Lawfare Daily: The Epstein Files and the Politicization of the Justice Department
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Senior Editor Anna Bower speaks with Lawfare Public Service Fellow Michael Feinberg and Senior Editor Eric Columbus about the extraordinary actions taken by the Justice Department and Congress in response to calls for the release of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The discussion covers the DOJ’s unusual “review” of the Epstein files, Congress’s oversight role, proposed legislation aimed at compelling the release of these materials, and the department’s newly announced probe into prominent Democrats with alleged ties to Epstein.
Listeners can read Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes’s column on the Epstein files here. Wittes’s writing on “ghost investigations” is available here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Nearly every news alert in 2025 has raised questions, some old, some new, about the law and national security. |
| 0:08.0 | And now you get the chance to ask Lawfare directly. It's time for our annual Ask Us Anything Mailbag podcast, an opportunity for you to ask Lawfare this year's most burning questions. |
| 0:19.0 | You can submit your question by leaving a voicemail at |
| 0:22.1 | 202-643-8474 or by sending a recording of yourself asking your question to Ask Us Anything Lawfare at |
| 0:33.3 | Gmail.com by December 16th. |
| 0:38.3 | This is really quite out of the ordinary for how DOJ is supposed to look at closed investigations |
| 0:48.4 | and or reopen ones where new information may have come to light. |
| 0:53.7 | It's the Lawfare podcast. I'm Senior Editor Anna Bauer, joined by Public Service Fellow Mike |
| 0:59.3 | Feinberg and Senior Editor Eric Columbus. I would say it certainly seems like an escalation |
| 1:06.2 | even beyond what they, the very odd prostitutions of Comey and James. And the reason I say that is that |
| 1:12.6 | in this case, with regard to Epstein, their July statement said, literally, I'm quoting here, |
| 1:20.8 | we did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. |
| 1:28.2 | Today, we're discussing the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein Files |
| 1:32.9 | and Congress's oversight efforts to secure the release of these materials. |
| 1:38.0 | The Epstein Files saga is kind of the never-ending story of the second Trump administration, which is really saying |
| 1:46.7 | something because in this media environment, it feels like nothing ever really seems to |
| 1:53.0 | stick. But before we get to the latest in the Epstein Files saga, I want to start by focusing |
| 1:59.8 | on how the Justice Department has handled |
| 2:02.8 | the matter, because I think that it helps situate some of the more recent events involving |
| 2:08.4 | congressional oversight. Mike, let's start with you. Think back to the weeks following Trump's |
| 2:16.2 | second inauguration. What was the Justice Department's initial |
| 2:21.5 | action regarding the Epstein files, and what precipitated that action? |
... |
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