The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this Friday (30) the publication of around 3 million pages and thousands of documents related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sex trafficking of minors, and stated that none of the 180,000 new images were censored.
Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, announced in Washington the new round of publications in line with the obligations of the law that requires the publication of all federal documents related to the case of the late millionaire, who had connections with President Donald Trump and other personalities, such as former president Bill Clinton – both were not accused of any crime related to Epstein.
Blanche said that these new documents will lead the DOJ to comply with the law, approved by Congress, so that the population knows the details of Epstein’s crimes, convicted of paying for sex with a minor and who committed suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on more serious charges of trafficking minors.
“We will produce more than 3 million pages, including 2,000 videos and 180,000 images in total, which means that the department will have produced approximately 3.5 million pages in compliance with the law,” Blanche announced at a press conference.
The publication comes after months of mutual accusations between the government and Congress for the slowness and opaqueness of the documents to preserve details and names in years of records and legal documentation about the Epstein case.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act set December 19 as the deadline for publishing all documents related to the New York financier, but full disclosure did not occur on that date.
Blanche acknowledged that, after the new publication, “some documents” will remain out of the public domain, but always in accordance with the law, which allows documents that expose victims’ personal and private information to be kept secret, as well as child pornography images that show death or physical abuse or files linked to an active judicial investigation.
“While the law allows for the preservation of documents necessary for national security or foreign affairs, no files will be classified or redacted accordingly,” Blanche said.
For decades, Epstein maintained friendly relationships with former agents and high-ranking officials and was involved in intelligence or influence activities.
The Trump administration and the Justice Department have faced tensions with congressmen since, in February last year, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was reviewing Epstein’s “client list.”
Since then, Congress has revealed documents belonging to Epstein’s heirs, including some that suggested a friendly relationship with Trump from the 1980s to the mid-2000s, but the Republican denied these ties and pointed to the financier’s friendship with figures in the Democratic circle.
“It’s not true that we protect President Trump. We don’t protect anyone. There is a thirst for information about this case that is not satisfied by the publication of the documents. I can’t do anything about it,” commented the deputy prosecutor.
