Jake Tapper shows blacked-out Epstein files on his phone: ‘100 pages of redaction’

WASHINGTON, DC: The Justice Department’s release of Epstein files on Friday, December 19, quickly sparked criticism from CNN's Jake Tapper.

He questioned how much "transparency" the Donald Trump administration was actually providing under the law. The Epstein Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law, required the government to release all related files by midnight on Friday.

Jake Tapper highlights heavy redactions in Epstein files

CNN Justice Correspondent Evan Perez said Congress will likely debate the heavy redactions.

He explained, “One of the things I think we’re going to see going forward is the question of, why can’t we see that? Why is that being redacted? Because this law is pretty clear that Congress meant for the public to see as much of this as possible.”

Tapper showed his iPhone on air.“Talk about blacking out. I don’t know if I can get a close-up of my phone."

He added, "This is one of the documents that the Justice Department released. It’s 100 pages. This is what it looks like, I don’t know if you can see. It’s all black. It’s just 100 pages of redaction. That’s the transparency we’re getting here."

Perez remarked, “We understand, obviously, that there needs to be a protection of these victims…The question is, what is behind those blacked-out pages? And is it something that DOJ is being overcautious about — to protect what, I don’t know — or is this something that Congress has to maybe go back in and tell them that they need to release?”

White House defends redactions

White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson defended the redactions in the Epstein files, writing on X, “This clearly says that it was redacted to protect victims. Ridiculous to demand the names of victims be shared publicly.” 

She added in another post, “Why do the sickos in the liberal media want a document called ‘masseuse list,’ which was clearly redacted to protect victims, to be public?”

Frustration is growing inside the Justice Department as lawyers rush to redact thousands of Jeffrey Epstein-related files before Friday’s deadline, multiple sources told CNN.

The files are massive, and teams must go through records from different federal law enforcement offices to decide which ones fall under the transparency law and which need redactions to protect Epstein’s victims or follow confidentiality rules.

Lawyers have received only four pages of internal guidance to help with redactions, one source said. Most of these guidelines focus on exceptions to the transparency law.

The process also faces logistical challenges. Lawyers are working through files that include duplicates, which the sources say haven’t been removed. This increases the risk of inconsistent or incorrect redactions and adds hundreds of extra pages for lawyers to review, far more than they would normally handle.