The US Department of Justice is undertaking a massive legal operation, seeking to bring in hundreds of additional attorneys to review an estimated 5.2 million pages of documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This effort comes after a legal deadline for their release passed with the process incomplete.
A Logistical and Legal Mountain
According to a report from The New York Times, the DOJ is looking to draft as many as 400 extra lawyers to assist in the colossal task. This follows the assignment of over 200 attorneys in late November. Their primary role is to comb through the material, making necessary redactions to protect victims' identities, safeguard national security, and prevent the compromise of any ongoing investigations.
The scale of the undertaking has proven far greater than initially anticipated. The review, which now involves prosecutors from US attorneys' offices in New York and Florida, alongside specialists in national security and criminal cases, is expected to continue until at least 20 January.
The Pressure of the Epstein Files Transparency Act
This mammoth review was triggered by the near-unanimous passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act by both the House and Senate in November. The legislation compelled President Donald Trump to sign it into law, starting a 30-day countdown for the DOJ to release all documents in its possession related to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
The deadline of 19 December arrived, and while the DOJ released a large tranche of files, it was met with criticism for being incomplete, heavily redacted, and lacking context. Complaints came from lawmakers like Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, who championed the Act, and from Epstein's victims seeking justice.
A second batch appeared on 23 December, but on Christmas Eve, the DOJ stated on social media that it had uncovered "over a million more" potentially relevant documents. The department assured the public that lawyers were "working around the clock" to review and redact the files, promising release "as soon as possible" while complying with federal law and President Trump's direction.
Content and Political Fallout
The material released so far has included previously unseen photographs of Epstein with his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as images of notable figures such as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson, and Sir Mick Jagger. Internal FBI emails and copies of Epstein's passports have also been published. It is crucial to note that being mentioned in the files does not indicate wrongdoing.
President Trump features in some photographs and is referenced in a January 2020 internal email from a federal prosecutor, which noted flight records showed he had flown on Epstein's jet "many more times than previously has been reported." Trump has never been accused of any crime related to Epstein and has stated their friendship ended in the early 2000s after an argument.
The president has expressed frustration, calling the focus a "Radical Left Witch Hunt" orchestrated by political enemies to overshadow his policy achievements. This sentiment was echoed amidst reports, including from The Wall Street Journal, detailing past connections between Epstein and services at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.
Further political tension emerged when Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene alleged in an interview that Trump had yelled at her about her support for the files' release, stating he opposed publication because "My friends will get hurt."
