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If Americans treated the April 15 deadline to file their taxes the same way the Trump administration treated its December 19 deadline to release the Epstein files, they’d end up paying hefty fines. And if they went to the same lengths to redact potentially damning information, like, for example, an itemized deduction of $5,000 for bottle service at “The Foxy Lounge,” they would face even stiffer penalties.

Of course, we are only talking about regular Americans here since the rich and powerful can apparently get away with anything, especially after the Trump administration hamstrung the part of the IRS that goes after tax cheats.

Speaking of the rich and powerful getting away with anything, the Department of Justice on Friday brazenly disregarded a legally mandated deadline to make available all unclassified documents related to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison while awaiting trial for trafficking minors.

Until overwhelming majorities in Congress passed legislation last month that compelled DOJ to act, Donald Trump had vehemently fought the release of this information in the most suspicious manner. That included calling it all a “hoax” (which is what he calls anything, regardless of its legitimacy, that is damaging to himself); disavowing his supporters who cared about a well-connected millionaire getting away with heinous sex crimes; and branding Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), formerly one of his staunchest allies, a “traitor” for seeking transparency in the case.

Which makes sense once you consider that the president used to be friends with Epstein, was aware of his fondness for young women, and, according to a lewd birthday card he authored, shared a secret with the man accused of trafficking hundreds of girls.

In addition, Trump’s name comes up repeatedly in emails released last month, including one that says he “knew about the girls.”

Furthermore, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in July that he had information that the FBI personnel tasked with sifting through the Epstein documents were “instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”

Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that an administration that values loyalty to the president above service to the American people didn’t comply with the law.

Instead of releasing all of the documents that it was legally required to make available by Friday, DOJ only released some of them while promising that more would be forthcoming.

However, some of the files that it made public were completely redacted.

And while the law requires DOJ to explain all of its redactions, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), one of the bill’s authors, said that not a single explanation had been provided.

What was provided, however, was a lot of information on former President Bill Clinton, who also palled around with Epstein. The documents made public include photos of him with Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including one in a pool.

Is that a clumsy attempt to divert attention away from Trump? We’ll let others be the judge of that. However, if DOJ can produce evidence that Clinton either knew of or was involved in Epstein’s crimes, then he deserves to be skewered (if it is the former) and prosecuted (if it is the latter).

For what it’s worth, 47 percent of Americans think that Bill Clinton “engaged in crimes” with Epstein. For Trump, that figure is 48 percent.

In addition, nearly half of all Americans believe DOJ is hiding information from Epstein’s so-called “client list” because it would implicate Trump, and a mere 18 percent of them think it is unlikely that the president knew about his friend’s crimes.

We doubt that this partial disclosure of information in defiance of the law is going to move the needle much… at least not in a direction that the White House wants.