The Jeffrey Epstein puzzle contains many pieces that have never been investigated. The release of the Epstein files, if it ever comes, does not mark the end of the process. The release of the files should be viewed as phase one of what should be a long and comprehensive investigation into one of the most prolonged sex crime rings in US history.

Trump and his party want Jeffrey Epstein and the scandal to go away quickly. The president’s desire to sweep this under the rug is why Republicans rushed to support the legislation to compel the DOJ to release the files.

It is now a crime for any DOJ official to block the release of the files, but people like Sen. Jeff Merkley expect the DOJ to refuse to release anything that would make Trump look bad.

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Sen. Merkley said on CNN on Thursday morning:

I expect the administration to block the release of anything that puts the Trump administration or Trump himself in a bad light. I don’t trust this administration to follow the law. At all. There are provisions in this law that say you can redact for a temporary and very narrow protection of an investigation.

But who’s going to be inside the administration actually saying, follow this law as written? Plus, they have to provide explanations of what they redact, but will they really provide detailed explanations? I just think that Trump has spent the last 10 months protecting pedophiles powerful men who were involved with Epstein.

He’s been defending his own reputation. I’m not saying that he himself falls into that pedophile group, but just that he thought that this investigation or this these materials would harm his reputation in some way.

In order to get full justice for the victims, the money needs to be followed, and that is where Trump could face more problems.

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