New Epstein document release process questioned by ex-federal attorney

The former assistant U.S. attorney argued that if the Justice Department wanted to disclose every document on its record related to Jeffrey Epstein, it had the power to do so.

The Justice Department has faced bipartisan criticism over its initial release of heavily redacted Epstein files, which lawmakers say do not meet the requirements of a recently passed transparency law.

“The Department of Justice has all the resources in the world, right? I mean, if they wanted to put 1,000 lawyers on this to review documents and prepare them for production, they could have done that,” Sarah Krissoff said.

“And it doesn’t look like they did,” she added.

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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Krissoff, who worked as a prosecutor for nearly 14 years in the Southern District of New York, described key differences between the Epstein files and the normal redaction process that lawyers deal with. Those distinctions make it unclear who will have the final say on the information released by the Justice Department on Friday as the agency tried to follow through on requirements set forth in the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

That law, passed by congress last month and signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 19, gave the Justice Department just 30 days to release its documents on Epstein. It included some exceptions to protect the identity of victims.

Despite thousands of files becoming publicly available last weekend, the Justice Department’s first batch drew criticism from some lawmakers and online viewers angry that the department did not release them all at once.

“They are hiding a lot of documents. This will be very helpful in our investigation,” Rep. Suhas Subramaniam, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN on Monday morning.

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The Justice Department released a trove of Epstein documents on December 19, after President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Although she remains skeptical of the department’s efforts, Krissoff noted that what the Justice Department was asked to do goes far beyond disclosure standards.

“There’s no real mechanism in the law that allows the public to access documents because they’re interested in them, right? In this case, this law requires the Department of Justice to release these things because a lot of members of Congress are interested in this issue,” Krissoff said.

In the cases she’s been a part of, Krissoff said the revisions are usually the result of careful negotiations between the prosecution and defense. Sometimes deliberations are etched into individual sentences or words.

“This situation is a little different because it’s not clear, you know, who is still working on this from the original case team. So, the question is: Who at the Department of Justice reviewed these matters in terms of the redactions here?” Krisof said.

Entire case files are rarely released to the public beyond what appears in court files — and what does exist usually serves the narrow purposes of the prosecution, she said. In Epstein’s case, the public’s interests extend far beyond any potential conviction of Epstein himself. Epstein died in 2019 while in custody on suspicion of sex trafficking of minors. His death was a suicide, halting his trial and leaving behind questions about whether he had facilitated illegal sexual encounters for his extensive social network.

The photos published by the Ministry of Justice last week lack context and do not, in and of themselves, indicate that anyone depicted in them was involved in wrongdoing.

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Former President Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein in photos in the newly released Epstein files. (Ministry of Justice)

“The case file often includes the involvement of several other people who have not been charged with crimes. So, there may be 15 people accused in a drug ring. You have only charged one or two people, and you do not want to impugn these other people who have not been charged by publishing information that shows their involvement in this drug ring,” Krissoff said.

“The last thing you want to do is publish that neighbor’s information, name or even statement,” Krissoff said.

She believes there is a danger in forcing disclosure of an ongoing case simply because there is a significant public interest and creating a precedent for it to become a regular occurrence. In its view, this could disrupt future ongoing investigations that attract intense public interest.

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The Justice Department said it will continue to release its documents about Epstein on a periodic basis. She has not announced when she expects to continue releasing the Epstein files.