The names of the current US President Donald Trump and several other key figures have been anonymised by the FBI in the Epstein case files to protect privacy in anticipation of potential document disclosure, as reported by Bloomberg on Saturday.
The FBI was tasked with reviewing all the documents for possible release. During this process, not only was the President’s name concealed, but those of other high-profile individuals were also hidden because they were private citizens when the investigation began in 2006.
Anonymising names in such cases is a standard practice, outlined by the Freedom of Information Act. This is commonly applied even in cases not subject to this law, as is the situation here. Certain details might also be omitted for security reasons or to protect ongoing investigations.
In total, 1,000 FBI agents were assigned to review more than 100,000 documents, in which Trump’s name was mentioned “several” times. The presence of his name in these files does not imply he was investigated, suspected, or accused of any wrongdoing.
The Epstein case has been a headache for the Trump administration for weeks. Justice Minister Pam Bondi initially promised to make the entire dossier public, but in July, it was abruptly announced that this would no longer happen. This decision sparked outrage among the MAGA community, which has long believed it to be a cover-up. President Trump is struggling to contain the backlash.
