Ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson on Monday scorched President Donald Trump and his administration for causing more pain to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein after the Justice Department dropped files riddled with redactions.
“That’s the betrayal. That’s the knife-twist for the victims,” Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, wrote in his newsletter, Rick Wilson’s Against All Enemies. “You survived the predators. You survived the system that shrugged or looked away or, worst of all, laughed it off, for years. And now you’re watching the system do it again; only this time, it’s live-streamed, branded, and spun as a nothingburger.”
Rick Wilson also called out Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for claiming that the removal of a since-restored photo featuring Trump had “nothing to do” with the president.
Brad Barket via Getty Images
The DOJ failed to meet a legally mandated deadline on Friday to drop its full trove of documents tied to the late convicted sex offender. Instead, the department signaled that it will release the files on a rolling basis in the coming weeks.
File removals and missing documents ― along with heavy, unexplained redactions to pages on the DOJ’s website ― have been reported in the days since.
Epstein survivors have condemned the DOJ over the partial release, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged legal action against the Trump administration.
On Monday, Wilson called out Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for claiming that the removal of a since-restored photo featuring Trump had “nothing to do” with the president.
“Congratulations, geniuses. You just rediscovered the Streisand effect: the harder you try to bury something, the more you guarantee the Internet will dig it up with a backhoe and a marching band,” Wilson wrote. “Pulling files made people search harder. Restoring them didn’t end the story…it proved the cover-up. This cover-up will not survive. They never do.”
Wilson also argued that the DOJ’s “Sharpie-fest” with the files only helped to widen the crisis in Trump world.
“The administration wanted a lid on the pot, a lib-owning middle finger to America. Instead, they turned the heat to high and walked away,” Wilson wrote. “That’s why the black marker isn’t just ink. It’s power. It’s a new form of abuse, striking the lives and hearts of women who have suffered far, far too long.”