Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday after top department officials signaled they would not meet the legal deadline to release all records related to Jeffrey Epstein, calling the move a clear violation of federal law.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed to Fox News that the DOJ would publish “several hundred thousand documents” related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, but that a significant portion of materials would be held back and released in the coming weeks instead of by today’s statutory deadline. Blanche added that he expects “that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”
Blanche said redactions are necessary to protect the privacy and identities of survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes, as well as potentially sensitive information. “Now, the most important thing that the attorney general has talked about, that [FBI Director Kash] 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 it needs to be protected, is completely protected,” Blanche stated.
However, this incremental approach caused Schumer’s office to put out a statement sharply criticizing the decision, stating, “This just shows the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi are hellbent on hiding the truth. Senate Democrats are working closely with attorneys for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and with outside legal experts to assess what documents are being withheld and what is being covered up by Pam Bondi. We will not stop until the whole truth comes out.”
Schumer’s criticism adds heft to a broader bipartisan rebuke from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Ro Khanna, a co-sponsor of the Transparency Act, said the DOJ must provide a “clear timeline” for the full release of all materials, adding that “They have had months to prepare for this, and they have continually rejected our offer to meet with them about this or to meet with survivor’s lawyers about the logistics.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress and signed by President Trump on November 19, 2025, mandates that the Justice Department make publicly available all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in its possession related to Epstein and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of enactment.
Rep. Thomas Massie, another co-sponsor and a long-time critic of Trump’s within his own party, warned that legal consequences could follow if officials do not produce the remainder of the files, posting a screenshot of the law highlighting where it says, “Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of the Act,” and the word “all.”
