Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that none of the documents released in the latest Jeffrey Epstein file drop were redacted or withheld for national security or foreign policy reasons.
The Justice Department will release more than 3 million pages of records tied to the late financier’s investigations.
Blanche outlined the scope of the release, which included more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images stemming from federal investigations into Epstein and his associates.
The disclosures are part of the government’s effort to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law passed by Congress last year and signed by President Donald Trump that requires the agency make public records related to Epstein’s criminal conduct and the government’s handling of the case.
“Although the act allows for withholding for items necessary to keep secrets in the interest of national security or foreign policy, no files are being withheld or redacted on that basis,” Blanche said.
He later added that, “there’s not some tranche of super secret documents about Jeffrey Epstein that we’re withholding.”
Blanche said redactions were only made to comply with legal protections, including protecting the privacy of victims, safeguarding ongoing investigations, and removing explicit content related to child abuse.
He said that DOJ lawyers, supported by hundreds of reviewers, spent weeks combing through more than 6 million records, which he compared to “two Eiffel Towers,” to determine what could be released publicly.
Under the law, sensitive information such as personally identifiable data about victims, medical records, and explicit material that could violate federal law must be withheld.
In some cases, the department removed women from images and videos — with the exception of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted associate — to avoid exposing possible victims.
Blanche pushed back against critics who accused the department of shielding names or information, including the president within the files.
“There is this mantra out there that … the Department of Justice is supposed to protect Donald J. Trump,” Blanche said. “That was never the case. We are always concerned about the victims.”
Blanche said the massive scale of the records required extraordinary effort to review for public access.
In a news release from the DOJ, there is a disclaimer that there may be “fake or falsely submitted” documents included that were sent to the FBI. The documents were included to comply with the transparency requirements.
DOJ TO RELEASE 3.5 MILLION NEW EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS AND 2,000 VIDEOS
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the release said. “To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
All of the Epstein files can be accessed on the DOJ’s website.