The Justice Department is set to release hundreds of thousands of documents on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after Congress forced its hand.
Friday marks the deadline to release all unclassified records, documents, communications, and other investigative material in the possession of the DOJ, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorneys’ offices.
But the Justice Department also indicated on Friday that more documents would be released over the next “couple of weeks” in an early admission that they would not meet the required deadline.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the files within 30 days of its signing.
It has been 10 months since Bondi claimed the files were on her desk for review in a Fox News interview, before walking it back, but her deputy said the department would meet Friday’s deadline.
“I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
He told Fox & Friends that the material would include different forms, including photographs associated with the investigations into Epstein.
Trump had been calling on the campaign trail for the documents to be released, but his administration reversed course in a July memo, claiming that no further material would be released.
The president and Republican leaders pushed back furiously for months on releasing more material despite the fallout, as a slow drip of information was reported, including that Trump was told his name was in the files.
He has long been known as an Epstein associate, but he has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Finally, after months of pressure, a bipartisan group of lawmakers used a discharge petition to thwart House Speaker Mike Johnson’s effort to stall the bill and force a vote.
As it became clear the law would pass, Trump quickly changed his position and said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk. In the end, he signed it on November 19.
But the months-long heated fight over releasing the files did not stop Blanche from trying to rewrite some of that history on Friday.
“President Trump has said for years that he wants full transparency, and he wants the Department of Justice to release everything that we can with respect to this investigation and cases,” said Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal criminal attorney.
The Justice Department could have voluntarily released the bulk of the documents months ago, but instead tried to release only bits and pieces, like grand jury transcripts, to appease the MAGA base and others angered by its backtracking.
“President Trump signed that law 30 days ago, and we have been working tirelessly since that date to make sure that we get every single document that we have within the Department of Justice, review it and get it to the American public,” Blanche said.
The law not only requires the release of all unclassified documents on Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, but also flight logs and travel records.
It also requires the release of all internal Justice Department communications on the Epstein case regarding its decisions to investigate and charge him and his associates.
The law allows some redactions, including the names and identifying information about Epstein’s victims, as well as information that would jeopardize an active investigation.
“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 that it needs to be protected is completely protected,” Blanche said. “I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”
He said several hundred thousand more documents could be released in the near future.
“There’s a lot of eyes looking at these, and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials that we’re producing, that we’re protecting ‘em, every single victim,” Blanche said.
The law specifically prohibits the Justice Department from withholding, delaying, or redacting files for the reason that the information would embarrass or hurt the reputation of public figures and government officials. Information cannot be withheld for being politically sensitive in nature.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who partnered with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to pass the bill to release the documents, posted on X on Friday an image of the legislative text. He highlighted the deadline and noted that it required the release of “all” material within 30 days of signing.
Khanna warned ahead of the final release date that anyone who “tampers with these documents or conceals documents or engages in excessive redactions will be prosecuted.”
He warned prosecutions for obstruction could include not just the attorney general but also career or political appointees.
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