Criticism of the US Department of Justice's approach to releasing documents from investigations into the now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is growing. This is partly due to the extensive redaction of content and partly because not everything has yet been made public.
The fact that a picture featuring Trump was removed is fueling criticism.
Blackout?
Erik Åsard, professor emeritus of North American studies at Uppsala University, thinks that most things point to a cover-up.
Donald Trump is very concerned about his reputation. It's been a month since Congress decided that everything would be released on December 19th, and that's when they've had that much time to redact the documents, he says.
Dag Blanck, professor of North American studies at Uppsala University, points out that the Department of Justice is allowed to cover up for the purpose of, for example, protecting crime victims.
But it is difficult to know now what proportion of the material has been masked because we do not know how much there is, he says.
“Unlike Trump”
Åsard believes that there is something different about Trump's handling of the release of the documents compared to previous scandals. In those cases, he has often brushed aside or released material that disarmed critics.
According to Åsard, the president even interrupted a meeting with the media the other day before any questions about the Epstein affair could be asked.
"It's very different from Trump, who loves the spotlight. It suggests that something is weighing on him, maybe even making him ashamed," says Erik Åsard.
He believes that the handling will affect Trump in the long term and may have consequences for the midterm elections next year.
Blanck believes that the process is dragging on and that Trump changing his mind about whether or not to release the documents will likely have a negative impact on him. The fact that Trump has portrayed himself as someone who would storm against the power elite and is now being linked to it does not look good.
It's both about being mentioned in the documents and that it seems like he wants to hide something, says Blanck.
