The Justice Department’s internal watchdog said on Thursday that it had begun examining whether the agency complied with the law ordering the release of files involving the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The audit will scrutinize how fully the department followed the law passed by Congress last November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, after the agency released nearly three million pages in December and January.
Some lawmakers have accused the Trump administration of failing to publish all the required documents, pointing to a release that turned out to be messy and incomplete, with some key documents missing and redactions unevenly applied. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has denied such accusations, asserting that the department has followed the law.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has paid a steep political price for its handling of the Epstein files, and a number of lawmakers have challenged Mr. Blanche’s claims.
Shortly after taking office last year, top Justice Department officials promised to release the files, then backtracked months later, prompting widespread criticism and the law from Congress forcing them to do so.
Mr. Epstein, a financier who once counted Donald J. Trump as a close friend, hung himself in a federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He had previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting prostitution, and the terms of his deal were widely criticized as being far too lenient for someone accused of molesting dozens of high school girls at his luxury homes.
The decision to begin a review comes two days after Mr. Trump formally nominated Don R. Berthiaume to serve as the Justice Department’s inspector general. The office of the inspector general has faced increasing criticism from lawmakers and whistle-blower lawyers that it has done little to police conduct inside the department during the second Trump administration — a time of unparalleled firings, resignations and demands for career staff members to show loyalty to the president.
In announcing the review, the inspector general’s office said its goal was to evaluate how the Justice Department identified, redacted and released records under the law, and how it handled the concerns of victims and others after the records were published.
It is unclear how long the inspector general’s review will last. Some reviews take months, while the office has often taken years to issue reports on politically sensitive or controversial topics.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
The post Justice Dept. Watchdog Begins Review of Release of Epstein Files appeared first on New York Times.
