The Justice Department said Wednesday that more than a million documents potentially related to Jeffrey Epstein have been found and that the process to release the records will take weeks, promising that the documents will be made public “as soon as possible” after missing a Dec. 19 deadline to release all files related to the deceased alleged sex trafficker.
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The Justice Department said in a statement that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI discovered the additional records.
The department added that it would comply with federal law “and President Trump’s order to release the files.”
Last week, the Justice Department released a series of Epstein files that detailed Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking scheme and contained multiple photographs featuring former President Bill Clinton.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, criticized the partial release of the files and brought charges of inherent contempt against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to release all files related to Epstein, alleging obstruction of justice.
The Justice Department had until Dec. 19 to release the entire files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, drafted by Khanna and Massie and signed by President Donald Trump after Congress passed it almost unanimously.
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“They should also release FBI witness interviews that name other men, so the public knows who was involved,” Khanna declared Tuesday night. “The Justice Department spends more time protecting Epstein’s class than it does the survivors, whose names must be redacted by law.”
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The partial release of Epstein’s files last week also included photos of President Donald Trump, who appeared alongside unnamed women, although the president was not mentioned extensively in the text files released last week. Trump, whose relationship with Epstein remains under intense scrutiny, called the released files a way for Democrats to “divert attention from the tremendous success” of his administration.
Trump’s name appeared on a novelty check Epstein was holding in a never-before-seen framed photo, in which Epstein held the check next to an anonymous woman. The documents also indicated that Epstein’s alleged scheme was notified to authorities years before it came to light.
The Justice Department came under fire for the amount of redacted information in some of the files and found itself in a delicate situation after an image showing Trump was removed from public access. The department stated that prosecutors raised concerns about whether the victims appeared in the image, which shows multiple framed photos. The image was later republished without modifications.
This text was originally published in Forbes US.
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