The Justice Department’s social media accounts are spending the Christmas Eve holiday hurling childish insults at reporters covering its botched Epstein files rollout.
The DOJ’s account on X replied to dozens of outlets, including the celebrity news account PopBase, disputing a portion of the released files that portrayed President Trump as an unsavory figure.
The DOJ and FBI are denying that a letter included in its latest file dump, which appeared to be written by Jeffery Epstein and sent to disgraced Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and alleged that Trump “shares [their] love of young nubile girls,” is legitimate. The agencies have claimed the letter is “FAKE.”
Longtime congressional reporter Jamie Dupree responded to the DOJ’s comment to PopBase, saying, “Okay. So then why would DOJ publicly release something that’s fake? Your answers please.”
The DOJ’s official response was that Dupree was a “dope.”
“Because the law requires us to release all documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in our possession so that’s what we are doing, you dope. Are you suggesting we break the law?” the DOJ’s official X account responded.
Dupree responded, writing, “A badge of honor and a great Christmas gift! The Trump Department of Justice calling me a dope.”
GOP Congressman Thomas Massie, who led the push to release the files in the House and has been at odds with the Trump administration for weeks, called out the DOJ for spending Christmas Eve dishing out insults and said they are, in fact, breaking the law.
“DOJ did break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing the deadline,” Massie wrote. “By the way, who’s controlling the DOJ X account on Christmas Eve and using words like ‘dope’ to refer to reporters?”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
The DOJ has been under fire for days for its sloppy release of the Epstein files. Massie and Ro Khanna, who co-lead the effort to release the files, have alleged that the Department of Justice has broken the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The act, signed into law by Trump, required the DOJ to release “all” of its files related to Epstein by Dec. 19, while keeping victims’ identifying information private. Both chambers of Congress passed the act with near-unanimous support.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the full release of the files will take weeks. Khanna has urged the DOJ to explain why it could not release all of the files by the legal deadline.
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