Name: Trump official says only part of Epstein files will be released today
Uploaded: 2025-12-19T17:37:19.937Z
Duration: 4 min 51 s
Description: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday (Dec. 19) that only a partial set of the Epstein files will be released on the date mandated by a law signed by President Trump. Aysha Bagchi, a correspondent for USA Today, joins CBS News with more.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday (Dec. 19) that only a partial set of the Epstein files will be released on the date mandated by a law signed by President Trump. Aysha Bagchi, a correspondent for USA Today, joins CBS News with more.

Washington

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that several hundred thousand pages of records from the Jeffrey Epstein files will be released, with additional documents to follow in the coming weeks. This partial release does not comply with a newly enacted law mandating the full release of all Epstein-related files on the specified date.

The Justice Department's files are expected to include a wide range of investigative materials, but officials may withhold certain information to protect classified data, ongoing investigations, and victims' identities. Lawmakers, such as Congressman Thomas Massey, have expressed concerns about the transparency of the process, emphasizing the need for the release of all relevant names and documents to ensure public accountability.

Trump official says only part of Epstein files will be released today

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News this morning that several hundred thousand pages of records from the Epstein files will be released today with more to come in the coming weeks, but the partial release does not abide by the newly signed law requiring a full release today. Yesterday, Democrats released more images they obtained from Epstein's estate showing him with young women. For more on this, we're joined now by Aisha Bagchi. She's the Justice Department correspondent and here to talk about it at USA Today. Aisha, good morning. So, what are we going to see today? I mean, I think everybody, no one seems to really know. So, what are you expecting? That's right. Especially since Todd Blanche's announcement that we're only going to see a partial group, that makes it even less clear what's going to come out today. But we should see a much more expansive array of documents than we've seen before when it comes to earlier drips of Epstein-related materials. The Justice Department should have investigative files that feature witness interviews, investigative trails that might not have resulted in any charges and any grounds to prosecute someone in the Justice Department's determinations. And this goes all the way back to the mid-2000s, when Jeffrey Epstein was first investigated by federal authorities, and a draft indictment involving sex trafficking charges and minors was prepared at that time. So, you can just imagine the trove of documents that the Justice Department should have when you're talking about all the interviews that they conduct. It might involve very small details of witnesses talking about people they saw with Epstein, suspicions that they had. And you should also expect to see photos, so really an array of documents, court materials that also haven't been released before. So that grand jury materials should be included in the full gambit of what the Justice Department has. But given that we've been told this morning that we're only going to see a partial segment of these documents, and given that there are some exceptions for the Justice Department in the law, that we don't really know how the Trump administration is going to use those exceptions. They don't have to include certain classified information. If there's an ongoing investigation, they can redact materials attached to that. And, of course, they're supposed to protect victims' identities, victims' records, child sexual abuse material. So, some of those protections are really important, but we don't know how they'll be used in ways that may allow for release or shield things that the public might have an interest in. All right, so everybody's going to try to make sense of these documents once they are released and they want to know what's been included. Republican Congressman Thomas Massey is one of the sponsors of this bill, as you know, Ayesha, and he's requiring the release of all the files. Here's what he had to say about it. So, if we get a large production on December 19th and it does not contain a single name of any male who's accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape or any of these things, then we know they haven't produced all the documents. It's that simple. So, wow, that is a very high bar. I mean, Thomas Massey is essentially saying that he expects to see high-profile names accused of these heinous crimes, and if he doesn't see at least one, he's going to believe that we have not received and the DOJ is not being transparent with the American people. Yes, he wants the Justice Department to be naming names, to be releasing documents that could make that clear. You know, I think that speaks to the reality that he suspects a lot more was going on when it came to Jeffrey Epstein than the public is aware of. We don't know if that's true or not. It really comes down to what's in the documents and what can be backed up by good investigations. I have talked to lawyers who can get a little concerned about how some things witnesses say might not really merit charges or create enough evidence. But you can see the types of suspicions that are out there, and one reason for that is that so much about Jeffrey Epstein was known going back to almost 20 years ago, and so much of the public feels he wasn't held to account. I've talked to lawyers for Epstein victims who also say that they know a lot that's in the documents the Justice Department has, even though they can't disclose it themselves. They will be able to tell if the Justice Department is including everything or not. So we may hear a lot about whether this is really a full and transparent release. Yeah, I think everybody is going to be waiting with bated breath. Ayesha Bagchi from USA Today, thank you very much for spending some time with us breaking it down. We appreciate it.

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