'If You Can Keep It': What Should Accountability Look Like In The Epstein Case?
1A
NPR
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Among those named in the documents is Donald Trump. The president has long denied any crimes related to Epstein. And there’s no public evidence that the allegations against him are credible.
But a new NPR investigation reveals that the Justice Department withheld some of the Epstein files related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor in the ‘80s.
In this installment of our weekly politics series, “If You Can Keep It,” what did the DOJ remove exactly? And what does accountability look like for those connected to Epstein’s crimes?
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, |
| 0:05.4 | investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. |
| 0:11.1 | More information is available at Hewlett.org. |
| 0:28.7 | The Trump administration is reaching out to Tehran's domestic opposition, the Kurdish minority leaders, to back an uprising against the regime. |
| 0:37.1 | We'll have the latest in the war in Iran. During the Friday news roundup, make sure you tune in tomorrow and follow NPR.org for the very latest. |
| 0:37.5 | For now, the latest installment of our weekly series, if you can keep it, where we talk about state of our democracy and the politics affecting it. |
| 0:45.8 | It's been a month since the Justice Department released more than three million documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. |
| 0:53.2 | And in that time, powerful people in several countries |
| 0:55.8 | have faced repercussions for their close ties to Epstein who died by suicide in prison in 2019. |
| 1:01.8 | Among those named in the documents is President Donald Trump. Trump has long denied any crimes |
| 1:06.7 | related to Epstein, and there's no public evidence that the FBI found any of the allegations |
| 1:11.2 | against President Trump in the files to be credible. |
| 1:13.7 | But an NPR investigation reveals that the Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files |
| 1:19.7 | related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor in the 1980s. |
| 1:25.4 | We're going to hear more about that reporting a little later. The DOJ has |
| 1:29.5 | also withdrawn some public documents that include accusations about the president and Epstein, |
| 1:34.7 | and a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed this week that the Justice Department is now |
| 1:39.3 | withholding more than 47,000 files that have been flagged for review. |
| 1:43.8 | For today's installment of our weekly politics series, we ask, |
| 1:47.7 | what's in the documents that the DOJ removed or withheld? |
| 1:51.3 | And what does accountability look like for those connected to Epstein's crimes? |
| 1:55.3 | I'm Jen White. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.