DoJ releases 3M pages and 180K images in Epstein Files, raising transparency issues.
Have fun storming the castle.
After a full year of both parties seizing the Epstein Files monkey’s paw, the effort to get full transparency has at last come to a conclusion . at least as defined by Congress. Deputy AG Todd Blanche released the full inventory of material related to Jeffrey Epstein, totaling 3 million pages, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos. That will give internet sleuths plenty of material to peruse, although the redactions mandated by Congress will likely frustrate them:
The files fulfill the DOJ’s obligations under the law Congress passed last year to compel the release, Blache said. It includes 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” he said. “The Department has engaged in an unprecedented and extensive effort to do so.”
The tranche comes more than a month after the Trump administration blew past the Dec. 19 statutory deadline for DOJ to make public all of the materials in its possession related to the federal Epstein investigation.
That’s because the statutory deadline demanded by Congress was absurd, considering the scope of this project. The DoJ could have met that deadline had Congress not also required the investigators to review all of the material and redact any data that could identify the victims. That, however, was never considered a viable option, since the big push for releasing the material came from victims and their families, joined at various times by Republicans and Democrats for political motives of their own.
Inevitably, then, we will soon start to see complaints about redactions in the material and claims that trafficking conspirators are getting protected. The problem with this complaint is that Congress literally required the DoJ to redact the material, which means we are not going to ever get a complete picture.
