Why didn't Biden/Harris go after Trump/Epstein in 2021?

[OAITW r.2.0]

Last edited Mon Feb 16, 2026, 10:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Was it another "let's try to heal" mentality? Because they did this country no favors by not exposing, when we had control of the DOJ.

[SheltieLover]

1. Garland has a full page website at Federalist Society.

Last edited Mon Feb 16, 2026, 11:16 PM - Edit history (1)

'Nuf said?

https://fedsoc.org/bio/merrick-garland


On edit: corrected to Federalist Society (from Heritage Foundation). Apologies for error.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. We have to understand our own complicity.

This starts with Clinton/"W"/Obama/Biden. Why?

[SheltieLover]

10. No idea. Maybe deal eps cut?

[SheltieLover]

13. Maybe because for some incomprehensible reason Dem presidents appoint pukes to AG & FBI?

Best guess.

But why do they do that?????

[dalton99a]

17. Because Democrats are not qualified to be in law enforcement

[SheltieLover]

19. Riiiiight.

[BidenRocks]

59. What year did we get the internet?

I'm sure improvements in tech helped.

[Scrivener7]

7. OMG. That's disgusting.

[SheltieLover]

8. Yup, sure is.

[KPN]

47. And extremely disappointing ... I'll leave it at that.

[Disaffected]

28. Do you have a URL for that?

I searched the Heritage Foundation at:

https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/merrick-garland-abuses-his-authority-suppress-dissent#

None of the hits were complimentary to him so I don't understand what the issue is.

[SheltieLover]

55. Sorry. It's the Federalist Society. Here is link.

https://fedsoc.org/bio/merrick-garland

Regardless, we have this fucking mess tofay because Garland did not do his fucking job.

[Mr. Evil]

52. We never had control

of the DoJ with Garland there.

[mysteryowl]

53. Ghislaine Maxwell was still being charged.

She was sentenced in 2022

[Skittles]

2. same reason why Obama / Biden let 'em get away with lying their way into a WAR

can't really say without getting a HIDE though

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. How were they constrained, IYHO?

IMHO, it may have been brute force extortion that never gets exposed.

[Skittles]

48. they WEREN'T constrained

NOPE

[Ocelot II]

5. Epstein was already dead by 2020, and Maxwell's trial was pending.

They could not have released investigative materials in the files that had any relevance to Maxwell's trial, which was not concluded until December of 2021, and then her appeal was still pending in 2024.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. OK, why no action after 2021?

Just trying to understand how we got here.

I have to think that Biden's FBI must have had serious concerns about Epstein's "suicide"....seeing lots of questions about the whole crime scene now on the internet.

[Joinfortmill]

34. Because her appeal was still pending?

[iemanja]

61. That's not a reason

Courts charge co-conspirators all the time.

[SheltieLover]

14. Ty for clarifying

[kwolf68]

30. I appreciate this response and I find it accurate

But you could STILL talk about it in the court of public opinion, on some level. NO, Biden couldn't have done anything because of the impending appeal, but the Biden admin didn't even really bring it up. This is the problem. A lot of people out there think there is no difference in the two parties. And trust me, there are prominent wealthy Democrats in those files, can't not be. They need to go down.

[Joinfortmill]

36. Might interfere with pending/future charges/trials

[BaronChocula]

41. I applaud your calm and cool response

I'm pulling my hair out. You can actually Google the answer. I found this on Newsnation.com

Epstein case was an open investigation under Biden
The Epstein case was an open criminal investigation during the Biden administration, Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown explained on social media. Brown’s extensive reporting since 2017 has shone a light on the crimes of Epstein and his longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Her book about Epstein, titled “Perversions of Justice,” is a New York Times bestseller.

“They had an open grand jury. … And even after Maxwell’s conviction, the case was on appeal — anyone in law enforcement knows you don’t open your case file when it’s still under appeal,” Brown added.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/why-were-epstein-files-not-released-biden/

And further, I don't recall anyone here at DU asking that question during the Biden admin. We aren't wrong for that. There were just a lot of other balls in the air.

[Ocelot II]

43. Exactly!

[betsuni]

49. Thank you!

[iemanja]

63. It didn't have the high profile it does now

How are we supposed to ask questions when it’s barely in the news? It’s only with the release of the files that we know the extent of the predators’ crimes. Besides, none of this is our fault, as you imply. We don’t have power to prosecute. If we did, Trump world be in prison.

I blame Garland.

[BaronChocula]

67. Correct EXCEPT

I specifically said we WEREN'T wrong for not asking. It wasn't on anyone's radar like it was after the pedo ran on it and his cult ran with it. I guess we have them to thank.

[betsuni]

46. The goal of blaming Democrats: they believe in rule of law/the system but the system is irrevocably corrupt

and broken, so Democrats bad both sides both sides both sides both sides, be cynical and disgusted.

[Ilikepurple]

56. I'm not sure OP was talking about releasing the Maxwell files as much as keeping the issue alive.

A conviction of one criminal or co conspirator doesn’t usually stop investigations into other surrounding criminal behavior in its tracks. That they didn’t get one grand jury indictment besides Maxwell and Epstein out of the wealth of files held is very strange and stranger as more info is released. Some here asked why this wasnt a bigger issue on DU. Unlike, some in the administration, we had no idea what was in the evidence files from those two investigations. Of course, people didn’t have to be named until evidence they were charged, but a vague gesture to how profoundly sordid global Epstein’s enterprise was might not have won them the election in 2024, but it sure would have helped in 2026 and 2028.

[Cha]

58. TY for posting the actual Legal Aspects

of this case.

So Refreshing...

[marble falls]

9. They wanted to win on more pressing issues than Epstein, which some felt didn't matter after he got away ...

... with the Billy Bush interview.

[Scrivener7]

11. I am glad that this is a conversation that's happening without being hijacked. It's an important question.

I think it does boil down to a combination of Garland and ongoing trials, but I'd like the details of the reasons too. Partly because republicans often ask it as a way to justify themselves, and partly because I want to know.

[SheltieLover]

15. See Ocelot's post 6 above

[Raven123]

12. I can think of a few issues

Maxwell was still being prosecuted. Sentenced 2022. There may have been issues related to the ongoing prosecution.

Like others before them, they assumed the prior DOJ them
dealt with all the perpetrators. This is one massive file.

They had the J6 insurrectionists and the documents case to deal with. SCOTUS and Cannon made their efforts harder than they should have been, occupying a lot of resources.

I don’t think it was one thing, but many things

[OAITW r.2.0]

24. Your response makes a lot of sense.

How many Trump crimes would DOJ have active cases on? Maybe 60% of DOJ resources?

[tintinvotes]

16. What do you mean?

The Biden adm successfully prosecuted Maxwell and had an open grand jury into the co conspirators in the SDNY until this past July when tRumpedo shut it down.

[OAITW r.2.0]

20. I think we ran out of time and, somehow, Trump got elected(?) again.

[Whiskeytide]

23. I don't know why people don't know ...

… this. The investigation was into about 12 co-conspirators, and it was well underway when it was transferred from SDNY to main justice and shut down. The MSM has barely mentioned this.

Hmmm. Actually I guess I do know why most people don’t know about it.

[OAITW r.2.0]

25. This is the context I appreciate.

[OAITW r.2.0]

18. What if Merrick Garland is in the Epstein Files?

The ones not yet released/redacted. Not accusing, but thinking about the ramifications of such a possibility.

[sheshe2]

22. If Garland were in the files...

or any other prominent Dem were in those files Bondi would have released that damning info unredacted and with images in a NYM.

[OAITW r.2.0]

26. That would be too juicy, not to expose.

[Chemical Bill]

21. The Maxwell appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2025.

If Garland had released files from an investigation and trial before all appeals were exhausted, imagine the whining from the grifter about how Biden was targeting a political rival before an election. Oh, wait... nevermind.

[OAITW r.2.0]

29. I guess this is the ultimate takeaway.

We play by the rules of law.

They don't.

[viva la]

27. TBF, they inherited a global crisis and thousands of Americans dying each week.

Epstein seemed more of a rightwing obsession. I never understood that-- Trump and many of his men were already implicated-- but the rightwingers didn't notice that.

I wish Biden would have hit hard on it, but Garland was always the "dot your i's and cross your t's" stickler for doing things "right."

[Deminpenn]

40. Agree

Biden had his hands full with COVID and trying to resusitate the economy and get back to some semblance of normal.

[Joinfortmill]

31. My understanding is Presidents stay out of ongoing investigations.

[OAITW r.2.0]

32. Our side does.

Because we believe in the rule of law.

[progressoid]

57. The irony of course is that right wing media (prior to Trump 2.0)

was claiming that Biden was directing and interfering with the DOJ all the time.

They aren't so concerned with that now. Hmmm...

[niyad]

33. Because in 2020, krasnov was president.

[OAITW r.2.0]

35. Fix to 2021. Thanks.

[valleyrogue]

37. There were far more pressing things going on in the country, like the pandemic. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

38. Ted Lieu: "Merrick Garland dropped the ball."

I agree with him.

?si=O1vwL69Eu3EUCkSS

[Orrex]

44. Impossible!

For years, the cheerleaders have mocked and bullied and ridiculed and gaslighted anyone who dared to suggest that Garland wasn't doing the absolute utmost to bring Trump to justice.

I'm sure that the cheerleaders will now leap up to attack Lieu with the same frenzy they've directed at fellow DUers who've been saying exactly the same thing.

[Orrex]

39. The important thing is that Garland avoided the appearance of a politcal agenda.

That's the most important thing. So important. The importantest.

[Deminpenn]

42. The mistake with Garland was

Biden's nominating him for AG because McConnell screwed Garland out of seat on SCOTUS. By the time he was AG, he'd lost his aggressive prosecutorial temperament and brought the much more deliberate judicial temperament with him to DOJ instead.

[AloeVera]

62. You have to hand it to Garland.

He had many of us believing that crap.

Because appearances and being apolitical are SO important. Ask the Federalist Society. Or any Republican.

[iemanja]

64. Exactly

It makes me ill when people defend him, when he was obviously incompetent. Either that, or he actively decided not to prosecute Trump or the other wealthy predators. The privileged circle their wagons.

[samsingh]

45. i believe the situation demanded that we do that - we were historically and catastrophically negligent

[SamuelTheThird]

50. Perhaps the Intelligence links

[Johnny2X2X]

51. DOJ used to be independent under Biden

He has nothing to do with what they did or didn’t do.

[zorbasd]

54. Maxwell's trial didn't end till the end of 2021

so they had to pause during that time, but Garland utterly failed to pursue it after Maxwell was found guilty later. Maybe the covid issue was a real priority.

[iemanja]

65. They did not have to pause

Co-defendants are prosecuted all the time. There are literally hundreds of cases when multiple perps were prosecuted. That’s probably an understatement.

[lrucks1952]

60. Cost of EGGS

I am not sure this Epstein case would have gotten the serious traction during the Biden term as it gets now!! 70 million voters were pissed off about the price of eggs and heard or listened to nothing else!!! The orange man kept talking about the deep state, corruption, election fraud and he had MAGA believers convinced that anything or anyone pointing a finger at him regarding the Epstein files was simply the DEMS coming after him!!! Dems picking on TRUMP!!!
The MAGA believers never realized that the deep state they were hearing about? mad about? ready to over take the government about? was right before their eyes...The orange convicted felon, child predator and criminal was the leader of the deep state and right in front of them!! Even with all the evidence? The Trumpsters refused to see or hear the truth!!

[iemanja]

66. What MAGA thought had nothing to do

With Garland’s inactions. The excuses here are outrageous.

[DET]

69. I ask myself that all the time

There must have been at least a handful of people who knew what was in the Epstein files during the previous administration. Anyone who knew or at least suspected that Trump was involved in an international child sex trafficking ring and said nothing has a whole lot to answer for. Covid was under control by the run up to the 2024 election. And Trump had been convicted of rape and multiple felony counts at that point. The potential for someone as demonstrably evil as Trump to win the Presidency (again) - knowing what he was capable of - should have overridden any concerns re judicial protocol, especially given the fact that the Republicans had rigged the judiciary.

[standingtall]

70. The files were sealed, because of the Maxell conviction and appeal

Maybe Biden could've used his Presidential powers to unseal them, but it he didn't believe in interfering with the DOJ. Evident by letting his own Son get prosecuted I know he pardoned him and said he wouldn't, but he should've pardoned him. Garland was a huge mistake he could've should've prosecuted Trump for about a million things before we even get to the Epstein files. Biden was to generous I think Garland's appointment was a makeup for him getting blocked from the Supreme Court. Should've picked Jack Smith. Garland worked quicker to prosecute Hunter Biden then he did Trump enough said.