DOJ say it’s making ‘substantial progress’ reviewing additional Epstein files for release

(WASHINGTON) — Justice Department officials said in a letter submitted to two federal judges Thursday that they are making “substantial progress” reviewing items related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — but gave no indication when additional material would be released.

The letter said “over five hundred” federal prosecutors and staff members from the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department’s criminal division are reviewing and redacting millions of pages from the investigations into Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

The review has found “substantial” duplication in various files, so the estimated number of documents is “in flux,” the letter said.

“Due to the scope of this effort, platform operations require around-the-clock attention and technical assistance to resolve inevitable glitches due to the sheer volume of materials,” said the letter, which is signed by Jay Clayton, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Clayton said prosecutors are working with victims and attorneys for victims to redact identifying information, even if, in some cases, that information was previously public.

“Following a process of conferring with victims and victim counsel about this issue, the Department has confirmed that, to the extent any victim requests redaction of personally identifying information of a document in the DOJ Epstein Library, the Department will redact that victim identifying information even if the document is (or was) otherwise available on a public court docket,” the letter said.

The DOJ faced a Dec. 19 deadline for the release of all remaining Epstein files after Congress in November passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act following blowback the Trump administration received seeking the release of materials related to their probe of Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.

Materials released to date include a trove of photographs and court records, including a complaint to the FBI about Epstein that was filed years before he was first investigated for child sex abuse, and documents containing previously unknown details about plans for Epstein’s 2019 arrest — but the files have yet to show evidence of wrongdoing on the part of famous, powerful men, against the expectations of many of those who pushed for the files’ release.