Breaking news as the Justice Department releases thousands of files from the Epstein investigation

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Senate, Washington, Ms Now, Policy, News, President, Msnbc, Politics, Congress, Government, Versant Media, Versant

4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The DOJ partially releases first batch of files surrounding the Epstein investigation despite Friday's deadline to release all unclassified records. Plus, President Trump takes his message on the economy to North Carolina. And, the Kennedy Center's signage makeover to include Trump's name. Kristy Greenberg, Mychael Schnell, Carol Leonnig, Philip Bump, David Rohde, Max Chafkin, Hayes Brown, and Catherine Rampell join the Nightcap this Friday.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Good evening. I'm Catherine Rampel in for Stephanie Ruhl. We will get to the nightcap in a moment, as our usual schedule.
0:13.7	But we will start the hour with breaking news. The Justice Department released thousands of documents from the Epstein investigation, including many that had already been disclosed.
0:25.1	The documents are heavily redacted, like this portion, titled Grand Jury N.Y.
0:30.9	It's 119 pages that are entirely blacked out.
0:35.6	Plus, several images of former President Bill Clinton, without context,
0:39.9	including what it chose, or when or where it was taken. President Donald Trump only appeared
0:45.4	a few times in this batch. Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House
0:50.0	Oversight Committee, said that the files released account for just 10% of the materials in the DOJ's
0:56.2	possession. And just as a reminder, Congress passed a bill that this president signed into law,
1:02.5	requiring that the department released all unclassified records within 30 days. There is one hour
1:08.4	left before that deadline hits. And Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told members of Congress in a letter obtained by MS Now
1:16.0	that an ongoing review of some material would be completed over the next two weeks.
1:21.5	Representatives Ro Kana and Thomas Massey, the authors of that bill, were not happy.
1:26.2	Take a listen.
1:28.1	The Justice Department's document dump this afternoon does not comply with Thomas
1:34.1	Massey and My Epstein Transparency Act. It is an incomplete release with too many redactions.
1:41.3	Thomas Massey and are exploring all options. It can be the impeachment of people
1:46.5	at justice, inherit contempt, or referring for prosecution, those who are obstructing justice.
1:54.5	For Republican Congressman Massey posted on social media that Attorney General Pam Bondi and
1:59.8	her deputy, quote, grossly failed to
2:02.7	comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law, unquote. With that, let's bring in our
2:08.7	lead-off panel, MS Now legal analyst, Christy Greenberg. She is a former federal prosecutor and former
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.