The U.S. Justice Department will begin releasing long-awaited files related to Jeffrey Epstein under a new law, but not all of the documents will be released on Friday, a senior official said.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department expects to issue “hundreds of thousands of pages” initially and more over the coming weeks.
Friday’s deadline was mandated by legislation that won near-unanimous support in Congress, which President Donald Trump later signed into law after reversing his previous opposition to the release.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said failing to release all the files before the deadline would be a violation of the law.
The files relate to the investigation into the disgraced late sex offender, but much of the content is likely to have been heavily redacted.
“We are reviewing every document that we will produce to make sure that every victim is fully protected to the extent that they need protection, including their names, their identities, their stories, etc.,” Blanche told Fox & Friends.
He said the Justice Department would release more data in the coming weeks.
“So we expect hundreds of thousands of cases today, and hundreds of thousands more over the next few weeks,” Blanche said.
“There are a lot of eyes watching this, so we want to make sure that we are protecting all victims when we actually produce the material that we produce.”
The Epstein File Transparency Act gave the DOJ until December 19 to release the files.
The bill specifically states that the government must release all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession related to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.
Democratic leaders said the DOJ’s delay was illegal.
“The Trump administration must release all of Epstein’s files within 30 days, not just some of them,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Failure to do so would be a violation of the law.”
He said Senate Democrats are now working with lawyers for Epstein’s victims, as well as outside lawyers, to determine what the Justice Department will disclose and what it will cover up.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who joined forces with Democrat Ro Khanna to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, posted an image of the law on
Khanna demanded a full timeline for the release of the documents before the deadline.
Democrats in the House of Representatives have been releasing a series of documents and photos from Epstein’s estate without context.
Lawmakers said they were sorting through 20,000 documents and 95,000 photographs collected from the property.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said in a press release that most of the documents arrived without context and that he was working to correct potential victims.
The documents and images featured several celebrities, including Trump, former US President Bill Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
They said their appearance in the photos or documents was not evidence of any wrongdoing, and that many of the men pictured had no involvement in any of Epstein’s illegal activities.
