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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed it has 5.2 million pages of Epstein files remaining for review and needs 400 lawyers from four different department offices to help with the process by the end of January, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.
This is likely to delay the final release of the documents much later than expected beyond the December 19 deadline set by Congress, the document said.
The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Trump administration has ordered the Justice Department to release files related to criminal investigations of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender who was friends with US President Donald Trump in the 1990s, under a transparency law passed by Congress last month.
Together, the Criminal Division, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan are providing 400 attorneys to review the files, the document said, a more precise and potentially much higher number than the department’s previous estimates.
The audit will take place in January, the document adds.
Department leaders are offering telecommuting options and time off rewards as incentives for volunteers, the document said, adding that the assisting attorneys will be expected to devote three to five hours a day to reviewing about 1,000 documents a day.
The DOJ said last week that it had discovered more than a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein.
So far, the announcements have been heavily redacted, frustrating some Republicans and doing little to quell the scandal that threatens the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The legislation, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support, requires all files related to Epstein to be made public, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed. According to the statute, all documents should have been published by December 19, with redactions to protect the victims.
Canadian sex offender and fashion mogul Peter Nygard was among three Canadians named in the latest release of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The documents revealed that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York sought an interview with former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor because of his connection to Nygard. Former U.S. Attorney Joe Moreno explains what, if anything, this could mean for Nygard.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. He said their relationship ended in the mid-2000s and that he was never aware of the financier’s sexual abuse.
In 2008, Epstein was convicted in Florida of soliciting a person under the age of 18 to engage in prostitution. He was indicted by the Department of Justice for sex trafficking in 2019. Epstein was found dead in 2019 in a New York prison, and his death was ruled a suicide.
In a message shared on X last week, the Justice Department said: “We have attorneys working around the clock to review and make legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the volume of material, this process may take several more weeks.”
