New Epstein document release process questioned by ex-federal attorney

If the Department of Justice (DOJ) wanted to release every Jeffrey Epstein-related document it had in its files, it had the firepower to do so, a former assistant U.S. attorney argued.

The DOJ faced bipartisan criticism over its initial release of heavily redacted Epstein files, which lawmakers said did not meet the requirements of a recently passed transparency law.

“The Department of Justice has all the resources in the world, right? I mean, if they wanted to assign 1,000 lawyers to review the documents and prepare them for production, they could have,” Sarah Krissoff said.

“And they don’t seem to have done it,” she added.

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Sarah Krissoff, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, pictured next to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein. (Fox News; US Department of Justice/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Krissoff, who worked as a prosecutor for nearly 14 years in the Southern District of New York, described the key differences between the Epstein cases and the normal drafting process that attorneys grapple with. These distinctions make it unclear who would have had the final say on the information released Friday by the DOJ as the agency attempted to follow through on requirements set forth by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

That law, passed by Congress last month and signed by President Donald Trump on November 19, gave the DOJ only 30 days to release its documentation on Epstein. It provided for some exceptions to protect the identity of victims.

Despite the thousands of files made public late last week, the DOJ’s first find drew criticism from some lawmakers and online viewers, outraged that the department had not released them all at once.

“They’re hiding a lot of documents. That would be very helpful in our investigation,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN Monday morning.

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The Justice Department released a trove of Epstein documents on December 19, following President Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Although she remains skeptical of the department’s efforts, Krissoff noted that what has been requested of the DOJ goes well beyond the norm for disclosure.

“There’s no real mechanism in the law for the public to access the documents just because they’re interested in them, right? In this case, this law requires the DOJ to make these things public because many members of Congress are interested in this issue,” Krissoff said.

In the cases she’s been involved with, Krissoff said redactions usually came down to careful negotiations between the prosecution and defense. Sometimes the deliberations devolved into individual sentences or words.

“This situation is a little different because it’s not clear who is still working on this on the original team. And so the question is, who at the Department of Justice has reviewed this material in relation to the redactions here?” » Krissoff said.

She said complete records are rarely made public beyond what appears in court documents — and what’s there usually serves the prosecution’s narrow goals. In Epstein’s case, the public’s interests extend beyond any potential conviction of Epstein himself. Epstein died in 2019 while incarcerated on suspicion of sex trafficking of minors. His death, ruled a suicide, ended his prosecution and left behind questions about whether he facilitated illegal sexual encounters for his vast social network.

The photos released by the DOJ last week lack context and do not, in themselves, imply wrongdoing by the people depicted in them.

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Former President Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein in photos found in newly released Epstein files. (Ministry of Justice)

“The case often involves many other people who are not indicted for the crimes. So there may be 15 people charged in a drug ring. You’ve only indicted one or two people; you don’t want to attack these other people who have not been indicted by releasing information showing their involvement in this drug ring,” Krissoff said.

“The last thing you want to do is leak that neighbor’s information, their name or even their statement,” Krissoff said.

She believes there is a danger in forcing the disclosure of an ongoing case simply because of high public interest and setting a precedent for it to become a regular occurrence. She said this could disrupt ongoing investigations into the future that are attracting keen public interest.

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The DOJ said it would continue to release its documents about Epstein on an ongoing basis. He did not announce when they planned to pursue the release of the Epstein files.