Epstein files not to be released in entirety, US deputy attorney general says
Todd Blanche was speaking ahead of the legal deadline for the US Department of Justice to release the files on Friday.
Files on disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein will not be released in their entirety before the legal deadline, the US deputy attorney general has said.
Todd Blanche said “several hundred thousand” documents from the so-called “Epstein files” will be released on Friday, but said the need to protect the sex offender’s victims meant thousands more would be released over the coming weeks.
The US Department of Justice are legally obligated to make all files related to the investigation into Epstein public by midnight on Friday following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The paedophile financier was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
US President Donald Trump signed the legislation last month to ensure the release of the files, despite previously resisting disclosure and claiming the issue was a “Democrat hoax”.
Speaking ahead of the release, Mr Blanche told Fox News: “I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today.
“And those documents will come in in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with, with all of the investigations into Mr Epstein.”
Explaining why there may be a delay in releasing all the files, Mr Blanche told the broadcaster: “What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected.
“And so 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 (of) weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”
It remains to be seen whether the files will contain any information on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, whose association with Epstein has led to his downfall from public life.
Andrew has made headlines in recent months after some of his correspondence with Epstein was made public in files released from the Epstein estate via Democrats from the US House Oversight Committee.
It led to the King officially stripping his disgraced brother of both his HRH style and his prince title.
The former duke has for many years faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.
He paid millions to Ms Giuffre, a woman he has claimed never to have met, to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.
Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview, but the publication of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.
US politicians have criticised him for his “silence” after he missed a deadline last month to respond to their request to sit for an interview about Epstein.
Tens of thousands of records relating to Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell have already been released through civil and criminal cases in the US.
