NZ Herald Afternoon Headlines | Tuesday, February 10, 2026
The Department of Justice redacted files discrediting Donald Trump‘s claims about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein as scrutiny of the US President’s complicity in his former friend’s sex crimes heightens.
US Congressman Jamie Raskin told reporters he had seen un-redacted copies of the files that indicate Trump had not bannedEpstein from Mar-a-Lago, as he had claimed.
He said the Department of Justice had censored the documents for “some indeterminate, inscrutable reason”, according to People.
“Epstein’s lawyers synopsised and quoted Trump as saying that Jeffrey Epstein was not a member of his club at Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago, and he had never been asked to leave.”
The House Judiciary Committee member alleged “there is nothing” in federal law that should justify redacting the emails between the pair’s lawyers.
“I know it seems to be at odds with some things that President Trump has been saying recently about how he had kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club or asked him to leave, and this was at least one report that appears to contradict it.”
Scrutiny over Donald Trump's friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been heightened by the release of new emails. Photo / Getty Images
Trump and Epstein’s 15-year friendship is well-documented, with Trump describing the financier as a “terrific guy” in a 2002 New York Magazine interview.
“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Trump claimed he ended his friendship with the convicted paedophile in 2007, following an incident in which he said Epstein had poached some of his staff.
“He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘don’t ever do that again’. He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.
“I threw him out and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth.”
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Epstein, who has been implicated in global sex trafficking, had been “kicked out” for “being a creep”.
BREAKING: @RepRaskin says he saw an unredacted email that was released by Trump's DOJ with redactions that shows that Epstein’s lawyers were talking with Trump’s Lawyers, saying that Epstein was a guest at Mar-a-lago and never had been asked to leave.
The Department of Justice released the biggest batch of documents yet last week, quickly coming under fire after some of the victims were accidentally named, the Hill reported.
Raskin said the agency’s redaction decisions are “puzzling” and “inexplicable”.
“I was able to determine, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims, and so that’s troubling to us.”
Some of the redactions seemed to protect the identities of Epstein’s associates “simply to spare them potential embarrassment, political sensitivity or disgrace of some kind”, he said.
“I really do believe that listening to the survivors is going to be our pathway through this nightmare.”
