The Department of Justice announced Friday that it has completed its review of the Jeffrey Epstein files, releasing roughly three million additional documents to the public in what officials described as one of the final steps required under a transparency law signed by President Donald Trump.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters the latest release represents the culmination of a sweeping document review process mandated by Congress. The law required the DOJ to publish materials related to the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, setting a firm deadline for the department to complete its work.
“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,” Blanche said. He explained that the department carried out an unprecedented effort to meet the law’s requirements, including submitting a final report to Congress and publishing written explanations for redactions in the Federal Register. With those steps completed, Blanche said the DOJ’s obligations under the act are now fulfilled.
Blanche acknowledged that the massive release is unlikely to put an end to public curiosity or speculation surrounding the Epstein case. He said there remains a deep appetite for information that may never be fully satisfied, regardless of how many documents are made public.
“There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents,” Blanche said, adding that there is little he can do to change that reality.
He pushed back against the notion that the Justice Department is withholding evidence to protect powerful individuals, saying there is no secret cache of names being deliberately shielded from prosecution. Blanche stressed that the DOJ has not declined to bring charges against anyone who may have committed crimes involving Epstein’s victims.
“There’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about, that we’re covering up, or that we’re choosing not to prosecute,” he said. “That is not the case.”
Blanche added that if the department uncovers evidence that would allow prosecutors to bring charges, it will do so. However, he cautioned that the public should not expect the newly released documents to suddenly reveal unknown perpetrators.
The newly released trove is the largest disclosure to date and comes after sustained pressure on the Justice Department to clarify when the review process would be completed. Under the law signed by Trump, the department was given 30 days to review the files, setting a Dec. 19 deadline for full release.
DOJ officials have previously argued that meeting the deadline was extremely difficult due to the volume of material and the need to redact sensitive information to protect victims. Critics, however, have accused the department of going too far with redactions and withholding more material than the law allows.
Blanche said the DOJ has released a total of six million pages overall, a volume he compared to “two Eiffel towers.” That claim drew skepticism from Rep. Ro Khanna, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, who questioned both the math and the department’s transparency.
Khanna noted that the DOJ identified more than six million potentially responsive pages but released only about 3.5 million after review and redactions. He said that discrepancy raises serious questions about what is still being withheld.
Khanna said he plans to closely examine whether the department releases specific materials he has been seeking, including FBI victim interview statements, a draft indictment and prosecution memo from a 2007 Florida investigation, and hundreds of thousands of emails and files from Epstein’s computers. He warned that failing to release those materials would only undermine public trust and protect powerful figures tied to the case.
