DOJ responds after employee claims Trump admin would redact GOP names from Epstein list

A deputy chief at the Department of Justice (DOJ) was secretly recorded claiming there are “thousands and thousands of pages” of Jeffrey Epstein-related files and suggesting the Trump administration would redact Republicans’ names if the files were ever released. 

Journalist James O’Keefe, who obtained the undercover footage, noted that the DOJ official who made the claims likely “leans Democrat.” The official later said he was only repeating what he had read in the media and had no knowledge beyond that.

Joseph Schnitt, acting deputy chief at the DOJ's Office of Enforcement Operations, initially made the comments about Epstein to an undercover O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) journalist while on what he was led to believe was a date in August. O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas and now head of OMG, posted the footage on X Sept. 4. 

The video includes a clip of Schnitt saying the administration would “redact every Republican or conservative person in those files” and “leave all the liberal Democratic people in those files.”

In a separate clip, he also said Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell had been moved to a minimum security prison against Board of Prisons policy. He later suggested “they’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”

Schnitt further claimed there was internal conflict inside federal law enforcement over releasing the files. 

He said the “head of FBI” and “second-in-command at FBI” want the files released, while Attorney General Pam Bondi “wants whatever Trump wants,” creating “a lot of conflict.” He also told the journalist that “whatever they’ve released has already been publicly released anyway, so they haven’t released anything new.”

O’Keefe wrote in a followup Sept. 4 X post that the DOJ sent a response to him stating: “Joseph Schnitt had no role in the Department’s internal review of Epstein materials. He has confirmed as much to leadership and we plan to publish his written statement to that effect when we have it. In his own words, the comments Mr. Schnitt made were based on ‘what he learned in the media’ and he ‘has no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Maxwell other than what was reported in the news.’”

Later on Sept. 4, the DOJ posted a screenshot that appears to show a message Schnitt sent to a superior. 

“The comments I made were my own personal comments on what I’ve learned in the media and not from anything I’ve done at or learned via work,” Schnitt wrote, according to the DOJ post. “I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Maxwell other than what is reported in the news.”

Schnitt explained that he met the undercover reporter, identified as “Skylar,” through a dating app. He went on two dates with her in August, he wrote. He said her profile has since disappeared and that she “gave no clues that she was a reporter or recording our dates.” 

“Had I a clue, the first date would have ended immediately,” Schnitt wrote, “and there never would have been a second one.” 

In a separate X post, the DOJ’s public affairs office stated Schnitt’s comments have “absolutely zero bearing with reality and reflect a total lack of knowledge of the DOJ’s review process.” 

On Sept. 2, the House Oversight Committee released more than 33,000 documents related to Epstein, following months of pressure on the DOJ to increase transparency. The release was widely criticized for containing no new information, and survivors of Epstein’s abuse have warned they will compile their own client list if the government does not release additional files.