A heavily-redacted Epstein document dump revives questions about his associates, including former President Bill Clinton; the United States wallops ISIS targets in Syria while the Venezuelan oil blockade continues; and Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest wraps up with fireworks.

It’s Monday, December 22, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire:

Epstein Files Released

The Justice Department has begun publishing thousands of pages of material tied to its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. But the rollout has sparked immediate controversy with claims of heavy redactions and missing files. Because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed last month, the DOJ released an initial batch of over 13,000 files. These include investigative materials, grand jury transcripts from cases adjudicated in the early 2000s, police reports, flight logs, handwritten phone messages, and dozens of photographs. Though some of the material is new, none of it is blockbuster news. There are still hundreds of thousands of records under review that will be released on a rolling basis in the coming weeks, however.

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U.S. Hits ISIS

President Trump has followed through on his promise to avenge three Americans killed in Syria last week, carrying out dozens of strikes against ISIS in Syria. On Friday, the U.S. military, with some help from Jordan, hit 70+ ISIS targets across Syria. An early report from a Syria monitoring group said that at least five ISIS terrorists were killed. Most of the destruction was of ISIS infrastructure, including munitions, supplies, and hideouts. War Secretary Pete Hegseth tamped down fears that this could lead to a wider conflict. Hegseth said, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”

TPUSA’s AmFest Wraps Up

Turning Point USA’s big annual conference, AmericaFest, had more eyes than ever on it this year as organizers set out to honor its founder Charlie Kirk and give the stage to the most influential voices in the conservative movement. The event wrapped with some surprises–the major one coming on Sunday when Ericka Kirk walked rapper Nicki Minaj out on the main stage to talk about her respect for President Trump. The event was also full of fiery speeches that generated many headlines across the media. But while the media and the internet were full of controversy, the feeling on the floor of the conference felt communal and high-energy, according to Daily Wire reporters at the event.

Legacy media hosts spent a good part of Sunday morning discussing the hundreds of thousands of pages of photos and documents — all related to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — that were released to the public on Friday.

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

Nearly all of them were concerned that too much information had been redacted, and some were also complaining that the document dump — despite its volume — did not account for the remainder of the information that had been covered under the Epstein Transparency Act.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) — who can be counted among the majority of Democrats who exhibited zero interest in releasing the Epstein files when his party had control of the House, the Senate, and the White House — joined ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl on “This Week” to complain about the fact that not everything was released on Friday.

“I think there needs to be a full and complete explanation and then a full and complete investigation as to why the document production has fallen short of what the law clearly required,” he said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reacts to the partial release of the Epstein files: “I think there needs to be a full and complete explanation and then a full and complete investigation as to why the document production has fallen short of what the law clearly required.” pic.twitter.com/edYpn3KR1k

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 21, 2025

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested that it was a mistake to release any of the files if they were not going to release everything at once: “Any kind of indication that there’s not a full reveal on this will just plague them for months and months more. So my suggestion would be, give up all the information, release it.”

Sen. Paul calls the partial release of the Epstein files “a big mistake” for the administration: “Any kind of indication that there’s not a full reveal on this will just plague them for months and months more. So my suggestion would be, give up all the information, release it.” pic.twitter.com/ezw1nuZJ40

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 21, 2025

On CBS News, “Face the Nation” guest Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) claimed that the Justice Department was “flouting the letter and the spirit of the law” with the Friday document dump because it was incomplete and because it was so heavily redacted.

“I won’t be satisfied until the survivors are satisfied,” Massie said.

The Department of Justice is “flouting the spirit and the letter of the law” with its initial release of thousands of new records related to Jeffrey Epstein that include heavily-redacted pages, says Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). He tells @margbrennnan the Trump administration’s… pic.twitter.com/05MgVtIqrf

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 21, 2025

“They sent a six-page memo to Congress and they cited pre-existing laws as reasons that they weren’t going to follow our law,” Massie added, claiming that he knew of a number of men accused of sex crimes related to Epstein whose names were not included in the released documents, and was unsure as to whether they’d ever be released.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) says he has been told of at least 20 men accused of sex crimes known to the FBI related to Jeffrey Epstein, but tells @margbrennan he didn’t see the names in the files the Justice Department has released so far and isn’t optimistic they’ll ever be… pic.twitter.com/xInQWaxKOD

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 21, 2025

Khanna suggested that Congress could hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt over the release, adding, “I believe we’re going to get bipartisan support in holding her accountable and a committee of Congress should determine whether these redactions are justified or not.”

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) say they’ll take action against the Trump administration for its partial release of the Epstein files, including using Congress’ inherent contempt powers against Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I believe we’re going to get bipartisan… pic.twitter.com/0kBoVdCA9V

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 21, 2025

One of the storylines a number of them fixated on came from early reports that suggested a number of the redactions were made to protect not just victims but people who were considered to be politically connected. This narrative picked up steam quickly as it was revealed that a handful of the photos that were released in Friday were quickly pulled down — a move that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said was made out of concern that some of the women in the photos might need to have their identities redacted.

Of course, the fact that one of the photos appeared to include President Donald Trump quickly became media fodder as well, and host Margaret Brennan asked Khanna about that directly.

“I am less concerned about that photo,” Khanna said of the Trump photo. “I don’t know the facts. My concern is the major documents that we know are out there that haven’t been released.”

When asked about 15 images being pulled down from the Justice Department’s Epstein files website, including a photo of a drawer with a picture of President Trump, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) says, “I am less concerned about that photo.”

“I don’t know the facts. My concern is the major… pic.twitter.com/P3ivwYLeRu

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 21, 2025

On “Meet the Press,” NBC anchor Kristen Welker asked Deputy AG Todd Blanch directly about the Trump photo — and asked whether any of the redactions had been done because of potential embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.”

Blanche’s reply was simple: “Absolutely, positively not.”

NBC: Has anything in the Epstein Files been redacted on that basis of ’embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity’?

Todd Blanche: “Absolutely, positively not.” pic.twitter.com/bwGtieJJgC

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 21, 2025

And on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) — who also showed no interest in releasing the Epstein files until President Trump won reelection — said that he was ready to pull out all the stops in his effort to ensure the Trump administration was held accountable for failing to issue a full and complete release.

“Everything is on the table,” he said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Everything is on the table” to force DOJ to release all Epstein files pic.twitter.com/cIYBzVrZjm

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) December 21, 2025