Dec 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department revealed it has 5.2 million pages of Epstein files left to review and needs 400 lawyers from four different department offices to help with the process through late January, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.
This is likely to extend the final release of the documents to much later than expected after a December 19 deadline set by Congress, the document said.
The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The Trump administration ordered the Justice Department to release the files tied to criminal probes of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, who was friends with U.S. President Donald Trump in the 1990s, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress last month.
Collectively, the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the FBI and the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan are providing 400 attorneys to review the files, the document said, a more precise, and potentially much larger, figure than previous estimates from the department.
The review will occur between January 5-23, the document added.
Department leaders are offering telework options and time off awards as incentives for volunteers, the document said, adding that lawyers who assist will be expected to devote three to five hours a day to review about 1,000 documents a day.
The DOJ said last week it had uncovered more than a million additional documents potentially linked to Epstein.
So far, the disclosures have been heavily redacted, frustrating some Republicans and doing little to quell a scandal that threatens the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The law, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support, requires all Epstein-related files to be made public, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed. Under the statute, all documents were to be released by December 19, with redactions to protect victims.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. He has said their association ended in the mid-2000s and that he was never aware of the financier’s sexual abuse.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. The Justice Department charged him with sex trafficking in 2019. Epstein was found dead in 2019 in a New York jail and his death was ruled a suicide.
In a message shared on X last week, the Justice Department said, “We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, Anusha Shah in Bengaluru: Additional reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru: Editing by Neil Fullick)
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