AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It's the Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and from San Diego to Detroit to here in Washington, D.C., we've got the least amount of sunlight 2025 has to offer. But we do have NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hi, Ayesha.
RASCOE: And you are a light, I have to say.
SHIVARAM: Oh, thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
SHIVARAM: As are you.
RASCOE: Thank you. Sunlight, transparency. Now, making a sharp turn here.
SHIVARAM: (Laughter).
RASCOE: How much sunlight and transparency are we finding in the evidence in the Epstein files that the Justice Department was legally required to release at the beginning of this weekend?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Well, just to catch up for a second. I mean, this batch of documents started getting released on Friday evening, but there was a lot that was redacted, Ayesha, including some of the documents that were really sought after, like the testimony from the New York grand jury. I will say what was included in this recent release of files was some pictures, significant ones like former President Bill Clinton standing with Jeffrey Epstein. Another one of Clinton in a hot tub with a person whose face has been redacted. Notably, though, President Trump was rarely named in this batch of files. And that really stands out compared to the last round of files that were released by the House Democratic Oversight Committee last month, where Trump was named in that batch more than 1,000 times.
RASCOE: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that the DOJ would make more files public in the coming weeks. Does that satisfy lawmakers across the political spectrum who worked to pass the law mandating disclosure?
SHIVARAM: So far, not really. Congressman Ro Khanna - he's a Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation on the Hill to release these files. He called this release of documents on Friday incomplete at best. There were witness interviews with the FBI that he says should be released, as well as a draft indictment from the first Epstein case that was also something he was looking for. And he wants an explanation from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on the timeline of when the rest of these files are going to be made public.
On the other side of the aisle, Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican - he's been posting a lot on social media agreeing with Khanna, saying that not releasing all of these documents means that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche are violating the law. And Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, you know, is on her way out of Congress, said that the release of these files is, quote, "not MAGA."
So there's a lot of lingering questions after this small release of files from the DOJ, with so many things that were redacted. And then to add on to that concern over the weekend, more than a dozen of the files that were released and made public online were removed from the DOJ website, and that included one file that was, you know, Trump's photo that was on a desk surrounded by other photographs.
So this issue of transparency around the Epstein files, you know, is ongoing. It's been dogging Trump for months. And with this recent move by the DOJ, I mean, this news cycle is just not going to go away. It's going to extend into next year, which I will note, is a midterms year, and that could really complicate things for Republicans.
RASCOE: And meanwhile, the administration is continuing to ramp up pressure on Venezuela.
SHIVARAM: Yeah. There has been mounting pressure from Trump on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Just yesterday, the U.S. stopped another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. It's the second time that's happened in the last two weeks. And this second incident comes after Trump announced a, quote, "blockade" on sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela that happened earlier this week. Now, Venezuela has responded and called the U.S. actions, quote, "criminal," but this is just a complicated situation that has been growing and growing and growing. As you'll remember, the U.S. has been attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela, claiming that they are smuggling drugs, and more than a hundred people have been killed in those strikes.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Deepa, thank you so much.
SHIVARAM: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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