US to miss deadline to release all Epstein files, Trump official admits
Ghislaine Maxwell helped Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls and was convicted in 2021. (Supplied: US Attorney's Office SDNY)
In short:
As the deadline for the publication of the "Epstein files" looms, the US's deputy attorney-general says they are still being reviewed for release.
Todd Blanche says several hundred thousand Epstein-related documents should be released by the legal deadline, but several hundred thousand more could be a "couple of weeks" away.
Democrats say they are "examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law".
Many of the so-called "Epstein files" will probably not be released in time to meet an approaching legal deadline, one of the Trump administration's top lawyers has told American TV.
The admission has angered Democrats, who say the government has made clear it intends to violate the law.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has until the end of Friday, local time, to publish the long-sought records relating to the late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
But US Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche said the department was still reviewing the documents to ensure victims' private details were not released.
"What we're doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim — their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected," Mr Blanche told Fox News on Friday morning.
"And so, I expect that we're going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.
"So, today, several hundred thousand, and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more."
Earlier, CNN reported that frustration was mounting inside the department as lawyers raced to review the documents. Citing anonymous sources, the network reported some individual lawyers had been tasked with reviewing more than 1,000 documents since late November.
Democrats on Congress's House Oversight Committee, which has been running its own investigation into the Epstein matter, said the justice department was "making clear it intends to defy Congress".
"We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law," the committee's senior Democrats, Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, said in a joint statement.
"The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ".
Neither the department nor the White House has given specific detail about when, how and in what form the documents will be published.
A law to force their release, passed last month, came after a years-long campaign by victims and others who believe powerful associates of Epstein have avoided exposure for their involvement in an alleged sex-trafficking ring.
The legislation, which won almost unanimous backing in Congress, says the published documents must be "downloadable" and "searchable".
Redactions may only be made to protect victim privacy, ongoing investigations or national security. Material depicting abuse can also be withheld. But documents cannot be censored to prevent embarrassment or reputational harm to public figures.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who introduced the legislation, warned that Attorney-General Pam Bondi could face future prosecution if the files were not released in compliance with the law.
If the department held back material, victims and their lawyers would notice, he said.
"Collectively, they know there are at least 20 names of men who are accused of sex crimes in the possession of the FBI," Mr Massie said in an online video on the eve of the deadline.
"So if we get a large production on December 19th and it does not contain a single name of any male who's accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape or any of these things, then we know they haven't produced all the documents."
Many of the government's Epstein-related records are already in the public domain.
The Justice Department released what it called the "first phase" of the Epstein files in February, including flight logs and a redacted contact book, but much of it had been leaked in the past.
In recent weeks, Democrats on Congress's House Oversight Committee have also selectively released material gathered through their investigation. They include several batches of photos, and emails between Epstein and his associates.
Epstein died in jail in 2019, in what was ruled a suicide.
He was awaiting trial for creating a "vast network of underage victims" who he sexually abused almost daily.
Maxwell was later convicted of helping him recruit his victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.