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DOJ refuses to release Epstein files after judge's order

journalismJul 8, 2026599,809

The Department of Justice refused to turn over redacted investigative files connected to Jeffrey Epstein after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the documents released or an explanation for withholding. Hours before the court deadline, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward asked Sullivan to delay compliance for two months or dissolve the order by accepting the DOJ’s justification. The suit that prompted the order was brought by journalist Katie Phang against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last year. Woodward told the judge the DOJ is “committed to transparency and compliance” but “strongly disagrees” with the order and does not believe it violated the statute. The department said handwritten investigator notes are duplicative of typewritten reports, that redactions are necessary to protect survivors’ personally identifiable information, and that investigators could not locate an unredacted version of a 2007 draft indictment. The DOJ initially said it intends to appeal Sullivan’s ruling, and a departmental spokesperson earlier called the judge’s interpretation “perverse,” saying it would force disclosure of victim names.

Oversight Dems
@oversightdemocrats.bsky.social

It’s been 200 days since Trump’s DOJ was supposed to release all of the Epstein Files. And half of them are still missing. Oversight Dems won’t stop fighting to release the files and end the White House cover-up.

31645d ago
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