The U.S. Justice Department has revealed that it still has 5.2 million pages of Epstein documents to review and needs 400 lawyers from four different department offices to complete the process by the end of January, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.
That is likely to push the final release of the documents much later than expected, past the December 19 deadline set by Congress, the document said.
The Trump administration has ordered the Justice Department to release documents related to the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender who was friends with U.S. President Donald Trump in the 1990s, in accordance with a transparency law that Congress passed last month.
The Criminal Division, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan have collectively provided 400 lawyers to review the documents, the document said, a more precise and potentially much higher figure than the department’s previous estimates. The review will take place between Jan. 5 and 23, it added.
Department leaders are offering telecommuting options and time off as incentives for volunteers, the document said, adding that lawyers who help are expected to devote three to five hours a day to reviewing about 1,000 documents a day.
The Justice Department said last week that it had uncovered more than a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein.
The documents released so far have been heavily redacted, frustrating some Republicans and doing little to calm the scandal that threatens the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The law, which passed Congress with broad bipartisan support, requires all of Epstein’s documents to be made public, despite months of Trump’s efforts to keep them under seal. By statute, all documents were due by Dec. 19, with redactions to protect victims. Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. He said their relationship ended in the mid-2000s and that he was never aware of the financier’s sexual abuse.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of pimping a minor for prostitution. The Justice Department charged him in 2019 with trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Epstein was found dead in a New York City jail in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide.
