US justice department says full Epstein file release could take ‘few more weeks’

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The US Department of Justice said that it may take several more weeks to complete the release of documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Congress had ordered published by last Friday.

The department said on Wednesday that it had uncovered “over a million more documents” that could be related to the case and it would need time to review them.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” it said in a statement on the social media platform X.

The DoJ’s partial and heavily redacted disclosures have come in several waves since late on Friday, and have failed to silence critics who have accused the administration of blocking information about the Epstein case.

Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month requiring all materials related to Epstein’s prosecution to be published by December 19.

“Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks,” the DoJ said on Wednesday. “The department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.”

It gave no further details of when or how officials in the DoJ’s Southern District of New York and the FBI had uncovered the additional files, but it said they had now been received by the central justice department.

Earlier on Wednesday, a group of senators had called for an investigation into the DoJ’s compliance with its obligations. Eleven Democratic senators were joined by Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in writing to the DoJ’s acting inspector general.

“Given the administration’s historic hostility to releasing the files, politicisation of the Epstein case more broadly, and failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a neutral assessment of its compliance with the statutory disclosure requirements is essential,” the senators wrote.

Full transparency, they said, “is essential in identifying members of our society who enabled and participated in Epstein’s crimes”.