The Justice Department on Tuesday released a third batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, including some that have references to President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department, which is legally required to release the files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, acknowledged the Trump appearances in a post on social media, and said some include “untrue and sensationalist claims.”
“The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the department said in a post on X.
“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” the statement said.
The release comes amid growing concerns from lawmakers and survivors that the department had fallen short of releasing all of its records as required by law.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Monday said he would be introducing a resolution directing the Senate to “initiate legal action against the DOJ” for only releasing some of its records related to Epstein on Friday and Saturday — less than 10,000 of the “hundreds of thousands” of documents that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had promised on Friday, according to an NBC News count.
“The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,” Schumer wrote in a post on X. “Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law.”
Congress passed a bill last month, which Trump signed into law on Nov. 19, that gave Attorney General Pam Bondi 30 days to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice” involving Epstein, “including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters.”
The law allows for some redactions and exceptions, including to protect victims’ identities.
A group of Epstein survivors on Monday posted a letter on Instagram urging lawmakers to intervene.
The “public received a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation. At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm,” the statement said.
The letter said the DOJ “violated the law,” and urged “immediate congressional oversight, including hearings, formal demands for compliance, and legal action, to ensure the Department of Justice fulfills its legal obligations.”
