Ahead of the Christmas holidays, the US Justice Department has asked career prosecutors in Florida to volunteer over the “next several days” to help redact the Epstein files. The DOJ is seeking volunteers as it struggles to release ‘hundreds of thousands’ of documents linked to the Epstein investigation, even after the deadline for it expired on December 19.
According to CNN, a supervising prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida’s US Attorney’s Office emailed the entire district office on Tuesday, announcing an “emergency request.”
“We need AUSAs to do remote document review and redactions related to the Epstein files,” CNN, quoting the DOJ email, reported.
What can and can’t be redacted
According to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the DOJ is allowed to redact personally identifiable information of victims, material that would jeopardize active federal investigations or ongoing prosecutions, classified national defense or foreign policy information and child sexual abuse materials from the documents it should make public.
The law explicitly forbids withholding information based on embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity for any government official or public figure.
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‘Several hundred thousand documents’
Given the massive volume of the Epstein files, the DOJ is struggling to redact the documents, which is also causing the delay in their release.
“We have an obligation to the public to release these documents, and before we can do so, certain redactions must be made to protect the identity of the victims, among other things,” the email said.
On December 19, the DOJ released an initial tranche of nearly 4,000 documents, followed by another 30,000 pages on December 23.
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According to the DOJ, “several hundred thousand” pages are still undergoing review for future release.
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“I am aware that the timing could not be worse,” the US Attorney’s Office leadership wrote in the email “For some, the holidays are about to begin, but I know that for others, the holidays are coming to an end.”
Lawmakers step up pressure
Meanwhile, there is more bad news for the DOJ as Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, who co-sponsored the bill that required the release of the Epstein files, are seeking to initiate contempt of Congress against Attorney General Pam Bondi over the delay.
“Americans deserve the truth. DOJ’s refusal to follow the law … and release the full files is an obstruction of justice. They also need to release the FBI witness interviews, which name other men, so the public can know who was involved. DOJ is spending more time protecting the Epstein class than the survivors, whose names are required by law to be redacted,” Khanna said in a statement.
Khanna and Massie told The New York Post that they are considering legislation that would fine Bondi $5,000 per day in protest of withheld documents, including heavy redactions to already released files.
