President Trump said he would release the Epstein files if elected. After he won, he appointed senior leaders at the Department of Justice and the FBI who pledged to release them. Attorney General Pam Bondi even took shots at the Biden administration for its failures on the issue.
And then it came time to actually release the files.
Suddenly, there were no more files to be released, no new Epstein associates to investigate. The president called the whole thing a "scam" and a "hoax." Case closed—until it was reopened by Congress, and the Trump Justice Department was forced to review and release millions of documents in just 30 days.
That tight timeline helped create a disaster. When the Justice Department published more than 3 million files, a number of Epstein survivors called it "a betrayal," alleging that some victims' personal information had been exposed, while the identities of some Epstein associates had been protected.
"I'm getting death threats whilst nothing is being done," Jane Doe 8 said. "This kind of vicious attack on a victim at the hands of the 'Department of Justice' is an abomination."
Jane Doe 4 asked the question plainly: "How is this possible?" Danielle Powell Cobb investigates today for Vanity Fair.
Plus: There's a photo tour through the most colorful scenes at CPAC, a conservative superconference in palpable decline. |
JACK HOLMES,
SENIOR EDITOR |
After weeks of delays and a massive, multiagency effort to review and redact documents, there's one question that survivors are asking: How has the very harm that the DOJ and the courts promised to guard them against found them so easily? |
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In conversation with VF, Her Majesty's longtime personal assistant, adviser, and curator details her enduring friendship with the late monarch. |
Photographer Jack Califano was on the ground in Grapevine, Texas, to capture the scene at America's oldest conservative political conference. |
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In the late '80s, they were the most head-turning newlyweds around. Kelly Klein, Calvin's new bride, was the very image of the Calvin Klein woman come to life—glossy, sporty, and effortlessly put together.
In the May 1987 issue, André Leon Talley examined the style ethic that bound them together. |
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