New Epstein files fail to quell outrage as advocates claim documents are being withheld

The release of about 3m Jeffrey Epstein investigative files has failed to quell outrage over justice department officials’ handling of these disclosures, with advocates claiming potentially millions of documents are still being withheld.

Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files by 19 December under The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA). While the justice department did release some documents on that date, last week’s disclosure came nearly six weeks after this deadline.

Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, who served as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, told reporters last week that this disclosure marked “the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act”.

“After submitting the final report to Congress as required under the act and publishing the written justifications for redactions in the Federal Register, the department’s obligations under the act will be completed,” Blanche said.

He also said that while the justice department had found “more than 6m pages being identified as potentially responsive” that was because “we erred on the side of over-collection of materials from various sources to best ensure maximum transparency”.

“The number of responsive pages is significantly smaller than the total number of pages initially collected,” Blanche added. “That’s why I mentioned a moment ago we’re releasing more than 3m pages today and not the 6m pages that we collected.”

The missed deadline and up to 3m files that remain unreleased have prompted criticism and calls for further disclosure to answer how Epstein sexually abused girls with impunity for decades and landed a sweetheart plea deal about 20 years ago that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution.

“The government continues to avoid accountability and has argued that they are not responsible for Epstein’s abuse of hundreds of victims,” said Jennifer Plotkin of Merson Law, which represents more than 30 victims, said. “The release of the files proves the government failed the victims over and over again.”

Dr Ann Olivarius, a women’s rights attorney and founder of law firm McAllister Olivarius, said the disclosures have not lifted the veil on Epstein’s ongoing evasion of justice until his 2019 prosecution.

“We have plenty of files on Epstein’s depravity. What we are missing are the files on his immunity,” she said. “The question isn’t just ‘who was on [Epstein’s] plane?’ but ‘who made the phone call that stopped the 2007 investigation?’

“A disclosure is not complete if it tells us something about the criminal but nothing about the shield.”

Olivarius also pointed to the dramatic difference between how many documents were identified as possibly pertinent versus how many were published.

“The DoJ initially identified over 6m pages of interest, yet we have seen roughly half of that. They claim the rest are duplicates or non-responsive,” Olivarius said. “As an attorney who has spent my career fighting for transparency in cases of systemic abuse, I am suspicious of this. Because the determination of what is responsive is made by the party holding the documents, it is ripe for tactical misuse.”

News website Radar Online, which filed a lawsuit more than eight years ago after the FBI failed to disclosure Epstein files under an April 2017 public records (Foia) request, also said last week’s disclosure was insufficient.

“In addition to the many questionable redactions the public has identified, the DOJ has acknowledged that millions of Epstein records were fully withheld,” a spokesperson for Radar said. “We have asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to send our FOIA case back to the District Court so we directly challenge any efforts to undermine transparency.”

Jennifer Freeman, the Marsh Law Firm attorney representing Maria Farmer, has said these disclosures have been “a mess from the start, filled with missed deadlines and ham-fisted redactions, while exposing the identities of survivors”.

“This fight isn’t over – we won’t allow the federal government to simply dump a couple million documents and wash their hands of one of the largest law enforcement failures in US history,” Freeman said. “At this point, we have more questions than answers. Where is the rest of Maria Farmer’s FBI file? Where are the records of complaints that so many other women made to FBI and how the FBI investigated those complaints? And why is the DoJ hiding the names of perpetrators while exposing survivors?”

Top Democrats, meanwhile, have slammed the handling of these files as Blanche doubled down on the justice department’s work, with him telling ABC News on Sunday: “This review is over.”

“We are witnessing a full blown cover-up,” congressman Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat, said on CNN’s State of the Union.

“They’ve said there are 6m potentially responsive documents there. They’ve only released 3m with more than 10,000 redactions. What about the other 3m files?” said Raskin, who is the ranking member of the House judiciary committee. “We’re just getting the dribs and drabs of information coming out, the stuff that they want us to see.”

The Guardian contacted the DoJ for comment about criticism. A DoJ official said in an email: “This is a tired narrative. Just because you wish something to be true, doesn’t mean it is. This Department produced more than 3.5 million pages in compliance with the law and has disclosed to the public and to Congress what items were not responsive, in accordance with the Act.”

The official also said, “I assume all members of Congress read the actual language before voting on it, but if not, our press release and letter to Congress clearly spells this out.”