Mark Greenblatt, who was the inspector general for the US Interior Department beforeDonald Trumpfired him in January, has released a statement calling for the Department of Justice’s office of the inspector general to carry out its audit of the justice department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act “without undue influence”.
Greenblatt, who was appointed as inspector general during Trump’s first term in 2019, investigated the clearing of Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Park outside the White House in 2020, for a photo op featuring the president holding up a Bible, and the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
In his statement, Greenblatt called the announcement of an audit of the partial release of documents from the federal investigations intoJeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender who socialized with Trump for nearly two decades, “an important and much needed development.”
“This is exactly the kind of independent oversight the American people expect, especially in a case involving powerful individuals, vulnerable victims, and deeply serious alleged crimes,” he continued. “When Congress mandates transparency, it is essential that agencies carry out that directive completely and without undue influence. This audit is a critical step in ensuring that the Department is meeting both the letter and the spirit of the law.”
He added:
double quotation markIt is critically important the audit is thorough and independent. This effort must examine not just what information has been released, but how decisions are made about what is withheld or redacted.
The American people deserve confidence that these judgments are being made fairly and without political considerations. Independent oversight is most important when public trust is on the line. A rigorous, fact-based review will help ensure accountability and reinforce confidence in the process.
The stakes here are clear: whether transparency laws will be enforced as intended and whether the public can have confidence that no one is beyond scrutiny.
This concludes our live coverage of the secondTrump administrationfor the day. Here’s the latest:
The Department of Justice announced an internal audit of its compliance with a law mandating the release files from the investigations ofJeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender who socialized withDonald Trumpfor nearly two decades.
The Trump administration has moved to reclassify marijuana, more than four months after Trump signed anexecutive orderdirecting the attorney general to move it from schedule I to schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.
Trump, apparently abandoning his attempt to frighten Iran’s leaders into negotiating bychanneling Richard Nixon’s “madman” theory, ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in his conflict with Iran.
Trump has decided to invite wanted war criminalVladimir Putinto the G-20 summit in December at Trump’s Doral golf resort, the Washington Post reports.
Trump confirmed that the government is considering a plan to bail out or ‘“just buy” Spirit Airlines, but confused Barack Obama with Joe Biden, and Jet Blue with People Express, which has been defunct since 1987.
India’s foreign ministry denounced comments from the rightwing US commentatorMichael Savage,posted on social mediaby Trump, which argued against awarding birthright citizenship to the US-born children of immigrants “from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet”.
