Breaking News: Trump DOJ Misses Deadline to Release All Epstein Files with Tara Palmeri and Skye Perryman

Summary

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The Jim Acosta Show

Episode: Breaking News: Trump DOJ Misses Deadline to Release All Epstein Files

With Guests: Tara Palmeri and Skye Perryman

Date: December 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the breaking news that the Trump Justice Department failed to meet the legal deadline to release the full set of Jeffrey Epstein files, releasing only a partial, cherry-picked trove heavily focused on Democratic figures. Jim Acosta, alongside journalist Tara Palmeri and legal advocate Skye Perryman, dissects the politics and legal maneuvering behind the release, the substance (and omissions) so far, and what it signals about transparency, accountability, and the ongoing fight for the truth about Epstein and those associated with him.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. DOJ Fails Legal Deadline on Epstein Files

• Acosta opens with the announcement that the DOJ will not meet the Friday deadline for full file release. Only a selection of files is being declassified and published ("murky," "unclear").
• Tara Palmeri explains the DOJ's stated reasons: ongoing victim identification and sensitive information redaction, but notes deep skepticism about their process and the timing.

  "As of Monday, the Justice Department... we're still going through the process by which we identify victims... they're very much behind... I had zero doubt that by Friday they were going to get this together." (00:47)

• The files uploaded so far to the DOJ website are described as incomplete—primarily photographs and institutional documents, not the full investigative record.

2. Content of Released Files: A Suspicious "Dump"

• Acosta & Palmeri live-review some file contents on air: photos of Epstein's New York residence, gym equipment, closets, and a notable lack of images with people—especially any featuring Donald Trump.
• Palmeri highlights the concern many observers have: the potential political curation or redaction of incriminating material relating to Trump or his associates.

  "We're kind of leaving it up to themselves to self-regulate. And have they ever been good at that, the Department of Justice?" (05:46)

3. Political Framing and Cherry-Picking

• Todd Blanche, Deputy Attorney General, goes on Fox News to frame the partial release as a move toward "transparency," while shifting blame for prior inaction to Democrats.

  "President Trump has said for years that he wants full transparency and he wants the Department of Justice to release everything that we can..." (02:03)

• This framing is discussed as disingenuous, given evidence of Republican strategy memos urging selective release of files damaging to Democrats, notably Bill Clinton.

  "If all that you see are his [Trump's] enemies... then you know that they have been spending round the clock... to make sure that President Trump's name was redacted..." – Tara Palmeri (18:31)

4. What’s In These Files—And What’s Missing

• The files released so far skew heavily toward neutral or damaging-to-Democrats imagery (multiple photos of Bill Clinton, documents, and Jane Doe complaints with redacted names).
  • "As far as we can tell so far... there are a lot of Bill Clinton references that are immediately available." (16:43)
  • "We know from the House Oversight Committee Democrats, they've released photos of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein... If the Trump administration is not going to put out photos... then you know that there's something fishy going on here." (22:26)
• No evidence is found so far of Trump implicated in the so-called dump; instead, there are claims of systematic redactions, especially around Trump's presence.
• Jane Doe testimony and court records are present, with references to the structure of Epstein’s trafficking operations (recruitment, payments), but victims’ names are appropriately withheld.

5. Bureau of Prisons Surveillance Video

• Some prison surveillance video is included, relating to the night of Epstein’s death, addressing longstanding conspiracy theories over video gaps.
  • "There was this whole hullabaloo...a block of 1 minute from 11:59pm to midnight... was not there... I guess they have found the complete footage..." (14:13)
• Footage appears inconclusive; no direct evidence is shown of Epstein or his death, prompting skepticism.

6. Legal and Political Fallout

• Skye Perryman (Democracy Forward) alleges that the partial release is a "cherry-picked" political play, not genuine transparency. Her organization is pursuing lawsuits for broader disclosure, including internal communications about the cover-up.

  "They're not completely releasing this. So now what you're seeing is a very cherry-picked release... We filed a first of its kind lawsuit... What are they hiding?" (24:51)

• Congressional leaders, notably Senator Chuck Schumer, contend the DOJ is in violation of the newly passed Epstein Files Transparency Act.

7. Broader Political Context: Trump’s Other Transgressions

• Acosta segues into Trump’s controversial decision to rename the Kennedy Center, drawing parallels to his disregard for both law and public norms.
  • "Here we are at the scene of yet another crime committed by Donald Trump. He has vandalized the Kennedy center by putting his name on it." (30:32)
• This action is described as emblematic of Trump's willingness to ignore legal or ethical boundaries for personal aggrandizement, further deepening the show’s theme of lawlessness and impunity.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On DOJ’s Self-Policing:

  "We're kind of leaving it up to themselves to self-regulate. And have they ever been good at that, the Department of Justice?"
  — Tara Palmeri (05:46)

• On the File Release Strategy:

  "If all you see are his enemies... then you know that they have been spending round the clock... to make sure that President Trump's name was redacted."
  — Tara Palmeri (18:31)

• Acosta’s Summary of the Dump:

  "What we've seen so far released by the Justice Department, as far as we can tell, basically all we've seen are pictures of Bill Clinton and a lot of pictures of closets and workout rooms and furniture and that sort of thing."
  — Jim Acosta (24:23)

• Legal Challenge:

  "There's also documents... What lengths has this administration gone to to try to now conceal the files? What is this cover up...?"
  — Sky Perryman (35:28)

• On Trump's Optics:

  "He is making a mockery of that because he does not respect us. He does not respect you and I. He does not respect this democracy."
  — Jim Acosta (37:49)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:34 — Acosta and Palmeri introduce the missed deadline and discuss DOJ’s claims about redactions/victim protection.
• 01:45–03:50 — Todd Blanche’s Fox appearance; DOJ begins phased file release, unclear what the content is.
• 04:07–07:24 — Live review of released files; discussion of incomplete and suspicious content.
• 08:17–11:47 — Discovery of Jane Doe records, Bureau of Prisons video footage, lack of incriminating imagery.
• 13:49–16:43 — Old Clinton-Epstein images leak; discussion of Republican strategy memo for media damage control.
• 18:31–21:46 — Political implications of cherry-picking; possible systematic exclusion of Trump-related material.
• 24:51–28:01 — Skye Perryman on lawsuits, transparency, and Democratic pushback.
• 30:32–35:11 — Segment on Trump defacing the Kennedy Center; interviews with D.C. patrons decrying the action.
• 35:11–38:43 — Legal recourses, pressure campaigns, and the fight for full transparency.

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Conclusion/Takeaways

• The Trump DOJ failed to meet the legal mandate for full Epstein file release, opting for a partial, likely politically calculated limited dump.
• The files released so far focus heavily on Democratic figures, especially Bill Clinton, while there are strong indications of concerted efforts to omit or redact incriminating material relating to Donald Trump.
• Both journalists and legal advocates expect and are fighting for further disclosures—via lawsuits, congressional action, and continued reporting.
• The broader episode frames these transparency failures within a theme of continued lawlessness, politicization of justice, and the vital need for public pressure and vigilance in holding power to account.
• Acosta ends with a call to hold onto truth and not give into official lies or intimidation.

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Final Word:

"We're not going to give in to the lies. We are not going to give in to the fear. And we are going to hold on to the truth and hope, everybody. We're going to hold on to the truth and hope."
— Jim Acosta (End)

Transcript

[Jim Acosta]

Foreign. Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and the Epstein gate cover up. The Trump administration has already announced, folks, that it will not meet the Friday deadline for the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files. Apparently, they're going to start releasing some of the files, but not all of the files. And so let's talk about this now with Tara Palmeri, who writes the red letter substack. She has followed the Epstein case for many years now. Tara, great to see you as always. I mean, what do you make of this development? I mean, we, we sort of thought, I mean, I won't speak on your behalf. I'll just speak on my behalf. I sort of thought, a lot of people thought that they would be playing games with this, and it seems like that's the case. But what's your read of where we are right now?

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. So, I mean, as of Monday, the Justice Department had written a letter to two judges, Burman and Engelmeer, saying, like, we're still going through the process by which we identify victims. We, we haven't, you know, even identified all the victims because new people are coming forward. They have like an email victim hotline. So they were very much behind in terms of redacting the victim information to protect those victims. So if they're saying that on Monday, I had had zero doubt that by Friday they were going to be able to get this together. They didn't even have a process yet. They didn't even have mechanisms. They didn't even have a full list of victims. So I'm not surprised at all. And, you know, the idea that they're redacting thousands of pages means that it's going to be a lot like what you see right now when you go to the Epstein files on the FBI's website.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And Todd Blanche was basically letting the cat out of the bag earlier this morning on fox. Let's listen to this.

[Todd Blanche]

And for the DOJ to make the Epstein files public after the president signed a law requiring those to be released. So in these files, are we going to learn any new information about Epstein and people that may have been associated with him.

So, yes. So today is the, is the 30 days. And I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today. And those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein. And, and just so everybody appreciates, President Trump has said for years that he wants full transparency and he wants the Department of Justice to release everything that we can with respect to this investigation in cases. And we saw duringduring the Biden administration radio silence from the very Democrats that are screaming from congressional steps today that we haven't done enough. But guess what?

[Jim Acosta]

Okay. And I mean, and Tara, I guess I should just note in the last several minutes, I'm seeing that on the Department of Justice website, they have now started releasing some of these materials. As Todd Blanche was saying on Fox this morning, they don't plan on releasing all of the materials, but on the DOJ website, they have started to release some of these materials. I don't think we know exactly what we have at this point. It says. I'm looking at the website right now. It says first phase of declassified Epstein files. BOP Bureau of Prisons. I suppose that means video footage, Maxwell Proffer memoranda and correspondence. So there's some stuff here. It's. And we need to caution the viewers on the website, it says download all files and it's a zip file, but it's not all the files. They've said that they're not releasing all the files. So, I mean, mean, as you were saying earlier, this is very murky. This is very unclear as to what's happening.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, I mean, I wish I could read them on air, but it's. Yeah, probably a huge. Dan Mangan, my old colleague at the New York Post at CNBC with it, of course, he was always good at this stuff.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean, I'm just looking at this on my phone right now. There's a picture of a hallway with a piece of furniture. I don't know what any of these pictures are. There's a closet. To my producer, Matt, I did just send this to you, and I may have accidentally downloaded all of this to my phone, which is probably a bad idea.

[Tara Palmeri]

Epstein Libraries.

[Jim Acosta]

What they're calling it Epstein Library. Yeah. And this is literally happening right now, folks.

[Tara Palmeri]

I am not a robot. You are in line.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes, I see a workout room, more workout equipment. My producer, Matt is going to get this up here in just a second. Don't worry, folks. But I don't. I'm just going through this so far. This may take quite a while to go through. I mean, I'm seeing what looks like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of files of photographs and Lord knows what else. For some reason, Epstein took a lot of pictures of his workout equipment. I don't know why that is. And his stuff in his closet, their room, pictures. And ter, what about this concern that a lot of people have expressed that they were Going to scrub, you know, the files so they, they don't damage Trump or they don't damage people that, you know, Trump wants to protect. That would be contrary to the law. The law says they have to release all available files and documents. But protect people's faces, protect the faces of survivors identities and so on.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. Like we're kind of leaving it up to themselves to self regulate. Right. And have they ever been good at that, the Department of Justice?

[Jim Acosta]

No, they have not. Not under this administration.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Yeah. Specifically in this administration. It's. Yeah. Well, actually across three administrations, I would say, or more than that, three decades.

[Jim Acosta]

In which, as it relates to this case. That's for sure. That's true.

[Tara Palmeri]

No, we know why he had that sweetheart deal.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

Why?

[Tara Palmeri]

When Maria Farmer made that phone call in 1996, the FBI, nobody ever followed up with her case. You know, we don't know why for so long he was able to, you know, get away with this. I'm sorry, Jim. I'm like the data set, set one, zip. I'm like, I'm kind of salivating over this right now. I, you know, I mean, not to be. Oh, no application to open it. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, if you just look, if you just hit View files, it will, it will allow you to start viewing it. But all I'm saying.

[Tara Palmeri]

Download it.

[Jim Acosta]

You don't have to download. I'm seeing rooms and, and now I'm starting to see some blueprints on this page. Yeah. As soon as we get this up and going on, on the stream, folks, we'll, we'll.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, wow.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, you can just look at it as a PDF.

[Jim Acosta]

You can just look at these PDFs.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. I'm basically right. The first ones are just of his home. Really.

[Jim Acosta]

It looks like. Would this be the Epstein home in New York or Florida? I guess. We don't know.

[Tara Palmeri]

Well, I. It looks more like his one in, in New York. Shoot. Did I just lose my spot? Yeah, it's. It's pretty.

[Jim Acosta]

I'm not seeing any pictures of any people as of yet. And I've gone through four pages of this and I'm just seeing. There's a lot of pictures of just. And I guess it's the. These might be FBI photos. Right? Because when they, and they go and they survey crime scenes and so on, they take lots of pictures of just. Here's the, here's the gym. Yeah. This is what it looks like on the DOJ website, folks. If you're looking at this, this is the I think this is the very first PDF that's on here, as far as I can tell. And it's a photo of a hallway with a piece of furniture in it. And this is my producer, Matt, just going through each of these one by one, folks, live. I mean, this. Just so everybody knows, this just hit the DOJ website.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

In the last several minutes, we're all getting the breaking news alerts on our phones and devices because this is happening in real time. And so if I. I'm gonna do. As we're scrolling, I'm actually curious about these.

[Tara Palmeri]

These Jane Doe cases.

[Jim Acosta]

Now. It looks like I'm seeing the exterior of the New York apartment building and. Or residents. And this looks like the. This is the residence in New York, is it not?

[Tara Palmeri]

Let me see. It looks like it, yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

The door with the. So some of this may be the photographs that were taken inside the residence.

[Tara Palmeri]

I guess these are just what, like FBI. Just FBI files?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. This is data. Yeah. I mean, folks, this is just all happening in real time. In case you're wondering, like, why are Tara and Jim doing this? The Epstein files have been released. And I want to caution everybody who's watching this is not the totality of the Epstein files, at least as. As far as we know right now, because Todd Blanche, the deputy Attorney General, who has been, you know, showing favorable treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell and so on, he said on Fox earlier this morning that they can't or they're not going to put them all out by tonight's midnight deadline. So we're seeing what's been released so far.

[Unnamed Reporter at Kennedy Center]

Go ahead.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, that is his house in. In the.

[Jim Acosta]

In New York.

[Tara Palmeri]

In New York, yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay, here's a room that has pictures of people on the wall. Nothing important there, I don't think.

[Tara Palmeri]

Meanwhile, Elise Stefanic drops out of her race against Kathy Hokel and is leaving Congress.

[Jim Acosta]

Did she really? Oh, wow, that's interesting. That is fascinating.

[Tara Palmeri]

She chose to announce at the same time the Epstein files were released. So I wonder if there's a scandal involved trying to.

[Jim Acosta]

Bur. We also saw today, Tara, that, I mean, the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, recessed one day early so all these Republican lawmakers wouldn't be in town as this was all coming out. But, I mean, the way they've handled this, going back to what you're saying earlier, Tara, is. I mean, it's. It is kind of what we expected, that this was not going to be, you know, certainly not a competent release of the files, not an organized Release of the files. But also, you know, the House Oversight Committee and the photographs they put out.

[Tara Palmeri]

What is that?

[Jim Acosta]

The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, they put out photographs that were very important and relevant. This is just a dump.

[Tara Palmeri]

No, that's. No, that's actually their laundry area. That's where they're pressing their. I guess, pressed all.

[Jim Acosta]

He had a laundry, I guess, in the building? Yeah.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Well, he owned the whole building. Was one of the largest townhouses in New York.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, right, right.

[Tara Palmeri]

It's crazy, right?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And so this. I guess this is going to take time, but what do you think? I mean, what are your expectations for this, Tara? What do you think we're going to get at the end of this?

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, I'm seeing Jane Doe complaints, lots of them. And one of them is talking about going to the island. She, you know, how she was recruited? Paid, you know, she had to pay. Was paid 200 to 300 for a massage. Had to work, you know, recruited her friends. Yeah, it's, you know, you don't see the name, thank God. But, yeah, you're seeing, you're seeing witnesses. Jane Doe's complaints. I'm looking at court records right now. Just because.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, you are in the files. Interesting.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Jane do three. All of from Jane do one. J. Jane DO three.

[Jim Acosta]

What about this Bureau of Prisons? There was a Bureau of Prisons note. I kind of wonder what that was. That seemed. Bureau of Prisons video footage, RAW video, enhanced video. Let me just send this to Matt, just so everybody knows that we're doing this in real time, folks. But there's the, remember, there's the, the Bureau of Prisons video that became very relevant because there were these concerns that there was an interruption in the video in the. In the prison where Jeffrey Epstein was being held before he was founded.

[Tara Palmeri]

So there is something about the prison in here.

[Jim Acosta]

It looks like there's Bureau of Prison video that's been released. Yes, I would.

[Tara Palmeri]

That's. I was wondering about that. I was like, I wonder if they're gonna.

[Jim Acosta]

There it is right there. We're showing it now. This is it, folks. According to the Department of Justice. Again, take it as it is. This says video one in parentheses, RAW video. And then there's video two, in parentheses, enhanced video. And then there's videos by hour. And it goes from 6pm to 6am it looks like in the time frame that Jeffrey Epstein allegedly committed suicide. So this is some of the other material that's been released. It's on the DOJ website. And everybody, you know, for folks who don't remember. There was this whole hullabaloo and I talked to Mark Epstein about this himself. He doesn't think that his brother committed suicide. He thinks his brother was murdered. And one of the issues that came up was a tiny interruption in the video as it was being recorded at the Bureau of Prisons. And there was a concern that the video just, it's not, it's not a complete video or was not a really great shot.

[Tara Palmeri]

Like what, what are we supposed to be seeing here?

[Jim Acosta]

Right. Apparently the video is, it doesn't show everything.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, I don't, we're not seeing Jeffrey Epstein or his cell here.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Palmeri]

Seeing people walking in and out.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. I'll find a story just to refresh everybody's memory on this.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, I've also talked to Mark about this. He's obviously hired doctors, specialists.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, this is what the Guardian reported. This was September 3rd. It's easy to memory hold all this stuff, folks, because we've been following this for so long. But a so called missing minute of CCTV footage, a key ingredient of conspiracy theories surrounding the prison death of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been found contradicting the assertion of Attorney General Pam Bondi that it was recorded over. The video was in a cash material including 33 pages of records related to the disgraced financier and former Donald Trump associate. Let's see here. FBI released hours of surveillance footage taken from outside Epstein's jail cell on the night he died. Observers quickly realized from timestamps that a block of 1 minute from 11:59pm to midnight on August 10th was not there. Epstein was found unresponsive in a cell at 6:30am you know, this video appear, you know, came to, you know, came to be a part of the controversy. And all this because people thought, okay, this is something that shows that there was some sort of weird thing that was going on. But I, I guess they have found the complete footage and now they've released it to show the public that maybe there was nothing untoward there. But of course we'd have to monitor all of this. It looks like there is an image of Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein in one of the files.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, pull it up. Let me see.

[Jim Acosta]

Show that one. Bill Clinton is in kind of a strange looking shirt with.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, that came out yesterday. That means that you were already starting to leak. Because that came out to the New York Post.

[Jim Acosta]

That started to leak out. That's right. Some of this stuff started to leak out.

[Tara Palmeri]

So the DOJ is. And, and we saw in that memo that Republicans were sending around that, you know, they should make sure to give, you know, give their. Give all of the embarrassing stuff to the New York Post, basically.

[Jim Acosta]

Right. Get ahead of this, blame it on Democrats. Show the Democrats who are involved. Right. There was a strategy memo that got circulated. I think it was. Was a Politico or somebody reported on this memo, and it was basically being released talking points to House Republicans as to how to talk about the Epstein files. And one of the talking points was make sure you emphasize the Democrats who are caught up in this. So just, just everybody understands the frame.

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, if, if the relief, if the files are released in full. Yeah. The Democrats are going to look really bad. Trump was also a Democrat then.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes, he was, wasn't he? Yeah, but. But he, you know, can't he. He continued to maintain this relationship with Jeffrey Epstein for many years. And that is evident in the materials put out by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which we've seen over the last several weeks. Yeah, I mean, Tara, this is going to be something that we're all gonna have to pour over over the next several hours, and there are gonna be a lot of folks with bleary eyes, you know, working the wee hours on this. Because the question becomes, did, did the Trump Justice Department simply try to put out stuff that was going to be damaging to Democrats at first? And as far as we can tell so far, in terms of what we've been able to pull out of these files so far, there's a lot of Bill Clinton there. There are some Bill Clinton references that are sort of immediately available. Here's another photograph that looks like Bill Clinton right there. And of course, we don't know what the context is here. It looks like he was on some sort of trip at some point. And of course, we all know that Bill Clinton was also friends and associates with Jeffrey Epstein. And Tara, one of the things that the Republicans have tried to do is say, see, look, Bill Clinton, you know, Bill Clinton wasn't, was hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein. You know, you can't just say Donald Trump, Donald Trump when Bill Clinton is in here, too. But Bill Clinton is not the President of the United States, and Bill Clinton is not the person who's been trying to cover this up since, you know, the beginning of this administration. It's been Trump and his and his officials. And so you have to wonder, does Donald Trump appear at all if these photographs in any of these files?

[Tara Palmeri]

I think that you will know that the DOJ is protecting certain people. If you do not see President Trump at all in the files.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Palmeri]

And if all that you see are his enemies, like his Democratic enemies, I mean, there's also heads of banks, there's, you know, heads of academia, other institutions. If it seems like it's just political enemies, then you know that they have been spending round the clock, which we already know that they did in March. A thousand agents working 24 hours over in the weeks in May for a Freedom of Information request to make sure that President Trump's name was redacted with the argument that he was a private citizen at the time and that's why they were doing it.

[Jim Acosta]

And these look like some diagrams of maybe the Bureau of Prisons facility where Jeffrey Epstein was staying. I believe that that is the stairwell that leads up to the cell area where Jeffrey Epstein was being detained, imprisoned. So there's a, There's a whole trove of stuff here. Some of it is going to be treasure, some of it is not going to be. But we'll spend some time. And I know, Terry, you want to get into it, too, so I, I don't want to hold you up if you want to go and look at it. But if you see something that you're like, aha, you know, feel free to. Feel free to get.

[Tara Palmeri]

I know. I feel like we're all there. You know, I'm. We're a mighty team over here of three on my, on my Tara Palmeri show. But we'll be on it, going through it, too.

[Jim Acosta]

Absolutely.

[Sky Perryman]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

You've been one of the go to in all of this, honestly.

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Palmeri]

Thank you. It's just hard because there's so much. Right. And it's not like we're coming, you know, from the newsrooms where they have, you know, 20 bodies and, you know, lots of laptops to be able to control f this, control f that, you know, check this because that's going to be the first scan is control f Trump. Right. Like control shift f Trump to try to find him, if that's possible in these, in these files. But, you know, there's others, too, that I'm interested in seeing because, you know, as you know, I traveled and know, knew Virginia Juf really well and I know of the names of men that she was trafficked to and I want to see if they end up in the files because they have pretty much been living without paying at all for what they did, so.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, it's very important. Yeah, it's very important that there be some I'm seeing.

[Sky Perryman]

Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

My producer, Sam, is also sending me stuff and he has sent me yet another picture of Bill Clinton, and it looks like. Is he. Is this what I think it is? Looks like he's in a hot tub. It looks like a picture of Bill Clinton in a Jacuzzi of some sort.

[Tara Palmeri]

Let's see it here. Which also proves what the girls had been telling me all along, which is that that they were constantly being filmed and recorded. Or does it look like he's posing or is it.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I mean, it seems to me.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, my gosh, it's naked.

[Jim Acosta]

Is that Glenn in the pool?

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. She's naked. Yep.

[Jim Acosta]

Is she? Or is that a bathing suit?

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, no, you're right. That's a bathing suit. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

It looks like she's got a bikini on.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, now that we scrolled in, she's wearing a top.

[Jim Acosta]

Bill Clinton is wearing a bathing suit. There is a. There's another individual in the photo to far away.

[Tara Palmeri]

Her knee looked like.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, I saw that, too. The other person seems to have bikini on. But I think, Tara, your point earlier is the operative one, which is if all we're going to see is photographs of Bill Clinton and Democratic figures in this. In this dump that the Justice Department has put out, folks, we know it's politically motivated. It is politically motivated. Put in asterisk next to this dump, and you can call this the non Trump Epstein files release. And as soon as we start seeing. Because we know from the House Oversight Committee Democrats, they've released photos of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. If the Trump administration is not going to put out photos of the President along with Jeffrey Epstein back when they were buddies, then you know that there's something fishy going on here.

[Tara Palmeri]

Wait, can we zoom in on that?

[Jim Acosta]

Looks like Epstein with some young ladies who maybe are dressed in Hawaiian clothing or something. Not sure what this is going. What this is here.

[Tara Palmeri]

So sick.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, and their faces are redacted, so. All right, well, Tara, thank you very much. I'll let you get to it. If you see something, come back to me. We'll put you back on, but really appreciate it and we'll see where this. This takes us. Thank you, Tara. Appreciate it. Let's bring in Sky Perryman with Democracy Forward. There's sky right there. Sky, great to see you. And, you know, I just want to caution to our folks that, you know, we're not going to fall into the trap saying that this is Sky. You can't hear us. All right, maybe let's take sky off camera until we. She can hear me, but she says she can't hear Right now, before we bring sky and let's just make sure we make things crystal clear for the audience at home. This is not a full release of the Epstein files as far as we know at this moment. Todd Blanch, the deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department, who is acting very much like Donald Trump's defense attorney and a political figure in all of this, not a, not a typical Justice Department top attorney, said on FOX earlier in the day that they were not going to release all the files, some of the files. And so what we've seen so far released by the Justice Department, as far as we can tell, basically all we've seen are pictures of Bill Clinton and a lot of pictures of closets and workout rooms and furniture and that sort of thing. Sky, can you hear me now?

[Sky Perryman]

I can.

[Jim Acosta]

Great. Sky Pearman with Democracy Forward. And you know, I'm sure you know this, the Justice Department has started to release what they are calling the Epstein files. And you know, we need to find out exactly how much is being released, how much more needs to be released. I mean, this is, this is what we have to do now when talking about the government, your thoughts on all of this?

[Sky Perryman]

Well, you know, let me say, first of all, they're not, they've already said they're not completely releasing this. So now what you're seeing is a very cherry picked release. And you know, we, we need to continue to get to the bottom of it. Congress has called for this. It was not something that just one political party called for. And yet the Justice Department is stonewalling at Democracy Ford. And Jim, you and I have talked about this before. We filed a first of its kind lawsuit, really looking for, we are looking for the COVID up. We are wanting to understand what communications exist between the Department of Justice, the FBI, the White House, all of these other agencies. What are they hiding? I mean, this was a, you know, Donald Trump wanted to make his entire platform about the Epstein files. He wheeled and dealed in a lot of conspiracy theories, wasn't concerned about the actual survivors and victims of these horrific acts. He was only concerned about creating conspiracy theories around his political opponents. And then he gets into office and totally stonewalls. And so we have, and this is.

This is a terrible, this picture, I saw this earlier today.

[Jim Acosta]

This is from the House Oversight Democrats trip. Yeah, that's not the doj. Yeah, I can't hear oversight Democrat stuff. And so we're showing you pictures that were released by the House Democrats yesterday. The pictures that we were showing you of Bill Clinton and the pool that's been released by the Trump Justice Department. And so, you know, folks need to understand that, that there might be a little bit of a shell game going on here by the Justice Department, little three card Monty, if you will, folks who used to get suckered by this in Times Square that, you know, the, the Justice Department says, oh, we're going to release the files, we're going to comply with the law. And then they start to release a political dump of documents and files. And so just to refresh everybody's memory, the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, they got ahead of this and started to show no Trump figure is Trump himself photographed with Jeffrey Epstein being held by the Epstein State. Sky, can you hear me? Or did we lose your audio or did she. She lost our audio. Okay, well, we'll take sky out of this if she can get, if we can reestablish audio with Sky. As sky was saying a few moments ago, sky was saying that her organization Democracy Forward has been filing lawsuits to try to get at any documentation that was going on behind the scenes between the White House and the Justice Department emails, that sort of thing that would demonstrate that they're, they were going to go on this cherry picking mission. And, and so, you know, you can look at the compare and contrast here. These are the photos released by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee earlier this week. Contrast that with what has been released by the Justice Department so far. And what's been released by the Justice Department so far is a lot of Bill Clinton.

[Unnamed Reporter at Kennedy Center]

So.

[Jim Acosta]

If, can we get sky back on just to see if she's there. Is she, is she still there? Are we still struggling with her not hearing us on audio? If she can't hear us, then I don't know if we can go back to her. But we got the gist of what she was saying. Oh, we don't have her anymore. Okay, well if she can re establish, great. If we, if we can't, we'll get her on next week. Because what sky is saying is very important is, and that is you have the Democrats right now, Chuck Schumer was saying this earlier today, the top Democrat in the Senate. He said that this delay by the Justice Department because they're not going to release hundreds of thousands of other files apparently today they're not going to do that. Schumer has said the delay violates the Epstein Files Transparency Act. That is the law that was passed last month that set up the deadline for today and the Justice Department has missed that deadline. They are not complying with that deadline. And so what you're seeing released by the Justice Department right now is it looks like a lot of pictures of Bill Clinton. So I'm a little leery of at the moment playing along with this game. And so I'm going to say for the moment, we should move on to, to another story that is very important in Washington right now, and that is Donald Trump has once again defaced a public building in Washington, D.C. as you've been noticing over the last several months, he's torn down the east wing of the White House. He's been acting like a vandal, putting his name on government buildings. At the US Institute of Peace. They have his name up on that building. They did that a couple of weeks ago because he's acting like a child because nobody will give him the Nobel Peace Prize. And so, you know, the people at FIFA give him a fake medal and they went in and they put his name on the US Institute of Peace to nurse his bruised ego. Well, I mean, just to make matters worse, more appalling, more sickening, here in the nation's capital, our dictator wannabe president has put his face, or not his face, but his name, I should say, on the Kennedy center here in Washington, D.C. they've now attempted to rename the Kennedy Center. They, you know, it's sort of like putting out a memo to yourself. They've, they've renamed it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial center for the Performing Arts. They put his name on the building. And earlier today I went out there to take a look at it and here's what we saw. Let's take a look.

[Unnamed Reporter at Kennedy Center]

Here we are at the scene of yet another crime committed by Donald Trump. He has vandalized the Kennedy center by putting his name on it. And he just needs to understand that first of all, he can't do this single handedly. Only Congress can authorize a change of name to the Kennedy center. Yet he doesn't care about the law. He doesn't care what is appropriate. He's gone and vandalized the Kennedy center, which is, we should note, the John F. Kennedy Memorial center for the Performing Arts. It was named after President Kennedy after he was assassinated. Donald Trump should show some respect for that. But of course, he doesn't do that. And you know, this is what needs to be said. We, the American people are not going to call the Kennedy center the Trump Kennedy center, just like we're not going to call the Department of Defense, the Department of War or the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America. We, the Sane, rational American people are not going to go along with that. So Trump can act like a child, he can be a vandal, put his name up on all of these buildings, but it's not going to change what the rest of us do. In response to what has been a childish and lawless administration, I started coming.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

Here the year it opened. I was a student at George Washington University. I've lived most of my life here in Washington, D.C. long time, at a very modest level. Long time patron and donor of this amazing place for the performing arts. And this is just an egregious travesty to see this. And the false information that's being promulgated about what Mr. Trump has done for. He has decimated this center. The attendance levels are. I'm sure you know the data better than way down. They are the programs I've been to, at least off by a third. And I've heard other folks say, some by as much as a half, where people are worried about the future for the National Symphony, for the Washington Opera. It's not the Washington anymore, but the National Opera. I mean, he's decimating this. He's made a mockery out of inclusive.

[Jim Acosta]

Arts, and it's, it's terrible.

[Unnamed Reporter at Kennedy Center]

And what goes through your mind, seeing.

[Jim Acosta]

His name up on the building above.

[Unnamed Reporter at Kennedy Center]

John F. Kennedy's name, it's.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

It's offensive. It's outrageous. It's blatantly illegal and inappropriate. Where does it stop? Are we gonna, Are we gonna rename or redesign other memorials? What happens with Mr. Lincoln and Washington and Jefferson and the Roosevelt Bridge? I mean, it doesn't end.

[Todd Blanche]

It's.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

It's inappropriate. And by the way, those past presidents are dead. So the practice in this country has been to name things in honor of presidents who have passed.

[Jim Acosta]

Not this.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

Not a living president who wants, who's. Who has this insecure ego and is just doing illegal, outrageous grabs of anything and everything he can.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, disgraceful.

[Unnamed Kennedy Center Patron]

That's a good word. I couldn't agree more.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, yeah. It's an absolute. It's an absolute travesty. It's, It's a. It's a total insult to the Kennedy family. And just to hammer home this point, the Kennedy center was named after John F. Kennedy after he was assassinated. It's a memorial. The people call it the Kennedy center, but if you look carefully at the building, it says the John F. Kennedy Memorial center for the Performing Arts. It's a memorial, like the Lincoln Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial. It has, it has another purpose and that. It's a Fine Arts Center. But it also serves as a, as a memorial to a slain president, to a real president, a president who would never dream of slapping his name on buildings out of spite because he knows the people of Washington, D.C. the people of the DMV can't stand him. They hate his guts. And this is just going to further damage the Kennedy center, as that nice lady was telling me. And she's, she's spot on. The Kennedy center has already sustained a lot of damage because of ticket sales going down and so on. Our friend Sky Perryman is back. Sky. So again, what can be done now, going back to the Epstein files, what can be done now if they're not going to release all the files in an expeditious way, if they're not going to comply with the law?

[Sky Perryman]

Well, look, I mean, I think first of all, we'll see what happens over the next few days. I mean, they have a deadline, they're not complying. We do know this is something that outrages the American people. It outrages people of all political backgrounds. So I think you'll see some more of that pressure.

Now.

There's a range of things in the courts that we are pursuing and that others are pursuing where I think you'll see, you'll see some more pressure put up. I mean, there's not just these documents about what are in the files, but there's also, as I was saying before something happened with our connection. There's also documents about what is it, what, what is it that, what, what links has this administration gone to to try to now conceal the files? What are they saying to each other? What is this cover up which we've already won a court order and are, you know, well on our way to getting those documents released. So I think that you'll see, you know, it's a fight on all fronts. Congress, I think, will continue to push, but fundamentally there are also some water court actions that can compel this type of production. We've seen the administration certainly want to thumb its finger at the courts, but, but they, they haven't had the guts, you know, when they get called on the carpet when, when judges start, you know, holding contempt proceedings. When you see these proceedings out, we see them sort of try to change a tune and do a dance. And we have been able to force some pressure and some release of some things. So that's where I think it is. But I think it's really, I mean, in some ways this release kind of proves too much because it's so transparent what they're doing.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes.

[Sky Perryman]

Cherry picking this, it's almost sort of shows you that they really are trying to hide a lot of things that we know that exist there. And so I don't think this is going to go well for the President, his administration, certainly.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, they seem worried, you know, if, if you would think if they had been smart politically, they would say, oh, here's some pictures of Trump and Epstein, you know, at the golf course or whatever. Yeah, sure, they hung out. But as we said, Donald Trump thought he was a creep and he kicked him out of the club and blah, blah, blah things that they've been saying. But they're not, they're both corrupt and incompetent. Which, you know, when, when people are corrupt, it is helpful when they're incompetent because maybe they can't do as much damage. But it is, it is pretty obscene and transparent what they've tried to pull off today.

[Sky Perryman]

I think that's right. And I think it's also, you know.

You think about going into the holidays.

Season where families are together, people are together, people have a little, sometimes folks have a little extra time. Now. This is a hard holiday season, we know, for so many Americans because of the things the President has done over the past year. I mean, no one's life has gotten better or more affordable. But you have, you know, people's attention. What we know about sort of media patterns and that kind of thing is people sort of are reading a little bit more, have a little bit of extra free time.

Some folks.

So this is a really bad move, I think, you know, on their part to sort of try to stonewall this. You're going to see, you know, I think you see they also have Congress is going to be in for another fight in the new year over governmental funding and we saw them leverage that the last time. So I think, yeah, but it's really transparent. I think it has been for some time. It's very transparent what they're doing, which is to try to continue to sort of cherry pick things while avoiding, avoiding responsibility and avoiding the truth. And I think that I do think we'll get to the bottom of it. I really do.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I think so too. It's only a matter of time now. Sky Perryman, thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Happy holidays.

[Sky Perryman]

Thank you.

[Jim Acosta]

Good to see you. Yeah. And I mean, you know, listen folks, we thought this was going to be the case heading up to this deadline. Do we have the countdown clock? We can show the countdown clock again? I think we have the countdown clock here. It is the countdown clock. The deadline is upon us. Midnight tonight is when they're supposed to produce all of the Epstein files. That is according to the law. And they're not going to do that. They are not going to comply with the law, as far as we know, by this midnight deadline. And so what they've done instead in any sort of crass, you know, Donald Trump esque fashion, is they try to kick sand in people's faces. And he's saying, catch me if you can, he says, he's saying, I have no problem violating the law. Donald Trump is saying, I am the law. And so it's, I think it's now incumbent upon the Democrats in the House Oversight Committee. This is, this is some of the photographs they've released. Let's keep in mind, this is not the Epstein files. These are photos that the House Democrats released. Now Robert Garcia and his team, they're going to have to go back to this trove of material that they have. And I suppose what we may see in the coming days is sort of a dual, you know, a sort of like a duel between, you know, two organizations releasing these files. And there's Donald Trump in one of the photos released by the House Oversight Democrats. And so you're going to see this tug of war, this back and forth going on over the next several days over this Epstein files release. At the center of all this, what's very sad is the survivors, the victims, they have been waiting for the truth to come out. They have been waiting for some sense of justice in all of this. And what are they getting out of the Justice Department? An injustice. They're getting an injustice out of the Justice Department. The Department of Justice is not going to, according to Todd Blanche, not going to meet the deadline, not going to comply with the law. And it appears what they've done so far is cherry pick the stuff that they think is damaging to the Democrats. And so we're gonna have to keep our eyes on all this. I, I don't want to play this game where we play into their hands and just show the stuff that they want to show. So I say, did we, did we know that Bill Clinton was in the Epstein files? Yes, we knew that was in the Epstein files. Bill Clinton is not the President of the United States. Donald Trump is the President of the United States. And he needs to understand, you know, he's the president right now. He can put his name on the Kennedy center. He can do all of the man childish things that he can come up with to nurses his bruised ego when he's staying awake momentarily from time to time. But MAGA is already moving on. I'll just leave you with this. This was in Politico earlier today. Turning Point USA CEO Erica Kirk has endorsed Vice President J.D. vance for president. It's, it's December 19th of 2025, but MAGA is moving on. MAGA is moving on from Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is a lame duck, folks. Donald Trump is the lamest of lame ducks. He is the sleepiest of lame ducks, too, as we've been seeing all this week. I don't know if we have that footage and we can show that again of Donald Trump sleeping in the Oval Office, Grandpa taking yet another nap inside the White House. They can't even keep him awake with all the juvenile sophomore things that they've been pulling off these days. But, but MAGA is moving on. They've moved on. Erica Kirk picking up where her late husband left off, and she is apparently taking control of Turning Point. And now MAGA is getting behind J.D. vance. They're doing it early because they know, you know, he's going to have a slugfest with Marco Rubio to get that Republican nomination. But all of this is happening behind Grandpa's back. So while Grandpa is sleeping in the Oval Office and falling asleep during Cabinet meetings and so on, all of this activity is going on behind the scenes. All of this activity is going on behind the scenes. And one of the things that they're doing is trying to figure out who the heir apparent is going to be. J.D. vance wants to be that heir apparent. And Erica Kirk has said, okay, I'll go ahead and endorse you. They've hugged, you could say an embrace of sorts. An embrace of sorts, a political embrace of sorts has happened here. But Trump needs to know that they've already started to leave him behind. They, they, they're leaving sleepy Grandpa in his Lazy Boy to take a nap while they see here in the room, there's these, there's drowsy Donald at the US Institute of Peace that he's named after himself, which as I was saying earlier in my report from the Kennedy center, is we're going to call it the Kennedy Center. We're going to call it the Kennedy Center. We're going to call the Institute of Peace, the US Institute of Peace. We're not going to call it the Donald Trump Institute of Peace. That's, it's, it's baloney. Nobody's going to call it that. Just like we're not going to call the Department of Defense, the Department of War. We're not going to do that. We get to, we get to make up that decision on our own. We get to make up our minds on our own on that one. We're not going to call these things after Donald Trump, even if he puts his name on it. I'm sorry, it's just not going to happen. We're not going to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America because it's stupid and it's juvenile. And this is what towel snapping juveniles do in the locker room when they're being bozos before coach walks in and kicks their ass. We're just not going to do those things. And so Trump needs to understand that you can put your name on stuff, you can do all of these obnoxious things, but you're still a lame duck. You're still a lame duck. And the people behind you while you're taking a nap, are at this very moment planning to push you off of the stage. They're preparing right now to help you exit the stage. And that's just painfully obvious with Eric Kirk coming out and endorsing J.D. vance. My God, we're not even in. One year into this presidency, into this term, and they're already making these plans to get behind J.D. vance. It's just, it tells you just about everything that you need to know right now. And so Donald Trump, it may, it may come to a point where they, they have to make this decision. Maybe JD Fans call spam body and says, listen, maybe we can get grandpa out of here sooner than, than we had planned. Maybe. Is he in the Epstein files? Maybe we can put that out there, Put that out there. And maybe we can usher Grandpa from the scene a little, get him to his nap a little sooner than perhaps he expected. Because Donald Trump, you were all over the Epstein file House, you're all over them. Todd Blanch can go on Fox and the American people and say, oh, well, we'll, we'll release the rest of this stuff in a few months from now. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. And so Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who apparently have some 90,000 images and documents and so on, what, what the Department of Justice has said is, game on, go ahead, do it. And I think the Democrats should comply. It's, you know, and honestly, it's time for Democrats to stop taking it on the chin, this bullshit with renaming the Kennedy center, putting his name on, on the Kennedy center, that right there, doing that to a beloved Democratic president. That is crossing a red line. That is crossing a red line. And the Democrats need to make it very crystal clear. And I did this earlier today. I'll tell you a little quick little story before I let you go for the week. I was over at the Kennedy center filming this stuff, and one of the little spokespersons for the Kennedy center came out and said, jim, you're not supposed to be standing there. We were filming and doing our job and showing this monstrosity of putting Trump's name on the Kennedy Center. You need to go stand over with these other guys over there. And they. She was pointing way across the way to where the rest of the press was assembled. And I said, I'm on public property. I can do whatever the hell I want. I'm on public property. I'm going to take pictures of the Kennedy center from where I goddamn want to do it. And she goes, I guess the rules don't apply to you, do they? She said that? She said, the rules don't apply to you, I guess. And I said, you're saying that to me. When Donald Trump puts his name, puts his goddamn name on the Kennedy Center, a place where his name has no business of being, you're telling me I don't play by the rules, you guys don't play by the rules. And it's time to. To me, it's high time for the Democrats to take the fight to Donald Trump. No more messing around. No more playing games. They have defaced a memorial to a slain President of the United States, one of the most important figures in the history of the Democratic Party. They have defaced it, they have vandalized it. They have. They have assaulted the Kennedy Center. And it is disgraceful. And it is disgraceful, despicable, and it says everything that you need to know about Donald Trump. He started the week saying ungodly, evil things about Rob Reiner, and he is ending the week in an. In an offensive way that is beyond words. It is sickening, it is disgraceful. It is despicable. And Democrats going into 2026, you need to understand this, the stakes. This dictator wannabe is not going to stop. He is his. His. The gears are turning night and day. He's usually up in the middle of the night posting on Truth Social, all of his devious ideas. And. And folks need to understand this is a battle. This is a battle between now and 2028, when Erica Kirk plans to run JD Vance for president of the United States. But this is a battle. It's a battle that Democrats don't necessarily need to win. It is a battle that democracy needs to win. This is a battle that all of us need to win because the dictator is not going to stop. The dictator was told by law he had to release the Epstein files by midnight tonight. The dictator wannabe is not doing that. The dictator wannabe is cherry picking the files and putting out the ones that he thinks are damaging to Democrats. He's playing games, ladies and gentlemen, with the law, in part because the Supreme Court told him he could play games with the law, that he could violate the law, that as long as you're President of the United States, you are above the law. But that's not how it works in this country. The way it works in this country is that no man is above the law and that this democracy, this country, this nation's capital belongs to all of us. The Kennedy center belongs to all of us. And he is making a mockery of that because he does not respect us. He does not respect you and I. He does not respect this democracy. He does not respect the nation's capital. This is why he's acting like a vandal, a petty vandalism, spray painting his name anywhere he can find it. But this is where the battle lines are being drawn. This is a battle for decency. It is a battle for our democracy. It is a battle for what we hold dear. Ladies and gentlemen, the American way of life. I want to thank Terror Palm Area for joining me today. My. My thanks to Sky Perryman as well, and my thanks to all of you. Really mean so much when you tune in day in and day out. We're getting very close to the holidays where I'll probably take a little bit of a break if that's okay with everybody. Going to try to give you some more fresh content here in the days to come. But I might be taking a little bit of a break, a little bit of a breather if I can, if this knucklehead in chief will let me. But we're not going to give up the fight. We're not going to give up the fight. And as I started this year by saying, and I will say it here right now, when Donald Trump puts his name up on the Kennedy center, that is a lie. We're never going to call it that. We are not going to back down. We are not going to bow down to the tyrant. And so I'll say it here again, as I said it earlier this year. We are not going to give into the lies. We are not going to give into the fear. And we are going to hold on to the truth and hope, everybody. We're going to hold on to the truth and hope. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.