The Justice Department will not release all of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison, by its congressionally mandated deadline of Friday, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said.
Appearing on Fox News, Mr. Blanche, the department’s No. 2 official, said that while the Trump administration would release “several hundred thousand documents” related to Mr. Epstein by Friday, officials would make public “several hundred thousand more” in the coming weeks.
“There’s a lot of eyes looking at these, and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing,” Mr. Blanche added, “that we are protecting every single victim.”
The delay meant that the administration would apparently violate a law signed by President Trump in November ordering the complete release of all unclassified materials about Mr. Epstein in the Justice Department’s possession within 30 days, with limited exceptions.
Under the law, the administration may withhold records that identify victims, that include images of child sexual abuse, or are otherwise classified. The legislation also allows the Justice Department to withhold records if they would “jeopardize an active federal investigation.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to investigate ties between Mr. Epstein and prominent Democrats shortly after Mr. Trump directed her to do so last month.
Mr. Blanche, in his interview, said he was aware of the 30-day window, adding that department officials had been “working tirelessly” to review and make public “every single document that we have within the Department of Justice.”
Several members of Congress quickly moved to criticize Mr. Blanche, saying that the department’s partial release of the Epstein files meant it failed to meet its legal obligations.
Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who broke from Mr. Trump to push for the release of the files, voiced his discontent in a social media post, sharing a photo of the law in which he highlighted the language requiring the department to release “all” of its files by Friday.
“Time’s up. Release the files,” Mr. Massie wrote in a follow-up post.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, accused the White House of breaking the law and assailed Mr. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi as being “hellbent on hiding the truth.”
Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California and one of the lawmakers who introduced the Epstein files law, criticized the Trump administration as well, saying it had ample time to prepare for the full release. But Mr. Khanna said that if the Justice Department clarified its timeline to release the rest of the material, it would be “a positive step.”
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.
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