Stunner: DOJ Finds A Million More Epstein Documents – Will Take ‘Weeks’ To Review

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In a stunning development, the embattled Department of Justice chose Christmas Eve to announce it had discovered more than a million more documents with potential links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Already in violation of a legislatively-mandated Dec 19 deadline to release all such files — and facing demands for an audit of its handling of the process — the DOJ says the enormous new tranche of documents will require “weeks” of additional work before they can be posted.  

“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,” the DOJ said. “Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.” The DOJ said the documents come from the Southern District of New York and the FBI. 

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who’s been the Capitol Hill’s leading voice on Epstein-file declassification, indicated the staggering volume of newly-acknowledged documents gives new reason to question the lack of additional prosecutions beyond Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell:

Employing more pointed rhetoric, Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the Trump administration is “openly engaged in a cover-up protecting Epstein’s co-conspirators and the powerful men who abused women and girls.” 

Also on Christmas Eve — and before the million-document “discovery” was announced — a group of 12 senators sent a letter to DOJ Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume demanding an audit of the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files. Beyond pointing to the failure to meet the Dec. 19 deadline, the senators said the huge number of redactions in the released documents have raised “serious questions as to whether the Department is properly applying the limited exceptions for redaction that are permitted under the Act. Any withholding or redaction beyond those specified circumstances is against the law.” Eleven of the 12 signatories were Democrats, with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski the only Republican. 

On Sunday, Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said they were in discussions with other members of Congress about potentially holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt — over the DOJ’s failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act enacted in November. “We only need the House for inherent contempt,” Khanna said on Meet the Press, “and we’re building a bipartisan coalition, and it would fine Pam Bondi for every day that she’s not releasing these documents.” 

Khanna also decried the volume of redactions in the files that have been released. “The redactions were excessive. And even Harvard Law professors who have looked at that have said, you can’t redact internal communications, you can’t redact workforce product, and the courts are going to find that these were excessive.” 

Transparency advocates have been exasperated by the amount of content that’s been redacted — with hundreds and hundreds of pages completely blacked out. However, raising additional questions about the DOJ’s competence, some of the department’s black ink turned out to be see-through, as internet sleuths discovered some of the redacted Epstein files can be read by simply cutting and pasting blacked-out passages into a new document. While they first bloomed on social media, the easily-erasable DOJ redactions have been subsequently reported by The Guardian and New York Times. 

It’s not clear how many documents have been incompetently redacted. While no bombshells have yet been uncovered, the un-redactions may be damning in a different kind of way, as they might demonstrate DOJ is failing to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act’s mandate for maximum disclosure, with redactions only allowed for a narrow set of exceptional circumstances.

For example, one of the documents that’s been cleansed of black-outs and posted to social media is an exhibit from a civil suit against two executors of Epstein’s estate — Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn. Two of the redacted passages read:  

“Between September 2015 and June 2019, Indyke signed (FAC) for over $400,000 made payable to young female models and actresses, including a former Russian model who received over $380,000 through monthly payments of $8,333 made over a period of more than three and a half years until the middle of 2019.”  …

“Defendants also attempted to conceal their criminal sex trafficking and abuse, conduct by paying large sums of money to participant-witnesses, including by paying for their attorneys’ fees and case costs in litigation related to this conduct.”  

It’s not clear why these entire passages would be redacted. Even if there were reasons to hide Indyke’s name, it’s far from clear why the other allegations would be hidden from the public.  

While ZeroHedge readers may differ with Khanna on a long list of issues, he raised some important questions on Meet the Press: 

“I guess the question the American people have even to me, is, is the system so corrupt, is the system so corrupt that Thomas Massie and you defy the odds, pass a bill through a discharge petition, get the Senate, get the president to sign it, and still, these rich and powerful people are being protected. Who has this kind of hold on our government? What are they hiding? Why are they not releasing this?” 

On a lighter note, news that the DOJ is suddenly aware of more than a million additional Epstein documents gave social media users grist for some dark humor: 

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