Justice Department says it's releasing 3 million pages from its Jeffrey Epstein files

MANHATTAN (CN) — The Justice Department insists it didn’t shield President Donald Trump in its latest release of investigative files related to infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — who was previously Trump’s personal criminal attorney — announced the department would release an additional 3 million pages of records on Epstein, pursuant to a mandate from Congress.

He claimed no one, not even the president, was spared from their contents.

“We did not protect President Trump,” Blanche said, bucking theories the Justice Department is picking and choosing which files to release. “We didn’t protect or not protect anybody.”

Among the released material are more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, Blanche said. Some were taken by Epstein himself, while others were taken by those around him and found on Epstein’s devices.

All of the files are being posted to the department’s website to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by federal lawmakers last year amid a renewed interest in Epstein’s relationship with Trump.

“There’s a hunger, or a thirst, for information that I don’t think will be satisfied by review of these documents,” Blanche said Friday.

One of the newly released filings outlines what appears to be a list of tips from accusers, in which Trump and former President Bill Clinton were named several times. One tip described an accusation of a young teenage girl being forced to perform oral sex on Trump more than three decades ago and supposedly biting him.

In another, an accuser said she attended eight of Epstein’s “big orgy parties” when she was 16 years old and described numerous rapes at the hands of Epstein and some of the other guests, including the Alexander brothers — a trio of wealthy men currently on trial in Manhattan for sex trafficking young girls. That accuser claimed Bill Clinton and Donald Trump attended those parties as well.

The Justice Department was supposed to release all of its files related to Epstein — as well as those of his right hand, the jailed British ex-socialite Ghislaine Maxwell — by Dec. 19. But that deadline came and went with just a fraction of the files released as required.

Now, the feds say hundreds of its lawyers around the country will review the records to determine what information needs to be redacted, presumably to protect victims and accusers. Blanche said Friday that those litigators came from the Office of the Attorney General, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida, the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of New York and other DOJ offices.

Those lawyers, according to Blanche, “all gave up many hours every single day on top of their other full-time obligations” to ensure the records’ release and victims’ privacy. All women, other than Maxwell, have been redacted from the latest dump of images and videos, Blanche added.

Several lawmakers have already raised questions about the Friday file dump.

“You say all the documents are released. Does that include ALL of the co-conspirator memos, the corporate protection memos, the original Palm Beach Police Department reports, etc.?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on social media, calling out Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Has all the relevant information been released on each of the 10 alleged Epstein co-conspirators?”

Schumer also accused the Justice Department of continuing to withhold filings after claiming it had collected 6 million pages but merely releasing 3 million on Friday.

“Has every document that mentions the word Trump been released?” Schumer added.

The debacle continues to be a thorn in Trump’s side. His close relationship with Epstein reentered the limelight after he won the 2024 presidential election, and his discourse surrounding the late sex criminal continues to draw criticism even from within his own party — namely from Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, a member of the House of Representatives who co-led the Epstein Files Transparency Act with California Democrat Ro Khanna.

Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan prison cell in 2019, around a month after the 66-year-old was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell remains in prison following her own sex trafficking conviction, in which she was found guilty of recruiting underage girls and young women for Epstein to abuse.

She’s currently representing herself in a bid to be released and is reportedly seeking a pardon from Trump.

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