The Department of Justice released a new tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday, comprising roughly three million documents, 2,000 videos and about
180,000 images tied to the case. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the collection contains around six million pages, but not all are being made public in this release because of the presence of child sexual abuse material and obligations to protect victims’ rights.’ However, attorneys representing survivors said that the publicly released documents included victims’ names and other identifying information. Attorney Brad Edwards, who has represented Epstein’s victims for nearly 20 years, said that he and his legal partner, Brittany Henderson, began receiving calls from clients soon after the new material was released Friday morning. Edwards told ABC News that his clients have been calling him repeatedly, concerned that their names are now publicly accessible. He said, “Their names, despite them never coming forward, being completely unknown to the public, have all just been released for public consumption.” He added, “It's literally thousands of mistakes.” Edwards and Henderson quickly started identifying documents containing victims’ names for removal, but they said the sheer volume of material made the task nearly impossible. “The solution is to take it down for now,” Edwards told ABC News, calling for a temporary pause on the online release until proper protections for the victims can be put in place. He said, “The easy job would be for the DOJ to type in all the victims' names, hit redact like they promised to do, then release them.” On January 15, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a letter that the DOJ has made “substantial progress” on the Epstein files, noting that hundreds of staff are working toward their release and coordinating through daily calls. She also acknowledged “glitches” that had delayed the release of the files last month, writing, “The Department has made substantial progress and remains focused on releasing materials under the [Epstein Files Transparency Act] promptly while protecting victim privacy.” However, following today’s release, victims issued a joint statement, reported by independent journalist Aaron Parnas, calling for the names of “every abuser and enabler” to be fully exposed. The statement writes, “This latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files is being sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose survivors. Once again, survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.” “We look forward to hearing from Attorney General Pam Bondi on February 11,” they further added.
