The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday released roughly three million additional documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, marking what officials describe as the final major disclosure required under a federal transparency law signed by President Donald Trump.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the release concludes an extensive review process mandated by Congress, which required the department to examine and publish records connected to the deceased sex offender within 30 days. The law set a Dec. 19 deadline for completion.
“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive documentation – document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act. The department has engaged in an unprecedented and extensive effort to do so, after submitting the final report to Congress, as required under the Act, and publishing the written justifications for redactions in the Federal Register, the department’s obligations under the act will be completed,” Blanche said.
According to the DOJ, the newly released material represents the largest single disclosure so far and brings the total number of pages made public to approximately six million. Blanche described the volume as equivalent to “two Eiffel towers.”
The release follows months of pressure from lawmakers and the public over delays and the scope of redactions. The Justice Department has argued that meeting the statutory deadline was extraordinarily difficult due to the need to protect victims’ identities and sensitive information. Critics, however, have accused the department of excessive redactions that go beyond what the law allows.
Blanche acknowledged that public interest and speculation surrounding the Epstein case are unlikely to fade, regardless of the disclosures. “There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents and … there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said.
Addressing allegations that the government may be shielding powerful individuals, Blanche rejected claims of selective enforcement. “There’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about, that we’re covering up, or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case. I don’t know whether there are men out there that abuse these women. If we learn about information and evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will,” he said.
He added, “But I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abuse women, unfortunately.”
Despite those assurances, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the legislation mandating the release, questioned both the DOJ’s accounting and its level of transparency. In a statement, Khanna said the department identified more than six million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review.
“This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld,” Khanna said.
He added that he would closely examine whether the department releases specific materials he has sought, including “the FBI 302 victim interview statements, a draft indictment and prosecution memorandum prepared during the 2007 Florida investigation, and hundreds of thousands of emails and files from Epstein’s computers.”
“Failing to release these files only shields the powerful individuals who were involved and hurts the public’s trust in our institutions,” Khanna said.
