Greater than two weeks after a court-ordered deadline to launch the Epstein files, the Justice Division acknowledged Monday that it has barely scratched the floor.
In a letter to U.S. District Choose Paul Engelmayer, DOJ officers acknowledge that they’ve solely launched 12,285 paperwork to this point—about 125,575 pages in complete. However that’s lower than 1% of the supplies held by the federal authorities, with greater than 2 million extra nonetheless sitting in numerous phases of evaluation and redaction.
“Whereas the dedication of Division personnel to this effort has been substantial in breadth and spectacular in effort, substantial work stays to be finished,” DOJ officers write of their letter.
Newsweek estimated that, even when each doc at the moment below evaluation have been to ultimately be disclosed, the method may take greater than eight years. It’s unclear how Newsweek reached that conclusion, and no different main information shops have steered that it will take that lengthy for the complete cache of paperwork to be launched.
The letter, signed by Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi, Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche, and Manhattan U.S. Lawyer Jay Clayton, says that greater than 400 legal professionals and 100 “specifically educated doc analysts” at the moment are devoting all or most of their time to the evaluation.
The courtroom submitting follows a December order from Engelmayer permitting the discharge of grand jury supplies tied to the 2021 sex-trafficking trial and conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell.
However even with that inexperienced mild, progress has been sluggish. As of late December, the DOJ had identified roughly 1 million FBI paperwork that had not been reviewed, a lot of which have been duplicates. And Monday’s submitting confirms that the quantity of unreleased materials is even better.
The sluggish tempo has fueled mounting criticism of the Trump administration, which faces a statutory mandate handed in November requiring the complete Epstein file trove to be launched by Dec. 19.
The DOJ did meet the deadline with a doc dump, nevertheless it rapidly drew criticism from lawmakers and victims and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s, who mentioned that the discharge was each incomplete and heavily redacted. It additionally raised eyebrows for what it later deleted, together with images that featured President Donald Trump.
One Epstein sufferer described the initial release as “a slap in our faces.”
In the meantime, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who launched the disclosure laws alongside GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, accused the DOJ of “selective concealment.”
On Monday, Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer added his voice to the rising frustration.
“We don’t even really know what number of extra recordsdata there are to be launched,” he wrote on X. “The Trump DOJ’s lawlessness should cease. I’ll do every little thing in my energy to make sure all of the recordsdata come out.”
Trump has not been accused of collaborating in Epstein’s legal conduct, however his lengthy relationship with Epstein has been well documented. Trump has mentioned that the 2 knew one another in Palm Seaside and fell out within the mid-2000s, citing a real-estate dispute and Epstein’s recruitment of workers from Mar-a-Lago, amongst different issues.
In response to The Washington Post, DOJ officers have mentioned that they hope to finish the discharge by Jan. 20. However members of Congress who pushed the regulation say that key information stay undisclosed.
In response to Monday’s letter, every doc have to be evaluated for relevance below the statute, scrubbed to guard victims’ identities, and reviewed once more if victims or their relations request additional redactions.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking prices in 2019 and died later that yr in custody, in a demise dominated a suicide. Earlier than his demise, the federal authorities had concluded that Epstein spent many years abusing and trafficking dozens of ladies.
The longer the remaining recordsdata keep tucked away, the longer his victims are denied a full reckoning—and the extra safety from public scrutiny is awarded to Epstein’s associates.
