The procedure for the release of the new document of Epstein is questioned by the lawyer of the former organization
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If the Department of Justice (DOJ) wanted to release all the Jeffrey Epstein-related documents they had on file, they had the power to do so, the assistant US attorney argued.
The DOJ has faced bipartisan criticism for its initial release of heavily redacted Epstein files, which lawmakers say fall short of the requirements of the recently passed law.
“The Department of Justice has all the resources in the world, right? I mean if they want to put 1,000 lawyers on this to review the documents and get them ready for production, they can,” said Sarah Krissoff.
“And it doesn’t look like they did,” he added.
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Sarah Krissoff, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is pictured next to Jeffrey Epstein’s frame. (Fox News; US Department of Justice/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The DOJ 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, explained the main difference between the Epstein Files and the normal rehab process that lawyers face. That discrepancy makes it unclear who would have the final say on the information the DOJ released Friday as the agency tries to comply with requirements set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
That law, passed by Congress last month and signed by President Donald Trump on November 19, gave the DOJ just 30 days to make its Epstein documents public. It included some exceptions to protect the identity of victims.
Despite the thousands of files made public at the end of last week, the DOJ first sparked criticism from some lawmakers and online observers were outraged that the department did not release them simultaneously.
“They are hiding a lot of documents. That would be very helpful in our investigation,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN Monday morning.
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The Justice Department released a trove of Epstein documents on December 19, following President Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Although he continues to question the department’s efforts, Krissoff noted that what the DOJ has asked to be done is very much against the norm of disclosure.
“There is no real way in the law that the public can just access the documents because they are interested in them, right? In this case, the law requires the DOJ to make these things public because many members of Congress are interested in this issue,” said Krissoff.
In the cases he has been a part of, Krissoff said reversals often come from careful negotiations between the prosecution and the defense. Sometimes the conversations went into individual sentences or words.
“This situation is a little different because it’s not clear, you know, who is still working on this in the first group of cases. So, the question is: who in the Department of Justice has reviewed these issues regarding the postponement of the cases here?” Krissoff said.
He said full case files are rarely released to the public beyond what appears in court – and what is available usually serves the purposes of the prosecution. In Epstein’s case, the public interest outweighs any potential blame on Epstein himself. Epstein died in 2019 after being arrested on suspicion of child sex trafficking. His death, ruled a suicide, ended his prosecution and left behind questions about whether he was preparing for illicit sex on his social media.
The images released by the DOJ last week are context-free and do not, by themselves, implicate anyone depicted in them as wrongdoing.
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Former president Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein in photos found in the recently released Epstein files. (Department of Justice)
“A case file usually involves many other people who have not been charged. So, there may be 15 people charged in a drug ring. You only charged one or two people; you don’t want to criticize those other people who have not been charged by releasing information that shows their involvement in this drug ring,” said Krissoff.
“The last thing you want to do is put that neighbor’s information or his name or his statement,” Krissoff said.
He believes that it is dangerous to force the disclosure of an ongoing case just because of the greater public interest and to set a precedent for that to become the norm. In his view, it may interfere with the ongoing investigation of the future that will attract public interest.
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The DOJ said it would continue to release its documents on Epstein. It has not been announced when they expect to resume the release of the Epstein files.
