Doj Announces Full Release Of Epstein Files

The Department of Justice is releasing more than three million pages of materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche announced Friday.

The files will fulfill the DOJ’s obligations under the law Congress passed last year to compel the release, Blache said. It includes 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” he said. “The Department has engaged in an unprecedented and extensive effort to do so.”

The tranche comes more than a month after the Trump administration blew past the Dec. 19 statutory deadline for DOJ to make public all of the materials in its possession related to the Epstein case.

Administration officials have maintained it has taken this long to properly vet the documents, though they released some files late last year — including photos depicting former President Bill Clinton. The former president has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has called for the files to be released.

“I take umbrage at the suggestion, which is totally false, that the attorney general or this Department does not take child exploitation or sex trafficking seriously or that we somehow do not want to protect victims,” Blache said at the news conference at DOJ headquarters Friday, responding to the suggestion that the administration has slow-walked this process.

He also suggested the American public would continue to be unsatisfied, regardless of the millions of pages now public.

“We did not protect President [Donald] Trump, we didn’t protect or not protect anybody,” he said. “There’s a hunger, a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents … there’s nothing I can do about that.”

Many Democrats believe the administration was resistant for months to release the Epstein files because of a desire to shield Trump — who had a longstanding relationship with Epstein for many years — from scrutiny.

Trump, like Clinton, has not been implicated of wrongdoing, and the president has said he had a falling out with Epstein years ago.

“I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abused women, unfortunately,” Blanche said.

Blanche outlined the redactions made to the newly-released materials, which have been included in images of any women other than Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s associate now serving 20 years in prison for her part in the scheme.

He did, though, caution that mistakes were "inevitable," and potential victims whose identities were inadvertently revealed could reach out to the department to rectify it.

No files will be redacted to protect national security, which was a permissible rationale under the terms of the law Congress passed in November to compel the release of the files, Blanche added.

He also said lawmakers may coordinate with DOJ to view unredacted materials, and that the bases for redactions and the names of government officials included in the files will be transmitted to Congress.

Gregory Svirnovskiy contributed to this report.