The US Justice Department pushed back against claims that it concealed the names of politicians in newly released documents linked to convicted sex offender and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, saying any redactions were required by law and aimed at protecting the privacy of victims.In a statement posted on X, the department said it was not shielding any political figures or sexual predators. “The Justice Department is not redacting the names of any politicians,” it said. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche added: “The only redactions being applied to the documents are those required by law — full stop. Consistent with the statute and applicable laws, we are not redacting the names of individuals or politicians unless they are a victim.” The comments followed criticism of the first batch of Epstein-related files released on Friday under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law requires the publication of all unclassified records connected to Epstein by a set deadline, and any partial release is considered illegal. Furthermore, the initial release ran into numerous technical problems after thousands tried to look into the Epstein files at the same time. The government website crashed, with several still waiting in queues. Those who did gain access reported that many documents were heavily redacted, with large sections blacked out and some pages appearing almost entirely blank.Lawmakers from both parties said the release did not meet expectations. Indian-origin Congressman Ro Khanna, one of the sponsors of the Epstein Transparency law alongside Republican Thomas Massie, said the disclosure failed to comply with its terms. “The DOJ’s document dump of hundreds of thousands of pages failed to comply with the law authored by Rep Thomas Massie and me,” Khanna said in a post on X. He added: “One document, 119 pages of Grand Jury testimony, was completely redacted.”People also questioned whether President Donald Trump was mentioned; some users said searches of the database showed no reference to him. Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen said he was “shocked” to find no mention of Trump. Others claimed they were unable to scroll through documents or encountered blank files.Influencer Harry Sisson shared a video showing documents with what he described as “blank” pages. He claimed: “So Trump’s DOJ just completely removed him and any photos of him with Epstein from the files. We are witnessing one of the most brazen and disgusting cover-ups in American history.”Other users alleged that redactions protected perpetrators rather than victims. One post read: “They did not release the full Epstein files. What they just released is heavily redacted in order to protect the child sex traffickers that they should be prosecuting.”The Justice Department has said the redactions are legally required and are applied consistently. One X user said: “The Justice Department says it used identical redaction rules for everyone in the Epstein files, including politicians, high-profile figures, and government officials, just as it did for victims.”
