Dems: DOJ breaking law by not releasing all Epstein files by deadline

by · UPI

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- House Democrats said they're looking into legal options after U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would release some but not all of the files related to its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, missing a congressional deadline.

Blanche, in an appearance on Fox News Friday morning, said the department will release the remaining files "over the next couple of weeks," citing the length of time it has taken for officials to go through each document and redact the names of victims.

"I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today," he said.

"There's a lot of eyes looking at these, and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials that we're producing, that we're protecting every single victim."

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President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress in November. The law gave the Justice Department 30 days to make the records "publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format."

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democratic on the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the Justice Department was in violation of federal law by not releasing all documents Friday. In a statement, they accused the Trump administration of covering up facts about the case.

"Courts around the country have repeatedly intervened when this administration has broken the law," they said in a joint statement.

"We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law. The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ."

Both chambers of Congress were nearly unanimous in supporting the bill -- all but Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., voted in favor of it and five didn't vote. The bill allowed for the Justice Department to redact the names of victims or information that would hinder active federal investigations. A summary of redactions, including the legal basis, must be provided to Congress.

Earlier in November, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released some documents, which included emails between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped Epstein sex traffic girls.

While at least one of the references is somewhat cryptic in its reference to Trump, others more openly appear to discuss what the president knew about Epstein's scheme to bring women and underage girls to his private island for his friends to sexually abuse.

The committee released more documents Thursday evening, this time 68 photos from Epstein's private island estate.

Among the high-profile people seen in photos with Epstein were Trump, Republican strategist Steve Bannon, former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and filmmaker Woody Allen. All have denied wrongdoing and none has been charged.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan prison while awaiting trial.

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