US Justice Department violates Tranparency Act, heavily redacts 'Epstein Library' before release

The "Full Epstein Library" page also included a disclaimer that "all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims," but warned that the website "may nevertheless contain information that inadvertently includes non-public personally identifiable information or other sensitive content."

The act requires the DOJ to release all the Epstein files in their entirety, with specific allowances for redaction to protect victims, prevent the distribution of child sexual abuse materials, and avoid jeopardizing federal investigations or national security.

However, the act states specifically that "no record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary."

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News earlier on Friday that the department would release hundreds of thousands of documents on Friday, but not the entire cache of files relating to Epstein. He said he expected hundreds of thousands more to be released in the coming weeks as the department reviewed them to protect victims' privacy.

Blanche also claimed that the DOJ discovered information regarding more than 1,200 victims of Epstein's abuse during reviews of the Epstein documents.

One big question before the document release was: How prominently would US President Donald Trump feature in them? He and Epstein were friends and socialized frequently in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump says they had a falling out in the mid-2000s, before Epstein's first conviction in 2008.

Trump's name appeared in flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein's private plane that were included in a first batch of material the Justice Department released in February.

Trump and several of his family members were also listed in an Epstein contact book, which was made public during the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate, who was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offenses in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

Trump has often denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or that he had any knowledge of his crimes when the two socialized in Florida.

Several officials have criticized the release, arguing that the redactions violate the Transparency Act. Author of the bill, Democrat Representative Rho Khanna, said in a CNN interview that "the most important documents are missing."

According to Khanna, he and Republican Representative Thomas Massie specifically drafted the bill to cover two documents: the indictment of Epstein before he received his deal and an 82-page memo on why he should be charged. Neither of those documents was in the release.

Thomas Massie reposted the interview clip on his X account and wrote, "Attorney General Pam Bondi is withholding specific documents that the law required her to release by today."

There were several photos of Clinton, including one of him in a swimming pool with Maxwell and an unidentified person. Others showed Clinton in a hot tub, and another with a young woman sitting on the armrest of his seat with her arm draped around his shoulders, her face redacted. A fourth was a photo of a painting of Clinton in a blue dress hanging in Epstein's New York home.

The release of the Clinton photos could conflict with Justice Department policy not to release material related to ongoing investigations. Trump, a Republican, has ordered the Justice Department to investigate Clinton's ties to Epstein, in what critics viewed as an effort to shift the focus away from his own relationship with Epstein.

Clinton has always denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when the two socialized and traveled together and has said he wishes he had never met Epstein.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Clinton Foundation.