Top Justice Department leaders mentioned in a court docket submitting Tuesday they anticipate to release the division’s Jeffrey Epstein-related files “in the near term.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton informed two federal judges the division couldn’t “provide a specific date” for when it will full its evaluation of the files.
The replace comes because the Justice Department faces monumental stress to release all of its files after Congress handed a legislation in November – with near-unanimous assist – giving the division a December 19, 2025, deadline to achieve this. Epstein, the convicted intercourse offender who was accused of abusing dozens of underage girls, died by suicide in 2019.
The submitting, a letter despatched to Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer within the Southern District of New York, is the most recent replace from the Justice Department because it continues to evaluation and release supplies.
The officials wrote within the letter that “the Department has reviewed millions of pages of materials” together with video and audio recordings and has made “substantial progress” in figuring out paperwork and completing redactions to shield victims.
“The Department is not able to provide a specific date at this time and cautions that its ongoing processes, including its quality control checks and document management system preparations, may require additional efforts to ensure the protection of victim identifying information while complying with the broad demands of the Act,” the letter mentioned.
The letter mentioned DOJ efforts have included “manual review by hundreds of Department attorneys, agents and others” who’ve “dedicated days and weeks” to the hassle. NCS previously reported on the division’s scramble to evaluation paperwork, asking for profession prosecutors in Florida to volunteer over the winter holidays to assist redact the paperwork.
The files are made up of papers, movies, images and audio files that dwell inside the FBI’s essential digital case administration system and largely originate from the FBI’s two main investigations into Epstein, in Florida and New York, spanning many years. A July 2025 FBI memo mentioned that the division had uncovered “more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence” throughout a evaluation of the investigative supplies.
The Justice Department earlier this month mentioned it had released 12,285 documents — lower than 1% — of its Epstein-related files, with greater than 2 million paperwork nonetheless in evaluation.
A NCS poll conducted by SSRS between January 9-12 discovered that few Americans are glad with the quantity of proof launched within the Epstein case, with most saying they imagine the federal government is deliberately holding again data.
A two-thirds majority of Americans mentioned the federal authorities is deliberately holding again some details about the Epstein case that needs to be launched, whereas simply 16% mentioned the federal government is making an effort to release all data potential. The the rest mentioned they haven’t heard sufficient concerning the case to say.