When the Justice Department dropped its latest and final release of the Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stressed that protecting the women and girls abused by Epstein was a priority for the department. But in the last 24 hours, multiple survivors have criticized the DOJ for once again violating their privacy and demanded that the powerful figures who associated with Epstein be exposed.
“What the Department of Justice has done today is devastating and disgusting,” Brittany Henderson, who represents multiple Epstein survivors, said in a statement to MS NOW. “Through this final release of documents, the Department has flagrantly violated the trust, privacy, and the rights of more victims than perhaps ever before.”
The Justice Department released more than 3 million pages of documents related to the convicted sex offender on Friday, fulfilling, Blanche said, what was required of the department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. What Blanche described as the final release of material came weeks after the Dec. 19 deadline mandated by Congress, by which date the DOJ was to make public all its files related to the late financier — a delay that Blanche attributed to the volume of documents and the DOJ’s interest in protecting the victims’ identities.
“I take umbrage at the suggestion, which is totally false, that the attorney general or this department does not take child exploitation or sex trafficking seriously, or that we somehow do not want to protect victims,” he said at a news conference Friday.
In an initial review of the records, MS NOW found that the DOJ had produced documents revealing first and last names and other identifying details of known Epstein survivors, including a driver’s license with a photo that was not redacted.
“This latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files is being sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose survivors,” said 18 Epstein survivors in a joint statement. “Once again, survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.”
“The Justice Department cannot claim it is finished releasing files until every legally required document is released and every abuser and enabler is fully exposed,” they added.
During document collection, Blanche said the DOJ erred on the side of over-collecting materials, identifying a total of 6 million pages as “potentially responsive” to the law. “The number of responsive pages is significantly smaller than the total number of pages initially collected,” he said. “We’re releasing more than 3 million pages today, and not the 6 million pages that we collected.” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have called on the DOJ to release the entirety of the collected documents. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, said it was “outrageous and incredibly concerning” that the DOJ could potentially “withhold roughly 50% of the Epstein files while claiming to have fully complied with the law.” MS NOW is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from NBC, The Associated Press, CNBC and CBS. Journalists from each newsroom worked together to examine the documents and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Lisa Rubin is MS NOW's senior legal reporter and a former litigator. Recommended
