The Department of Justice is set to miss a congressionally mandated deadline to release all of its files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, raising fresh questions about transparency and compliance with federal law. I am keeping my thumb on the scale, demanding answers, and will provide you updates throughout the day today on all things Epstein. I will not rest until the survivors get justice. Please subscribe to support my work, I cannot do this alone.
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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged Friday morning that the department will not meet the statutory deadline, despite a law requiring full disclosure of non-exempt materials within 30 days. Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Blanche said the DOJ would release “several hundred thousand documents today,” but conceded that the disclosure would be incomplete.
“I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks,” Blanche said. “So today several hundred thousand, and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.” He added that officials were reviewing the materials carefully to ensure victims are protected.
“There’s a lot of eyes looking at these,” Blanche said, “and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim.”
The admission places the White House and the Department of Justice at apparent odds with federal law signed by Donald Trump in November, which explicitly required the wholesale release of all non-exempt Epstein-related records within a 30-day window. The law was passed after bipartisan pressure and a rare successful discharge petition forced leadership to act.
Democratic lawmakers were quick to respond. In a joint statement, House Oversight Ranking Members Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin accused the Trump administration of defying the statute and said they are reviewing “all legal options” to compel compliance.
A spokesperson for Rep. Thomas Massie, the Republican who led the discharge petition effort that ultimately forced the bill’s passage, pointed to a video Massie posted Thursday on Twitter, in which he said he would determine for himself whether the administration had met the law’s disclosure requirements.
Massie also referenced conversations with attorneys representing Epstein’s victims, saying he believes the Federal Bureau of Investigation possesses the names of at least 20 men accused of committing sex crimes in connection with Epstein’s network—names that have not yet been made public.
The uncertainty surrounding what will — and will not — be released is already having consequences. At least one Epstein survivor has publicly expressed alarm, saying the delay has left her worried and fearful that critical information may never come to light.
As additional document releases are now pushed weeks into the future, lawmakers and victims alike are questioning whether the administration is honoring both the letter and the spirit of the law — and whether full accountability will ever be achieved.