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Donald Trump’s justice department was hit with legal threats and scathing outrage after authorities released a limited, heavily redacted trove of Jeffrey Epstein files in an apparent violation of the law mandating the near-complete disclosure of these documents by Friday.
“The justice department’s document dump this afternoon does not comply with Thomas Massie and my Epstein Transparency Act,” Ro Khanna, the California Democratic congressman who co-authored the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by 19 December, said in a video statement.
“It is an incomplete release, with too many redactions. Thomas Massie and I are exploring all options,” he also said, among them possible impeachment of justice department officials, finding them in contempt of Congress.
Khanna also floated the possibility of “referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice”.
“Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago. @RepRoKhannais correct,” Massie, a Kentucky member of Congress and co-author of this legislation, said on X.
“A future [justice department] could convict the current AG and others because the Epstein Files Transparency Act is not like a Congressional Subpoena which expires at the end of each Congress,” Massie said at another point.
Trump’s justice department was required to release all investigative files involving the late financier by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The legislation does allow for records to be withheld or redacted if their disclosure would imperil present criminal investigations, threaten national security or identify Epstein’s victims – but otherwise it mandates disclosure of everything else.
The department’s initial disclosure on Friday afternoon, and subsequent releases throughout the night, did not abide by this requirement. Justice officials recognized as much on Friday morning, pre-empting this apparent slow walk on television. Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer turned deputy attorney general, said the justice department would not release all its files on Friday.
“I expect we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr Epstein,” Blanche said during a Fox News interview.
“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 also said. “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.”
Some new files, including transcripts, were released on Saturday.
Late on Friday, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers slamming Trump’s justice department, including the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, and the FBI director, Kash Patel, for the documents’ lackluster rollout.
“Now the coverup is out in the open. This is far from over. Everyone involved will have to answer for this,” Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said on X. “Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, whole admin. Protecting a bunch of rapists and pedophiles because they have money, power, and connections. Bondi should resign tonight.”
Fellow Democratic congressman Robert Garcia voiced similar sentiments.
“The [justice department] is breaking the law by not releasing the full Epstein files. This is not transparency. This is just more coverup by Donald Trump and Pam Bondi. They need to release all the files, NOW,” the Democratic oversight committee leader said on X.
“The [justice department] has had months and hundreds of agents to put these files together, and yet entire documents are redacted – from the first word to the last. What are they hiding? The American public deserves transparency. Release all the files now!” he also commented.
In a joint statement from House oversight committee Democrats, Garcia and Jamie Raskin said: “Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring …
“We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law,” the statement added.
The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said the release violated both “the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law”.
“Senate Democrats are working to assess the documents that have been released to determine what actions must be taken to hold the Trump administration accountable,” Schumer also said. “We will pursue every option to make sure the truth comes out.”
Trump’s justice department has gone on the defensive over this criticism, insisting on social media that authorities are complying with the law. A justice department account on X pointed to the many photos of Bill Clinton released in the tranche, claiming their disclosure bolstered claims of accountability. (Clinton has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein and expressed regret for previously associating with him.)
“To set the record straight: No Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) were redacted from today’s released Epstein documents. All references to PEPs were disclosed in full. Do you not see Clinton’s face??” a justice department media relations account said on X.
