The Justice Department said late Monday that it is still reviewing millions of documents potentially connected to Jeffrey Epstein, even as pressure mounts from Congress to make the records public under a recently passed transparency law.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the department was required to release a broad collection of records by Dec. 12. That deadline has passed, but federal officials say the massive volume of material has made it impossible to meet the requirement all at once. Instead, the department has opted for a rolling release, posting large batches of documents online over several days in mid-December and continuing the process since then.
In a court filing submitted Monday, the Justice Department said it has released roughly 12,285 documents so far, totaling about 125,575 pages. At the same time, more than 2 million additional documents that may fall under the law remain “in various phases of review.”
By the department’s own accounting, that means less than 1% of potentially responsive records have been fully reviewed. Officials noted, however, that a “meaningful portion” of the remaining material is believed to consist of duplicate records, and that page counts vary widely from file to file.
The documents still being examined include internal Justice Department and FBI emails, court records, interview notes from the FBI, subpoena materials, and “various forms of media,” according to the filing.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed in mid-November, gave the department 30 days to release decades’ worth of records. Those include early federal investigations into Epstein, files from Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2019 and 2020 sex trafficking cases, and records related to the department’s review of Epstein’s death by suicide while in pre-trial custody.
The law allows redactions in limited circumstances, including to protect victims’ personal information, child sexual abuse material, and certain graphic images.
In addition, Paul Engelmeyer, the Manhattan judge who oversaw Maxwell’s case, has ordered the top federal prosecutor in the district to personally certify that any released grand jury materials have been carefully reviewed to remove victims’ identities. The Justice Department’s update appeared in a letter to Engelmeyer.
More than 400 Justice Department lawyers are currently involved in the review process. Still, it remains unclear when all of the files will be made public. On Christmas Eve, the department disclosed that it had uncovered more than a million additional documents, a discovery that could delay completion by “a few more weeks.”
The slow pace has sparked criticism from Democrats and Epstein survivors. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the department of a “cover-up” last month. “The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,” Schumer said in a statement.
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