JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Overnight,## the Justice Department released hundreds more# heavily redacted pages of material it had## gathered on convicted sex offender Jeffrey# Epstein.

Still, what's been made public so## far falls well short of the full disclosure# required by the law Congress passed last month.

These new releases come in addition# to the thousands of pages of photos,## correspondence and other material# released on Friday afternoon.## And the Justice Department says there will# be much more to come in the coming weeks.

Among the latest batch, released around# midnight, is a phone message slip that reads,## she has females for Mr.

J.E.

Jeff Mason is a# White House correspondent for Reuters.

Jeff,## these new files, the files even# that were released yesterday,## tell us a lot about more detail about# Jeffrey Epstein.

But does it tell us## anything about his relationship with# Donald Trump?

With President Trump.

JEFF MASON, White House Correspondent,# Reuters: Very little.

And that's one## thing that people were maybe anticipating# getting more information on.

But the files## have some mentions of Trump and# some conversations, but no photos.

One of the pieces of evidence# that people were expecting## was not in the release.

And in general,# the files were focused on other people## in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit and not the# current president of the United States.

JOHN YANG: Even with that, this is now going to# be spread out over several weeks.

It's not going## to be a one day story, one day headline.

Does the# White House have a strategy to deal with that?

JEFF MASON: Well, their strategy so far has# been largely to say, A, that they are being## very transparent by taking or taking doing# this document release and following the law.## A statement from a White House spokeswoman# yesterday pretty much said just that and## accused Democrats of not answering questions# about their connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

I think broadly, the White House would be# happy for this whole issue to go away.

And## that is evidenced by the fact that President# Trump spent months trying to prevent these## documents from coming out.

That led# to a lot of discord within his MAGA## base and led to some divisions within# Congress about amongst Republicans.## In the end, they ended up passing# this law and the president signed it.

But some Democrats and in fact, at# least one Republican are saying that## the administration did not follow the# law with its limited release on Friday.

JOHN YANG: Well, one of those# Republicans is the co-sponsor,## Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky.# He tweeted today that the release grossly## fails to comply with the law.

What can they# do?

Can they go to court and sue over this?

JEFF MASON: Well, that's a good question.

I# don't know if that's something that they're## thinking of doing.

Certainly I do know, because# this is what the Justice Department has said,## is that they're planning to release more,# but they are saying that there are so many## things that have to go through that they just# couldn't basically do it all in one batch,## but that there will be multiple# additional batches coming.

But as you say, even the co-sponsor# of the bill on the Republican side,## Congressman Massie, is upset about that.

JOHN YANG: And also, these documents# are so heavily redacted.

There are## some pages that are just totally# black from being blacked out,## inked out.

Is anybody talking about# that or complaining about that?

JEFF MASON: Yes, there are concerns about that.# I think in one case, there were 100 pages of## grand jury testimony that were redacted.# Now, the law allows the Justice Department## to release some of the files with redactions# in specific instances with regard to victims## of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, with regard# to abuse.

But the amount of the redactions## surprised people who are expecting to get# more information than they felt they received.

JOHN YANG: And the law actually# says they can't redact to protect## the reputation of anybody.

Anybody.

Do# we have any idea when these additional## files are going to be released in the future?

JEFF MASON: All we know is that they'll be coming## out in batches in the coming weeks.

So# I would expect that journalists like## ourselves will be watching this story over# the holidays and probably well past that.

And some of the questions that people were hoping## to get answered in this first batch are# the ones that will continue to be asked## in terms of connections that other# people had and knowledge that other## people had of Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes.

JOHN YANG: You mentioned this split in the MAGA## base and it spread to the House Republicans.

Does# any of this threaten support for President Trump?

JEFF MASON: Well, I mean, exhibit A of that# is the rift now between President Trump and## Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who threw# her support behind this legislation and behind## additional transparency for the Epstein files# that led to this major break with the president,## with whom she had a close relationship.# And the two of them have really been MAGA,## you know, very connected in the MAGA# base and supported by the MAGA base.

So to your question, will there be more?

It's# hard to say, but certainly Congresswoman Greene## has suggested that there are more divisions# coming or more breakaways coming from within## the base and within the Republican Party over# multiple things.

But certainly a lot of it seems## to have been triggered by this.

JOHN YANG: Jeff Mason of Reuters,## thank you very much.

JEFF MASON: My pleasure.