A high-level Trump administration official said only a portion of the remaining Epstein files will be released by the Department of Justice on Friday, defying the deadline set by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News on Friday that the DOJ will release a partial batch with more to come over the next few weeks, instead of releasing all remaining files within the 30-day deadline.
He said the DOJ would release “several hundred thousand” documents on Friday, the deadline day. “And then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more,” he continued.
In separate statements Friday, senior Democrats blasted the decision to not release all the files.
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“Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Friday.
They added: “We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law. The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also blasted the administration for the delay.
“If the administration withholds some documents unlawfully, we will know. If they abuse narrow exemptions to hide the truth, we will know. And there will be serious legal and political consequences,” Schumer said in a statement Friday morning. “So, Donald Trump, release the Epstein files. Stop hiding, stop delaying, come clean with the American people. And if you don’t, the question will only get louder and louder and louder. Trump, what the hell are you trying to hide?
Blanche said it’s taking time for officials to redact victims’ names and information from the files.
“Those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein,” Blanche told Fox News.
It’s unclear whether there will be efforts by Congress to legally force the immediate release of all the files. But some lawmakers made preemptive statements about following the law.
Rep. Thomas Massie said in a video that “this is a law, not a subpoena.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday that it was his expectation, based on conversations he’d had with other Democrats, that the DOJ would comply with the law.
“But if the Department of Justice does not comply with what is federal law at this point, there will be strong bipartisan pushback,” Jeffries added.
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