WASHINGTON — The Ministry of Justice published file library on Friday regarding Jeffrey Epstein, partially complying with a new federal law requiring their release while acknowledging that hundreds of thousands of files remain sealed.
A portal on the department's website includes videos, photos and documents from the years-long investigation into the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in federal prison in 2019. But after an initial review of the files, some documents were heavily redacted and much of the database was found to be unsearchable, despite a provision in the new law requiring a more accessible system.
The Epstein File Transparency Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, explicitly required the department to release all of its files by midnight Friday, marking 30 days from enactment.
But a senior official said earlier on Friday that the ministry would miss Friday's legal deadline to release all fileswhich prolongs the scandal that has plagued the Trump administration. Hundreds of thousands more are still pending and will be reviewed. still weeks until releasesaid Todd BlancheDeputy Prosecutor General.
“I expect that we will release more documents over the next few weeks, so several hundred thousand today, and then over the next few weeks I expect several hundred thousand more,” Blanche told Fox News on Friday.
The delay drew immediate condemnation from Democrats in key oversight positions.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, blamed President Trump and his administration in a statement on Friday of “violating federal law by continuing to conceal facts and evidence of Jeffrey Epstein's decades-long, billion-dollar international sex trafficking ring” and said they were “considering all legal options.”
The delay also drew criticism from some Republicans.
“Oh my God, what's in Epstein's files?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is leaving Congress next month, wrote on X. “Publish all files. It's literally the law.”
“Time's up. Release the files,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on X.
Congressional efforts to force the release of documents from the FBI's Epstein investigation have already resulted in a trove of disgraced financier's emails and other records from his estate.
Some made references to Trump and added to the long-developing picture of the social relationship Epstein and Trump shared for years before Trump called them a falling out.
In one email in early 2019, during Trump's first term in the White House, Epstein wrote to author and journalist Michael Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls.”
In a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of conspiring with Epstein to help him sexually abuse young girls, Epstein wrote: “I want you to understand that the dog that didn't bark is Trump. [Victim] spent hours with him in my house…he was never mentioned.”
Maxwell replied: “I thought about it…”
Trump has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and downplayed the importance of the files. He also tried from time to time to block their release, although he publicly stated that he would not oppose it.
His administration's resistance to releasing all FBI files and attempts to find out why the documents were withheld was overcome only after Republican lawmakers broke away and joined Democrats in passing a transparency measure.
The resistance has also angered many of the president's inner circle, as their scheming and anger over the files remains more important to Trump and more difficult to shake off than any other political vulnerability.
It remained unclear Friday afternoon what other discoveries the expected dump would entail. The files released were expected to be heavily redacted to protect victims and to contain references to individuals and entities that may be the target of ongoing investigations or national security matters.
This could include references to Trump, who was a private citizen throughout his infamous friendship with Epstein in the mid-2000s, experts say.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a child for prostitution in Florida but served only 13 months in custody in what was considered a plea bargain that spared him a potential life sentence. He was charged in 2019 with sex traffickingAnd died in federal prison in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial. Epstein was accused of abusing more than 200 women and girls.
Many of his victims supported releasing the documents, but administration officials cited confidentiality as the main justification for delaying release – a point Blanche repeated on Friday.
“A lot of people are looking at this, and we want to make sure that when we produce the materials that we produce, we protect every victim,” Blanche said, noting that Trump signed the law just 30 days ago.
“And since that day, we have worked tirelessly to make sure that we get every document that we have at the Department of Justice, review it and get it out to the American public,” he said.
Trump lobbied aggressively for the Epstein File Transparency Act, unsuccessfully pressuring House Republican lawmakers not to join a dismissal petition that could force a vote on the issue against the wishes of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). He ultimately signed the bill after it passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who introduced the House bill requiring the release of the files, warned that the Justice Department in future administrations could pursue legal action against current officials who try to block the release of any files that violate the letter of the new law.
“Let me be clear: We need a full release,” Hanna said. “Anyone who falsifies these documents, hides documents or engages in excessive redactions will be prosecuted for obstruction of justice.”
Given Democrats' desire to maintain political interest in the issue, as well as strong interest in the issue from voters on both ends of the political spectrum, the fact that the Justice Department failed to fully meet Friday's deadline will likely contribute to a continued rush to release the documents in the coming days.
In a statement Friday, Garcia and Raskin took shots at Trump administration officials, including Atty. General Pam Bondi for allegedly interfering with the release of records.
“For months, Pam Bondi denied survivors the transparency and accountability they demanded and deserved and ignored subpoenas from the Oversight Committee,” they said. “The Justice Department is now making clear that it intends to challenge Congress itself.”
Among other things, they criticized the Justice Department's decision to deport Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. to a maximum security prison after meeting Blanche in July.
“Survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve full transparency from the Department of Justice,” Garcia and Raskin said.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), responding to Blanche's claim that all the files would not be released Friday, said the transparency law “is clear: to protect survivors, ALL of these records must be released today. Not just some.”
“The Trump Administration cannot move the goalposts,” Schiff wrote on X. “They are enshrined in law.”
