The Daily Populous Saturday December 20th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by LucidMarshmellow

US justice department will not release all Epstein files by Friday deadline, official says

14 hours ago Share Save Sakshi Venkatraman Share Save

Watch: "It's finally happening" - Trump supporters on the potential release of the Epstein files

The US justice department will begin releasing long-awaited files related to Jeffrey Epstein as mandated by a new law, though not all documents would be made public on Friday, a top official says. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department expects to publish "several hundred thousand pages" initially, followed by more over the coming weeks. The Friday deadline was mandated by a bill that got near-unanimous support in Congress, and was later signed into law by US President Donald Trump after he reversed his earlier opposition to the release. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has said not releasing all the files before the deadline amounts to breaking the law.

The files relate to investigations into the disgraced late sex offender, but it is likely that much of the content will be heavily redacted. "We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce making sure every victim - their name, their identity, their story, to the extent that it needs to be protected - is completely protected," Blanche told Fox & Friends. He said that the justice department will release more material in the coming weeks. "So, today, several hundred thousand, and then over the next couple of weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more," Blanche said. "There's a lot of eyes looking at these, so we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials that we're producing, we're protecting every single victim." Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the DOJ was given until 19 December to release the files. The bill specifically mentions that the government must release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein. Democratic leaders say any delay by the DOJ is illegal. "The Trump administration had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some. Failing to do so is breaking the law," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. He said Democratic senators were currently working with lawyers for Epstein's victims as well as outside counsel to determine what was being released and what was being "covered up" by the DOJ. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who joined hands with Democrat Ro Khanna to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, posted an image of the law on X and highlighted the language that stipulated that "all" of the files had to be released within 30 days. Khanna called for a full timeline for the release of documents before the deadline.

BoogieWaters on December 19th, 2025 at 18:42 UTC »

Just some context here. This is unprecedented and has never happened before in US history. A congressional bill was voted into law and signed by the President of the United States on this sole disclosure, and the US Justice Department has refused to meet their legal requirement outlined by this law.

Tballz9 on December 19th, 2025 at 17:48 UTC »

Of course, they are under a congressional order to release everything today, and not doing so is illegal. What a surprise from this administration. It would be amazing for Congress to actually do something about that, but they went home for the holidays.

Simburgure on December 19th, 2025 at 17:47 UTC »

The cover-up is more obvious than the crime at this point.