The Justice Department will miss a Friday deadline to release all of its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This goes against their promise and a law requiring full disclosure within 30 days, according to deputy attorney General Todd Blanche.Speaking to Fox News on Friday morning, Blanche said the department would release “several hundred thousand documents today”, but confirmed this would only be a partial release. He said more documents are set to be released in the coming weeks.“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,” Blanche said.He added: “There’s a lot of eyes looking at these and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim.”The decision puts the Justice Department at odds with legislation signed into law by US President Donald Trump in November, which mandated the release of all non exempt Epstein-related records within 30 days. The law allows documents to be redacted to protect victims and witnesses, but it does not permit the files to be released in stages. Blanche said the department had been working continuously since the law was signed. “President Trump signed that law 30 days ago,” he told Fox News. “And we have been working tirelessly since that day to make sure that we get every single document that we have within the Department of Justice, review it and get it to the American public.”He added that officials were reviewing “every single piece of paper” before release, including photographs and other materials connected to the Epstein investigations, to ensure victims’ identities and personal details were fully protected. The delay was criticised by lawmakers involved in pushing the legislation through Congress. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said he would judge compliance based on what is released.“If we get a large production on Dec. 19, and it does not contain a single name of any male who is 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,” Massie said. “It’s that simple.”Representative Ro Khanna of California, who worked with Massie on the measure, said partial progress could still be meaningful if the department is transparent. “If DOJ is producing real documents of interest that are not overly redacted, and if they are clear about a timeline for full production then that is a positive step,” he said and added: “They ultimately must release all of it.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the administration of breaking the law. “The law Congress passed and President Trump signed was clear as can be – the Trump administration had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some,” he said. “Failing to do so is breaking the law.”
