WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Justice hit its deadline to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein on Friday under the bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act ordered DOJ to release all its unclassified records and documents connected to the convicted sex offender. It comes amid a slow drip of files from Epstein’s estate being released by congressional panels amid an outcry from the public about a perceived lack of transparency on the case.
DOJ hasn’t said exactly when it will release the files, but the bill gave the department a deadline of Friday to comply.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said during an appearance on Fox News the department would be releasing “several hundred thousand” files on Friday but indicated it was not including everything in the department’s possession as required by the legislation.
“What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected. And so I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks. So today, several hundred thousand and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”
The bill allowed DOJ to make redactions to files to protect victims and the investigation but did not give it a rolling deadline to release everything in its possession. Congress must be notified within 15 days of the rationale for why files are withheld or redacted.
House Democrats released dozens of new photos on Thursday from the tens of thousands the Oversight Committee received from his estate through a subpoena asking for images in his possession before his death. Previous disclosures have shown Epstein with other powerful figures like former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Trump.
Pressure to release the government’s files on Epstein mounted this year after the administration walked back on campaign promises to release more information. What information had been released yielded few new details, intensifying the outcry over a lack of transparency.
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Trump had resisted releasing more files for months and pressured House Republicans not to back the bill. Once enough Republicans signed onto a discharge petition forcing a vote on the release of the bill, Trump reversed course and said he would sign the bill, helping it sail through Congress.
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