Trump REFUSES to answer questions with Epstein files set to be released imminently: Live updates

The Department of Justice furiously hit back at claims from Democrats and critics of Donald Trump that they will fail to meet the Friday deadline to release the Epstein files.

A spokesman for the DOJ responded to a Politico headline reading: ‘DOJ won’t meet Friday deadline to release all the Epstein files.’

‘Ridiculous framing,’ Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs wrote on X. ‘The DOJ is releasing a massive tranche of new documents that the Biden and Obama administrations refused to release.’

‘The story here: the Trump administration is providing levels of transparency that prior administrations never even contemplated.

‘The initial deadline is being met as we work diligently to protect victims.’

Democrats in Congress have warned the Trump administration of legal action if all of the files aren’t released by the end of Friday.

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office questioned if the Trump administration is hiding something in the Epstein files.

‘WHAT ARE TRUMP, BONDI, AND KASH HIDING!!’ the press office wrote on X.

‘RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.’

Donald Trump said he wouldn’t be taking questions during a White House event on lowering medicine prices with drug manufacturer executives.

The president insisted it was because he didn’t want to ‘spoil’ the event by allowing the media to ask ‘questions having to do with anything else.’

Notably, the event came the same day of the deadline for the Justice Department to release the long awaited Jeffrey Epstein files.

‘Nobody thought a thing like this was possible,’ Trump said of the deal struck to have drug companies sell their products to Americans for the same price as in Europe.

He continued: ‘And I think based on that, I won’t even take questions today, because there’s no way I can take questions that are anywhere comparable to what you just witnessed.’

By Nick Allen

Pam Bondi and the Justice Department could theoretically be held in contempt of Congress for missing the Epstein files release deadline.

Thousands of documents will not be ready for release by the deadline of midnight tonight set out by law.

Last month, Jonathan Entin, a retired law professor from Case Western Reserve University, told KSBW that Congress could theoretically start a process to hold the department in contempt.

But the move would be very complex because the breach of the law would usually be referred to the Justice Department itself to pursue.

Entin said: ‘There’s an obvious conflict there, and there may be workarounds to get some kind of a special counsel appointed, but that’s not going to be so straightforward either.’

It would also be unlikely to begin while Republicans maintain control of the House, although that could change after the midterms.

Outgoing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called on the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files.

‘My goodness, what is in the Epstein files?’ she wrote on X.

‘Release all the files. It’s literally the law.’

Donald Trump announced a deal with nine drugmakers to sell their products at the same price they do in Europe.

It’s part of the president’s effort to bring down the price of drugs and to level the playing field between what Americans pay and what other countries pay for the same product.

The new direct-to-consumer website is named ‘TrumpRx’, which the president insists he did not name.

‘We all named it together,’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

Jeffrey Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex on his behalf, filed a habeas petition, which claims ‘substantial new evidence has emerged’ showing that she did not receive a fair trial.

The disgraced socialite’s last-ditch effort, submitted without an attorney, comes after she has exhausted all of her direct legal appeals.

Democrat Representatives have accused the Trump administration of violating the federal law the requires the release of the Epstein files.

‘It is now taking Pam Bondi an illegally long time for the Trump administration to release all the Epstein Files,’ Representative Jim McGovern wrote on X.

‘By their own admission, they’ve been working on this since February. There is no excuse for a delay. Release the damn files. Do it now.’

Representative Jerry Nadler also wrote, ‘ALL of the Epstein files are required by law to be released TODAY.

‘Trump’s refusal to release the full Epstein files today is simply a continuation of the White House coverup,’ Nadler added.

‘Americans deserve the truth. The victims and survivors deserve justice. Release the files.’

Just an hour before the Epstein files are expected to drop, Donald Trump bragged about the ‘Trump gold card’ allowing companies to buy documentation for foreign workers to remain in the US.

‘It’s the green card on steroids, and it’s a pathway,’ the president acclaimed.

He said $1.5 billion has been brought in from ‘gold card’ sales so far, and Trump said it would go towards reducing US debt.

Individuals can pay $1 million for the ability to obtain permanent residence in the US on an expedited basis, while corporations will pay $2 million per employee they sponsor for the new program.

Gold cards give foreign citizens the right to live and work indefinitely in the US.

Senator Adam Schiff joined Democrats in slamming the DOJ for not planning to release all of the Epstein files today.

‘The Epstein Files Transparency Act is clear: while protecting survivors, ALL of these records are required to be released today. Not just some,’ he wrote on X.

‘The Trump administration can’t move the goalposts. They’re cemented in law.’

Images from the Epstein files released on Thursday included a screenshot of text messages from an unknown sender that seems to refer to an 18-year-old from Russia and mentions a person asking for ‘1000$ per girl.’

The infamous ‘Epstein Files’ refer to the evidence compiled by the Justice Department and FBI during an investigation in Florida that led to the disgraced financier’s conviction in 2008. He was later indicted in New York City in 2019.

Very little has been released publicly from the alleged files until the signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The law requires that ‘all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials’ be released within 30 days of its signing on November 19, meaning the deadline is December 19.