The Department of Justice on Friday released more than 3 million pages of material connected to the death and criminal investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including more than 2,000 videos and roughly 180,000 images.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the disclosure brings the Department of Justice into compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation passed by Congress last November that legally required the department to release all related records.
Lawmakers who supported the measure had previously criticized the DOJ for missing a mid-December deadline to make the full release.
Speaking at a press conference Friday morning, Blanche said more than 500 lawyers and staff worked through weekends and holidays to meet the law’s requirements while safeguarding victim information.
He said reviewers examined more than 6 million pages, “two Eiffel Towers of pages”, to determine what could be made public. Documents depicting violence or covered by attorney-client privilege are still being withheld, he said, and the department removed duplicate or unrelated materials.
“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,” Blanche said.
Blanche also pushed back on claims that the DOJ was shielding Donald Trump during the release, even though some materials include sensational and false allegations involving the president and others.
“Through the process, the Department provided clear instructions to reviewers that the redactions were to be limited to the protection of victims and their families,” the DOJ said in a statement.
Justice Department
“Some pornographic images, whether commercial or not, were redacted, given that the Department treated all women in those images as victims. Notable individuals and politicians were not redacted in the release of any files.”
The publication of the Epstein files marks the latest chapter in a political saga that has followed Trump’s second term and drawn bipartisan criticism over his shifting and sometimes contradictory statements on the issue.
During the campaign, Trump amplified conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, a former associate, and promised to make public information about the financier’s crimes and alleged ties to powerful figures, claiming it had been concealed by the government. After returning to the office, however, Trump resisted efforts by lawmakers and supporters to force the release.
“There’s this mantra out there that, oh, you know, the Department of Justice is supposed to protect Donald J. Trump,” Blanche said Friday. “That’s not true. That was never the case. We are always concerned about the victims.” He added that Trump had directed the DOJ to “be as transparent as we can.”
In a separate announcement, Blanche said the DOJ has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen who was shot by two immigration enforcement officers last weekend in Minneapolis.
The probe is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and coordinated with the DOJ’s civil rights division, headed by Harmeet Dhillon. Blanche said the investigation is also being conducted alongside the Department of Homeland Security.
“I don’t want the takeaway to be that there’s some massive civil rights investigation that’s happening; I would describe this as a standard investigation by the FBI, when there’s circumstances like what we saw last Saturday,” Blanche said.
