Jeffrey Epstein: DOJ expects to release some—but not all—files Friday despite legal deadline

A top Department of Justice official on Friday said the department will not release all of its investigative files about the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, but instead will stretch out the release over several weeks.

That plan unveiled by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to partially release the files, for now, seemed to conflict with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which set the deadline for the release of all the files for Friday.

"I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today," Blanche said during an interview on Fox News.

"I expect that we're going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks, so today several hundred thousand, and then over the next couple weeks," Blanche said. "I expect several hundred thousand more."

Blanche said the DOJ is reviewing each file to redact names and identities of Epstein's victims.

"There's a lot of eyes looking at these, and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials that we're producing, that we're protecting every single victim," he said.

CNBC has asked DOJ for comment on Blanche's statement.

The text of the Epstein Files law says: "Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall, subject to subsection (b), 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, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices, that relate to: (1) Jeffrey Epstein including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters. (2) Ghislaine Maxwell."

The files' ordered release comes after months of controversy over the Trump administration's decision to renege on past promises by top law enforcement officials to make the documents and other evidence public.

In November, Congress overwhelmingly voted to compel the DOJ to release the Epstein files, and President Donald Trump signed that legislation.

Trump, who had been friends with Epstein for years before the two men had a falling out in the early 2000s, had called demands to release the files a Democratic "hoax."

But some of the leading voices in favor of making the documents public were his fellow Republicans.

Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has denied having been aware of Epstein's serial sexual abuse of underage girls and young women over the years.

The files set to be released are related to federal investigations of Epstein over many years.

The first of those probes ended in 2008, when he agreed to plead guilty to state charges in Florida related to prostitution of a person under age 18. The deal allowed him to avoid harsher federal charges. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

The 66-year-old Epstein was arrested in July 2019 by federal authorities on child sex trafficking charges.

He killed himself in a Manhattan jail weeks later.

Epstein's former girlfriend, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged the following year with crimes related to recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

Maxwell was convicted at trial in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

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