Dec. 31 (UPI) — The Department of Justice is reviewing 5.2 million more pages of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which are to be made public in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The DOJ said it is assigning 400 attorneys to go through the files to review them and make required redactions before they are made available to the general public, NBC News reported. The review likely will run from Monday through Jan. 20.
“It is truly an all-hands-on-deck approach, and we’re asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday in a post on X.
“Required redactions to protect victims take time, but they will not stop these materials from being released,” Blanche said. “The attorney general’s and this administration’s goal is simple: transparency and protecting victims.”
The DOJ is assigning its attorneys and those from the FBI, the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York to review the files ahead of their release, according to The Hill.
Three batches of files totaling hundreds of thousands of pages have been released and can be searched and downloaded online at the DOJ’s Epstein Library.
The DOJ cautions library visitors that some of the contents contain descriptions of sexual assault and might not be appropriate for everyone.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the DOJ to make all files in the federal case against financier Jeffrey Epstein publicly available no later than Dec. 19, but the volume of materials and the need to review each for content and redactions delayed the full posting.
DOJ officials on Dec. 24 announced its attorneys were “working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims,” but the number of files was underestimated.
The resulting delay is further complicated by the discovery of the 5.2 million files yet to be reviewed and redacted.
Delays in posting all files by the federally required deadline have Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., considering holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt.
Khanna and Massie co-sponsored the bill that became the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Epstein was a convicted sex offender who hung himself while jailed in Manhattan and awaiting trial on federal charges accusing him of the sex trafficking of minors.
His assistant and former longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on related federal charges in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.
She was convicted of sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity and three counts of conspiracy.
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