Watch Live: Deputy AG says DOJ releasing more than 3 million pages of records related to Jeffrey Epstein
Washington- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that the Justice Department is releasing more than 3 million pages of documents related to its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Blanche told a news conference at the Justice Department that Friday’s release would include more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, and said that in total, the Trump administration had produced about 3.5 million pages as part of its efforts to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
That law, passed by Congress and signed by President Trump last year, required the Justice Department to disclose all of its unclassified materials related to its investigation of Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell by December 19.
Blanche said the images and videos released to the public will include “significant redactions” to protect survivors of Epstein’s crimes.
“We have redacted all women depicted in any image or video, with the exception of Maxwell,” he said. “We have not redacted the images of any man, unless it is impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man.”
Maxwell was sentenced in 2021 for his role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse underage girls with Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process aimed at ensuring transparency to the American people and compliance with the law,” Blanche said. “The ministry has made considerable and unprecedented efforts to achieve this.”
He said the Justice Department is submitting a final report to Congress and providing written justifications for the redactions, which will be published in the Federal Register. Once those requirements are met, the Justice Department’s obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act “will be fulfilled,” he said.
The Ministry of Justice has so far published more than 100,000 material pageswhich included photos, videos, court records and emails, among other documents. But Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche said earlier this month that the department was still revising more than 2 million documents that she had to make public under the law.
Department leaders said in a letter to the U.S. District Court in New York, which oversaw the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell, that more than 500 people were contacted with reviewing and redacting information relating to Epstein. In another update to the court, Bondi and Blanche said Tuesday that they should publish all remaining “short term” material.
Lawmakers at the Capitol criticized the Department of Justice on its release of the documents and the scope of the disclosures after Blanche said they would be made public on an ongoing basis due to the volume of documents and the need to redact survivors’ personal information.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accused the Justice Department of “openly defying the law” by refusing to release all files.
The Trump administration has faced pressure from Congress and some of the president’s allies to release all elements of the federal investigation into Epstein after the Justice Department and the FBI. said in a memo last July that they would not release any additional information about Epstein’s case.
Following the revelation, lawmakers on Capitol Hill launched their own investigation into the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case and requested and received information. documents and photos from Epstein’s estate.
