
“The justice department’s document dump this afternoon does not comply with [Republican] Thomas Massie and my Epstein Transparency Act,” Ro Khanna, the California Democratic congressman who co-authored the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by 19 December, said in a video statement.
“It is an incomplete release, with too many redactions. Thomas Massie and I are exploring all options,” he also said, among them possible impeachment of justice department officials, finding them in contempt of Congress, and the possibility of “referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice”.
Trump justice department slammed after limited Epstein files release
Frustration mounted on Saturday as the US justice department released some new Jeffrey Epstein files, including transcripts, while removing more than a dozen others from its website with no explanation.
At least 16 files disappeared from the department’s public webpage, according to an Associated Press tally. The documents included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, is a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. “Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago. @RepRoKhanna is correct,” Republican Kentucky representative and co-author of the legislation, Thomas Massie, said on X.
Massie said a future justice department “could convict the current AG and others because the Epstein Files Transparency Act is not like a congressional subpoena which expires at the end of each Congress”.
US intercepts second merchant vessel off coast of Venezuela in international waters
US forces on Saturday apprehended a second merchant vessel carrying oil off the coast of Venezuela in international waters in the midst of an American blockade against the country’s oil, according to the US homeland security department.
The British maritime risk management company Vanguard told Reuters the vessel was believed to be the Panama-flagged Centuries and was intercepted east of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea.
The stoppage follows the seizure by US forces of another oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on 10 December.
Bill Clinton spokesperson says White House using him as scapegoat after Epstein files release
A spokesperson for Bill Clinton accused the White House late on Friday of using him as a scapegoat after pictures of the former president with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as with a young woman in a pool, were included as part of the congressionally ordered release of government files.
“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,” the spokesperson said. “This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever.”
Donald Trump promised new ‘golden age’ for US economy. Where is it?
The US economy has come under pressure in 2025 with the golden age promised by Trump upon his return to office in January yet to take hold. On two areas the president pledged to rapidly improve – jobs and prices – the results have so far been lackluster.
Jobs growth has stalled, with an average of 55,000 jobs added each month, according to official data for the first 11 months of the year, down 67% on 2024.
The headline unemployment rate, which fluctuated between 3.9% and 4.2% in the last year of Joe Biden’s presidency, climbed in November to 4.6% – its highest level in more than four years.
What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened 19 December 2025.
