When the U.S. Justice Department dropped millions of pages detailing Jeffrey Epstein’s activities during his time at the top of the finance world’s social scene, one name was glaringly missing — Donald Trump. It now appears that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have had notes containing egregious allegations involving Trump improperly removed. Trump seemingly escaped the scandal unscathed, despite his previously documented closeness to the late child sex offender. During the back-and-forth over whether the files should be released, Epstein’s brother, Mark L. Epstein — who remains convinced that his brother was murdered — alleged that the GOP scrubbed the names of individuals high up in the Trump administration who were involved in the New York financier’s crimes. It is worth noting, however, that Mark would have no direct knowledge of this, as he claims he had no contact with his brother during the final seven years of his life. The Wall Street Journal reports that the FBI conducted three interviews in which an unidentified woman accused Epstein of sexually abusing her in North Carolina when she was as young as 13 years old. In other documents, the same woman made similar allegations against Trump and convicted Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. These interviews were ultimately excluded from the final release of the files. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, D–Calif., has said he plans to open an investigation into the matter. Garcia released a statement that read, “Yesterday, I reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the Department of Justice. Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.” Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, there are stringent conditions under which the DOJ is permitted to withhold files. The department must be able to demonstrate that the materials are duplicates, fall under attorney-client privilege, or are entirely unrelated to the broader Epstein case. Depictions of child sexual abuse material or graphic violence may also be redacted. Under no circumstance, however, is withholding files to protect an individual permitted — doing so would be a violation of the law. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has since sought to reassure the public that the administration acted appropriately. Blanche said, “I can assure that we complied with the statute, that we did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody.” Reportedly, when the DOJ reviewed the files to determine whether victims could be exposed or whether certain documents needed to be withheld, Blanche was overseeing hundreds of lawyers, many of whom had little prior experience with the Epstein case. While there has been no confirmation that top members of the administration were redacted, the lawyers were allegedly instructed to flag instances where “government officials and politically exposed persons” were named or referenced in the released materials. In the United Kingdom, careers have ended over mere mentions in the files — including figures in politics and even royalty — who were linked to Epstein. In the United States, it increasingly appears that the current administration has simply moved on, just as Trump initially demanded. Millions of pages filled with testimony, evidence, and accounts from victims — and the crimes are reduced to a scandal. If there is one lesson from Epstein’s first arrest that still rings true, it is this: sometimes it is safer to pretend the biggest culprit in the room is innocent so everyone else can also get away with their “smaller” crimes.