Two senior House Democrats said they are "examining all legal options" after the Justice Department announced it would release only a portion of the long-sought Jeffrey Epstein files, despite a law requiring their public disclosure.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that the DOJ plans to release "several hundred thousand" documents initially, followed by additional releases the next few weeks. Blanche made the remarks during an interview on Fox News.
"I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents [Friday]," Blanche said. "And then over the next couple of weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more."
Democrats quickly denounced the plan and accused the Trump administration of failing to comply with the law.
"Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring," Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a joint statement.
Blanche said the delay was driven by the sheer volume of material and the need to protect victims. He said DOJ attorneys are reviewing each document to redact identifying information.
"There’s a lot of eyes looking at these," Blanche said. "We want to make sure that when we do produce the materials, we’re protecting every single victim."
Garcia and Raskin rejected that explanation, accusing the department of defying Congress.
"The Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself," they said, adding they are weighing legal action.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also attacked the DOJ, Blanche, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling the partial release "nothing more than a cover-up" and claiming it was designed to protect President Trump.
"The law Congress passed and President Trump signed was clear," Schumer said. "The Trump administration had 30 days to release all the Epstein files, not just some."
It remains unclear whether there would be legal consequences if DOJ fails to meet the deadline, since the department itself would be responsible for enforcing any violations.
Not all Democrats took the same tone.
Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Act, said the release could be a "positive step" if documents are meaningful and a clear timeline is provided.
"They’re producing far more than they’ve given to our Oversight Committee," Khanna said, "but they ultimately must release all of it."
The legislation compelling release of the Epstein files passed Congress overwhelmingly in November and was signed by Trump, despite his objections to the bill.
One Republican also questioned whether a partial release complies with the law. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who helped lead the bipartisan effort, said the statute leaves "no ambiguity" and warned there could be penalties for noncompliance.
Epstein was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died weeks later in a Manhattan jail. His longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.