Justice Department is reviewing 5.2 million pages of Jeffrey Epstein files

[ad_1] WASHINGTON — The Justice Division is scrambling to evaluate about 5.2 million pages associated to the late convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein to adjust to a legislation handed by Congress, a supply aware of the operation instructed NBC Information on Tuesday night time.

That quantity is far greater than beforehand recognized.

DOJ was searching for to enlist roughly 400 workers within the effort to sift via the data, which is anticipated to run from Jan. 5 to Jan. 20, two sources aware of the plan instructed NBC Information.

A Justice Division spokesperson didn't reply to NBC Information' request for remark.

Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche stated Wednesday that attorneys from division's headquarters, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York "are working across the clock via the vacations, together with Christmas and New Years, to evaluate paperwork in compliance with federal legislation."

"It really is an all-hands-on-deck strategy and we’re asking as many attorneys as doable to commit their time to evaluate the paperwork that stay," he wrote on X. "Required redactions to guard victims take time however they won't cease these supplies from being launched. The Lawyer Normal’s and this Administration’s objective is easy: transparency and defending victims."

A bipartisan legislation required the Justice Division to launch the federal authorities's trove of Epstein information by Dec. 19. The New York Occasions reported on the additional paperwork Tuesday night.

The Justice Division stated in an X publish on Dec. 24 that attorneys had been “working across the clock to evaluate and make the legally required redactions to guard victims,” however due to the large quantity of fabric, the method “might take just a few extra weeks.”

The Trump administration has come underneath hearth because it did not launch the entire authorities's data associated to Epstein by the Dec. 19 deadline, which was required by the legislation signed by President Donald Trump. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who spearheaded the laws in Congress, stated earlier this month that they're talking with members of Congress about holding Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi in contempt.

Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., additionally stated final week that he would introduce a decision directing the Senate to “provoke authorized motion in opposition to the DOJ” for releasing solely a few of its data associated to Epstein.

A day later, the Justice Division launched 30,000 extra paperwork — the third batch that was made public — together with an e-mail that claimed that flight logs present Trump flew on Epstein’s airplane a minimum of eight instances within the Nineteen Nineties. The e-mail was from an unnamed assistant U.S. legal professional from the Southern District of New York, however the sender and recipient had been redacted.

In a publish on X, the DOJ stated that among the paperwork contained "unfaithful and sensationalist claims made in opposition to President Trump that had been submitted to the FBI proper earlier than the 2020 election.

After that launch, Khanna wrote on X, ".@RepThomasMassie & I'll proceed to maintain the strain on.After we stated we're bringing contempt, the DOJ is now discovering hundreds of thousands extra paperwork to launch.They should launch the 302 FBI statements & the emails on Epstein’s laptop.The Epstein class should go."

Final Friday, Trump acknowledged that greater than 1,000,000 paperwork probably associated to the Epstein case had been had been turned over to the DOJ by the U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York and the FBI. The president complained that the DOJ "is being compelled to spend all of its time on this Democrat impressed Hoax." He added, "The Radical Left doesn’t need folks speaking about TRUMP & REPUBLICAN SUCCESS, solely a way back lifeless Jeffrey Epstein — Simply one other Witch Hunt!!!"

Trump has not been accused of and has denied any wrongdoing in reference to Epstein. The White Home has stated Trump ended his relationship with Epstein within the early 2000s as a result of Epstein was a “creep.”

Epstein died in jail in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking costs. His confederate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was discovered responsible in New York in 2021 of a number of intercourse trafficking costs for her position within the sexual abuse of underage ladies and is serving a 20-year jail sentence.