White House breaks silence on Epstein files as DOJ fails to release entirety of files before deadline
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump
The White House has broken its silence following the Department of Justice's release of the first batch of Epstein files on Friday after failing to meet the deadline to release the documents in full.
President Donald Trump initially signed a bill from Congress on Thursday (November 20) that demanded the release of all the Epstein files, setting a 30-day countdown for the US Justice Department to publish them.
"I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!" he said in a Truth Social post at the time, after initially branding the entire situation as a 'hoax' by the Democrats.
However, by Friday (December 19), the deadline for releasing these documents in full, the Department of Justice was forced to admit it couldn’t complete the request and released only about 300,000 of the total.
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Among these documents are numerous images, files and investigation records, many of which have been heavily redacted to avoid prejudicing the ongoing investigation or identifying the victims of Epstein’s crimes.
Despite the setback, the White House has remained firmly on the DOJ's side, issuing a statement shortly after the documents were made public at around 4pm EST.
In the statement, they lauded the Trump administration as ‘the most transparent in history’ and praised the president’s call for further investigation into Epstein’s Democratic connections.
"By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee's subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.
While the release of a large chunk of documents has been praised, many of Trump’s rivals have taken issue with the DOJ's failure to release everything.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer slammed the Justice Department for ‘releasing just a fraction of the whole body of evidence’ on Epstein, despite being legally mandated to do so.
“Simply releasing a mountain of blacked out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law,” he said in a statement.
“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. 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.”
Meanwhile, Democratic representative for California, Ro Khanna, said on X that the partial release 'failed to comply with the law authored by @RepThomasMassie and me'.
The law approved by Congress required the complete release of the Epstein files to be made public to show complete transparency towards the investigation into the late sex offender’s activity.
It did, however, allow for redactions relating to active investigations and preserving the anonymity of victims.
Yet the redactions in Friday’s release appear to be overly excessive, with one document alone featuring all 119 pages completely blacked out, yet providing no clarification as to why.
This has prompted Democrats to challenge the latest release, with Schumer stating they would ‘not stop until the whole truth comes out.’