A Democratic political analyst said he was left shocked after what he described as another clear and serious breaking of the law by Donald Trump and his administration.
Last week, Trump’s administration released a new batch of documents linked to the FBI’s investigation into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes and later died in jail. While some of the newly released files reportedly contain information that reflects badly on Trump, a progressive political commentator argued that the way the documents were handled may itself be illegal.
YouTube political analyst Brian Tyler Cohen pointed to one specific issue that raised alarm bells. He focused on an email that was heavily blacked out, or redacted, which mentioned Trump ally Steve Bannon having a photo of Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell on his phone.
In a reaction video posted Sunday night, Cohen explained that the law governing the release of the Epstein files is very clear. Under the Epstein Transparency Act, redactions are only allowed to protect victims or minors. The law specifically does not allow information to be hidden to protect politicians or powerful figures.
Cohen said that neither Trump nor Maxwell qualifies as a victim or a minor, so there is no legal reason for the photo reference to be blacked out. According to him, the only possible explanation for the redaction is to shield Trump from political or legal damage.
He argued that this is not just suspicious, but a direct violation of the law as it is written. In his view, the redactions suggest an ongoing effort to hide damaging information, rather than be transparent with the public as required.
Trump has repeatedly been accused of trying to delay, limit, or confuse the release of the Epstein files, even though he promised during his 2024 campaign to make everything public. The law required the Department of Justice to release all Epstein-related documents in its possession by December 19.
That deadline passed without full compliance. Since then, the Justice Department has claimed it suddenly discovered more than one million additional documents, further delaying full disclosure and raising more questions about whether the law is being followed or deliberately ignored.
For critics like Cohen, the situation looks less like a mistake and more like a deliberate cover-up that undermines public trust and openly defies the rules meant to ensure transparency and accountability.
