Epstein files chaos as DOJ admits weeks-long delay

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox and Friends that ‘several hundred thousand’ documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files will be released today, and even more will be unsealed in the coming weeks.

‘We’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs, and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein,’ Blanche said.

‘Now, the most important thing that the attorney general has talked about, that director Patel has talked about, is that we protect victims. And so 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 these are protected – is completely protected.’

He added, ‘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, I expect several hundred thousand more.’

Representative Thomas Massive, one of the lead sponsors of the bill to release the Epstein files, published a video on Thursday telling people what to expect from today’s release.

‘The victim’s lawyers have been in contact with me, and collectively they know there are at least 20 names of men who are accused of sex crimes in the possession of the FBI. These would reside in the FD 302 forms,’ Massie said.

‘If we get a large production on December 19, and it does not contain a single name of any male who is accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape, or any of these things, then we know they haven’t produced all the documents. It’s that simple.’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed the Justice Department for not planning to release all of the Epstein files today.

‘The law Congress passed and President Trump signed was clear as can be – the Trump administration had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some,’ Schumer said in a statement to NBC.

‘Failing to do so is breaking the law. This just shows the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, and Pam Bondi are hellbent on hiding the truth.’

The long awaited Jeffrey Epstein files are expected to be released at 3:00 PM today.

A source familiar with the plans told News Nation about the timeline as the Justice Department scrambles to meet the deadline set when Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, 2025.

The tranche will include hundreds of thousands of documents, images, emails and texts, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

But hundreds of thousands more will be released in coming weeks, he said in admitting the DOJ will miss the deadline to fully declassify the files.

The law to release the Epstein files allowed the Justice Department to withhold personal information about the victims as well as any material that would jeopardize an active investigation.

Attorneys in the DOJ’s National Security Division were ordered to review the materials and redact them in preparation for their release, two sources told Reuters.

They have been working on the task since after Thanksgiving holiday and were ordered to prioritize it over other casework.

However, due to the quick turnaround time, some are nervous about potential mistakes and the risk that some identifiable information could remain, the sources said.

Jeffrey Epstein rubbed shoulders with the world’s richest men at a so-called billionaires’ dinner three years after he was convicted of sex crimes.

House Democrats released 68 photographs from Epstein’s estate on Thursday, including images taken at the Edge Group’s annual dinner in 2011.

The event, hosted by literary agent John Brockman’s nonprofit, was attended by some of the tech industry’s most powerful people, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

Donald Trump is set to make an announcement at 1pm ET today.

‘Trump will be announcing more incredible deals that will lower prices of drugs and pharmaceuticals,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.

The president has already announced deals with several drug makers, including AtraZeneca and Pfizer, to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid.

The full Epstein files are set to be released in hours, capping off a year where the convicted child sex offender opened up a vicious battle within the Republican Party and dominated political discourse throughout the country.

Rank-and-file GOP voters wanted full transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, his crimes and his connections to powerful people all around the world.

However, many elected Republicans and President Donald Trump appointees were not as eager to be candid, despite the president promising on the campaign trail that he would release the files.

Women who survived Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes are upset with how Democrats selectively leaked images of the disgraced financier over the last few weeks and gave them little-to-no heads up when more was dropping.

They expressed to the Democratic Women’s Caucus in a video call their distress over the intermittent release of Epstein documents by members of their party on the House Oversight Committee, sources familiar with the call told CNN.

One source said survivors’ lawyers were given a heads-up on Wednesday from Oversight Democrats about the Thursday release after members advocated to provide them with notice.

Donald Trump’s sudden pivot on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files was not an impulsive gamble but a tactical move to end a months-long drama that has consumed the White House and Congress.

The President raged at reporters on Sunday night in Palm Beach as he walked to Air Force One, berating them for asking about the convicted sex offender instead of lowering living costs for Americans.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Trump snapped, blasting ‘fake news like you’ and the ‘terrible reporter’ who dared to raise the subject.

Bill Gates ‘loved’ Jeffrey Epstein, but his former wife Melinda banned him from speaking with the convicted sex offender, explosive text messages allege.

Several messages from the myriad Epstein files released this month have given an insight into the friendship between the disgraced financier and tech tycoon Gates.

Epstein spoke with Gates’ adviser in 2017 about a venture that never materialized – partly because the Microsoft founder’s spouse wanted them to stop speaking.