Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced Monday that he will introduce a resolution to initiate legal action against the Department of Justice for not releasing all of its files on late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as required by law.
“The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said in a press release posted on X. “Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence that breaks the law.”
Mr. Schumer said he intends to force consideration of his resolution in January, when the Senate reconvenes.
“The American people deserve full transparency, and Senate Democrats will use every tool at our disposal to ensure they get it,” he posted. “This Administration cannot be allowed to hide the truth.”
The Justice Department on Friday posted hundreds of thousands of documents and photos related to various investigations of Epstein, who died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019. But not all of the files were released, some of the documents were heavily redacted and others that had been released were subsequently removed from the agency’s website.
The law, signed last month by President Trump, requires the Justice Department to release of all of its Epstein files.
SEE ALSO: Redactions, missing documents in the government’s Epstein files ignite suspicions of a cover-up
Before the release, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged it would not encompass all of the Justice Department’s documents on the disgraced financier.
“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,” Mr. Blanche said Friday on Fox News. “There’s a lot of eyes looking at these and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim.”
Mr. Schumer condemned the decision, saying that “simply releasing a mountain of blacked-out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law.” He noted the total redaction of 119 pages in one document, demanding explanation.
Speculation has long swirled about movers and shakers who could be mentioned in the files: A disgraced financier, Epstein was known to have socialized with wealthy and power figures, including former British prince Andrew Windsor, former President Bill Clinton and Mr. Trump.
Critics of the files release have said the delays and redactions have occurred for political reasons.
“It’s all about covering up things that, for whatever reason, Donald Trump doesn’t want to go public, either about himself, other members of his family, friends, Jeffrey Epstein or just the social, business, cultural network that he was involved in for at least a decade, if not longer,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
SEE ALSO: House investigators probing Jeffrey Epstein case urged to unseal the Clinton impeachment files
What’s more, the bipartisan duo who spearheaded the passage of the Epstein files law — Reps. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, California Democrat — said they are drafting an “inherent contempt” measure that would fine Attorney General Pam Bondi until she complies with the law in its totality.
The Justice Department restored some of the documents on Sunday, saying they had been removed after a victims’ rights group had raised concerns. One was a drawer full of photos, two of which pictured Mr. Trump with women.
“We learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up. So we pulled that photo down,” Mr. Blanche said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It has nothing to do with President Trump.”
