Epstein Files | Senate Democrats want to sue Justice Department

(New York) The Democratic leader in the US Senate on Monday urged his colleagues to take legal action against the Justice Department for releasing documents relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in heavily redacted batches.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution that, if passed, would require the Senate to initiate or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the Justice Department to comply with the Epstein Records Transparency Act, signed into law in November, which required the release of the records by last Friday.

“Instead of being transparent, the Trump administration has released only a tiny portion of the records and redacted much of what little it has provided,” Schumer said in a statement. “This is a blatant cover-up. »

In the absence of Republican support, Mr. Schumer’s resolution is largely symbolic, but it allows Democrats to continue their push for disclosure of the records, which Republicans had hoped to have put behind them.

The Justice Department said it plans to release the files in a phased manner by the end of the year. He blamed the delay on the tedious process of hiding victims’ names and other identifying information. So far, the department has given no indication of when the next documents will be released.

This approach angered some plaintiffs and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency law. The documents that were made public, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, and court records, were either already public or heavily redacted, and many of them lacked context.

The tens of thousands of pages of documents made public to date contain few revelations. Some of the most anticipated documents, such as FBI interviews with victims and internal memos informing charging decisions, were not included.

There was also no mention of some influential figures who gravitated toward Epstein, such as Britain’s former Prince Andrew.

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The White House defends itself

On Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department’s decision to release only part of the files before the deadline, saying it was necessary to protect the victims of the fallen financier.

Mr. Blanche promised that the Trump administration would respect its legal obligations. But he stressed that the department was required to tread carefully when it came to releasing thousands of documents that could contain sensitive information.

Mr. Blanche, number two at the Justice Department, also defended the decision to remove from his public website several files related to the case, including a photo showing Mr. Trump, less than a day after their publication.

The missing files, which were available Friday before disappearing Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showed a series of photographs arranged along a sideboard and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Mr. Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell.

Mr Blanche claimed the documents were removed because they also showed Epstein victims. He added that Mr. Trump’s photo and other materials would be republished once changes were made to protect survivors.

“We do not censor information concerning President Trump, or any other person involved with Mr. Epstein, and this story, which is absolutely not based on fact, is completely false,” Mr. Blanche argued on the airwaves of NBC.

Mr. Blanche explained that Mr. Trump called the Epstein affair “a hoax” because “there is a narrative that the Justice Department is hiding and protecting information about him, which is completely false.”

“The Epstein documents have been around for years and years, and you haven’t heard a single Democrat talk about them in the last four years. And yet (…) suddenly, unexpectedly, Senator Schumer suddenly cares about the documents, noticed Mr. Blanche. That’s the hoax. »

Associated Press reporter Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.