U.S. Justice Department to release thousands of Epstein files later, senior official says

The U.S. Justice Department will begin releasing long-awaited documents related to Jeffrey Epstein under new laws, but not all of them will be made public on Friday, a senior official said.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Branch said the department expects to release “hundreds of thousands of pages” initially and then more in the coming weeks.

Friday’s deadline was set by a bill that won near-unanimous support in Congress before being signed into law by President Donald Trump, overriding previous opposition to the release.

The documents relate to the investigation into the late and disgraced sex offender, but it is likely that much of them will be heavily redacted.

“We’re reviewing every piece of paper that we’re going to produce to make sure that every victim — their name, their identity, their story, to the extent that it needs to be protected — is fully protected,” Branch told “Fox & Friends.”

He said the Justice Department would release more material in the coming weeks.

“So, hundreds of thousands today, and then over the next few weeks, I expect hundreds of thousands more,” Branch said.

“There are a lot of people paying attention to these, so we want to make sure that when we produce the materials that we’re producing, we’re protecting every victim.”

Under the Epstein Documents Transparency Act, the Justice Department has until December 19 to release the documents.

The bill specifically says the government must release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the Department of Justice’s possession related to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.

Before the documents were released, House Democrats had released a trove of documents and photos from Epstein’s estate without context.

Lawmakers said they had sorted through 20,000 documents and 95,000 photos of the estate.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said in a press release that most of the documents arrived without context and they have been working to redact potential victims.

The documents and images feature several high-profile figures, including Trump, former US President Bill Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Appearing in photos or documents is not evidence of any wrongdoing, and many of the men in the photos have said they were never involved in Epstein’s illegal activities.