The Department of Justice (DOJ) has told two federal judges that files related to Jeffrey Epstein will be released to the public “in the near term,” according to court filings submitted in New York.
In a joint filing on Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, who serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the department could not provide a firm release date due to an ongoing review process and extensive redactions required to protect the identities of the convicted sex offender’s victims.
The filing was submitted to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman and U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, both of the Southern District of New York.
“The Department currently expects that it will complete these processes with respect to substantially all of the potentially responsive documents, including publication to the Epstein Library website, in the near term,” the filing stated.
However, DOJ officials cautioned that they are “not able to provide a specific date at this time,” citing the scale of the material and the need for “quality control checks and document management system preparations” to ensure that victim-identifying information is not disclosed.
Millions of Pages Under Review
According to the filing, the Justice Department has already reviewed and redacted “several millions of pages” of material drawn from files maintained by the DOJ, the FBI, and relevant U.S. Attorneys’ Offices.
The documents include internal department communications as well as information connected to other investigations.
Those materials are now undergoing a manual review involving hundreds of DOJ employees, working in consultation with victims’ counsel and the victims themselves.
The department said the purpose of that process is to “mitigate and minimize the risk of disclosure of any victim-identifying information,” while still complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Congress passed that law last year, directing the DOJ to release records related to Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The legislation was signed into law by President Donald Trump in November.
Lawmakers Criticize Initial Releases
Epstein-related documents began rolling out in batches on Dec. 19, 2025, prompting sharp criticism from lawmakers who sponsored the transparency legislation.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X that the initial release “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago. @RepRoKhanna is correct. https://t.co/gZQyQBUT4R
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 19, 2025
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and other House members also raised concerns about the pace and scope of the disclosures.
The DOJ has repeatedly responded by pointing to the sheer volume of material requiring review.
“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” the department said last month.
“Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”
Background on the Epstein Case
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.
In 2019, he was charged by the Justice Department with federal sex trafficking crimes but was later found dead in a New York jail cell.
His death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on multiple counts related to child sex trafficking connected to Epstein.
She was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison.
The DOJ has said additional Epstein-related materials will be released once the review and redaction process is complete.
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