DOJ says lawyers working 'around the clock' to prep Epstein files for release after missed deadline
Officials with the Attorney General's Office said Wednesday they are working relentlessly over the holidays to review and redact troves of documents in the Epstein files, prior to their mandated public release.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche released a statement on X noting Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers from Main Justice, FBI, SDFL and SDNY are "working around the clock" through Christmas and New Years to review documents, ensuring sensitive victim information is redacted from the impending release.
"It truly is an all-hands-on-deck approach and we're asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain," Blanche wrote in the post. "Required redactions to protect victims take time but they will not stop these materials from being released."
Blanche's update comes amid recent threats of legal action after the department missed the Epstein Files Transparency Act's Dec. 19 deadline to publish all of its documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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He previously argued there was "well-settled law" supporting the missed deadline, as other legal requirements in the bill must be met prior to release, including redacting victim-identifying information.
"The Attorney General’s and this Administration’s goal is simple: transparency and protecting victims," Blanche wrote Wednesday.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed Nov. 19 by President Donald Trump, required the DOJ to withhold information that could identify potential victims or compromise ongoing investigations or litigation.
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It also allowed officials to exclude material deemed sensitive to national defense or foreign policy.
While it remains unclear how many files still need to be reviewed, the DOJ last week confirmed the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York recently submitted more than 1 million additional pages of potentially responsive documents related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases.
Officials said the "mass volume" of material could take weeks to examine, further delaying their release, which was promised by Blanche on a "rolling basis," Fox News Digital previously reported.
Fox News Digital's Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.