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WASHINGTON (CN) — The Department of Justice faces a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed Friday over its handling of the “Epstein Files,” records uncovered in the federal government’s prosecution of the late financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Democracy Forward brought the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to order expedited processing of its request.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, slammed the Trump administration for its reversal on campaign promises to unseal wide swaths of the Epstein files in a statement announcing the suit.
“President Trump has repeatedly said he would release the Epstein files, his spokesperson claims his administration is ‘the most transparent in history,’ and yet, they continue to hide from the American people,” Perryman said. “The only thing transparent about the Trump-Vance administration is how clearly they continue to disregard our nation’s laws.”
Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, presided over Trump’s criminal case in Washington over his efforts to sow doubt in the 2020 election and maintain his grip on power.
The case, brought by former special counsel Jack Smith — who is now under investigation by the Office of Special Counsel — was dismissed following the Supreme Court’s landmark immunity ruling in 2024.
Democracy Forward filed several requests related to the Epstein investigation on July 25, specifically seeking senior administration officials’ communications regarding Epstein, including those regarding communications between Trump and Epstein, as well as records of agency review of the Epstein case.
The Trump administration has attempted to distance itself from campaign promises to release the Epstein files after a highly publicized “Phase One” release in February.
That release — where several right-wing influencers were invited to the White House and given a binder of evidence — included previously published pilot logs from the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein’s so-called “black book,” which had also already been released.
A so-called “Evidence List," three pages cataloging material found via searches of Epstein’s New York and U.S. Virgin Island properties, was one of the newly released documents.
Following the release — and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s February statement that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review” — the Trump administration has reversed course.
According to a July 6 memo, the Justice Department determined, after an “exhaustive review” of Epstein’s case via searches of over 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence, that there was no “incriminating client list.”
Trump, in his personal capacity, sued the Wall Street Journal last month in response to an article detailing a bawdy letter Trump supposedly sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday.
In the lawsuit, Trump claims reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo wrongly passed off “as fact” that Trump wrote the 2003 letter, despite not attaching the letter or a supposed drawing, failing to show proof he wrote the letter or explaining how they obtained it.
Trump has moved to depose Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch, but agreed on Monday to postpone the 94-year-old’s appearance amid health concerns until after U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, an Obama appointee, hears arguments regarding the Journal’s forthcoming dismissal motion.
Democracy Forward pushed for a quick ruling to serve the “extraordinary need to inform the public” about the administration’s handling of the Epstein matter, as well as the possibility that Trump may pardon Maxwell in exchange for absolving him from any connection to Epstein’s crimes.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently met with Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking minors, where she reportedly said she did not see Trump involved in any wrongdoing throughout his long-running friendship with Epstein.
According to NBC, the Justice Department is considering releasing transcripts from Maxwell and Blanche’s meetings.
Following the meetings, Maxwell was transferred from a Florida prison to a minimum-security prison in Texas, where the majority of inmates were convicted of nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes.
“Taken together, DOJ may take action with respect to Maxwell’s case in a manner that cannot be altered and that could permanently impact Maxwell’s willingness to publicly disclose information on the government’s handling of the Epstein matter as well as the government’s decisions whether to disclose Epstein-related information,” Democracy Forward wrote.
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