Gavin Newsom mocks Trump with Epstein files video in Christmas Eve post
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: California Gov Gavin Newsom capped off Christmas Eve with a pointed political jab at President Donald Trump, posting a video that mocked the heavily redacted release of the Jeffrey Epstein files while drawing attention to Trump’s past proximity to the disgraced financier.
Newsom shared the 20-second clip on X late on December 24, continuing a year-long pattern of needling the president through social media posts that blend sarcasm, symbolism, and pop-culture flair.
Gavin Newsom uses Christmas Eve post to target Epstein files release
The video Newsom posted stitched together page after page of blacked-out Epstein documents, intercut with archival footage of Trump socializing with Epstein in the early 1990s. The clip opened with a dry voiceover stating, “And with that, the 2025 season comes to an end. Goodnight,” before fading into the 2009 Mumford & Sons track White Blank Page.
Alongside the video, Newsom wrote simply: “2025: REDACTED.”
The post landed just days after the Justice Department missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress to release all remaining documents related to Epstein, whose 2019 death in federal custody followed years of allegations of sex trafficking involving powerful figures.
Video highlights Trump image briefly pulled from DOJ release
One of the central moments in Newsom’s clip focused on a grainy image of Trump that appeared inside Epstein’s desk. The photograph was initially released by the Justice Department on December 19, only to be removed the following day.
Officials said the image was taken down 'out of an abundance of caution for further review' before later being reposted. The brief removal, however, fueled speculation online that evidence connecting Trump to the Epstein files was being withheld.
Newsom’s video included a headline reading, 'DOJ defends removing Trump photo from Epstein files,' underscoring the controversy surrounding the release process.
Trump is not accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes, and the presence of a name or image in the files does not imply criminal conduct, Justice Department officials have repeatedly emphasized that point.
DOJ documents contradict Trump’s past claims
Earlier this week, the Justice Department released a second batch of Epstein-related documents. The files included multiple references to Trump, though officials stressed that some mentions stemmed from fabricated documents that were already known to be unreliable.
Still, Newsom’s video drew attention to an internal email dated January 2020 from an unnamed assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York. The email stated that flight logs from Epstein’s private jet showed Trump had flown on it 'many more times than previously has been reported.'
That assertion appears to contradict Trump’s own statement from January 2024, when he wrote on Truth Social during his campaign: “I was never on Epstein’s Plane.”
DOJ scrambles as more documents emerge
Roughly 30 minutes after Newsom shared his video, Justice Department officials acknowledged they had uncovered more than one million additional documents 'potentially' connected to the Epstein case.
“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” the department said in a statement, adding that the process could take weeks.
So far, approximately 750,000 documents have been reviewed and released by a team of 200 people, according to a Trump administration official who spoke with Axios.
CNN also reported that leadership within the department sent out an 'emergency request' asking career prosecutors in Florida to volunteer during the Christmas holiday to assist with redactions.
“We need AUSAs to do remote document review and redactions related to the Epstein files,” read an email from a supervising prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida. “I am aware that the timing could not be worse.”
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who spearheaded the legislation mandating the release of the Epstein files, have both suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi could face contempt proceedings for missing the deadline.
