Division of Justice officers say they’ve taken down “a number of thousand paperwork and media” from its web site containing recordsdata on the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein that “could have inadvertently included victim-identifying info on account of numerous components, together with technical or human error,” in response to a letter filed on the dockets of two federal judges Monday.
The federal government’s replace comes after attorneys for Epstein’s victims requested the judges late Sunday to urgently order that the DOJ web site be taken down due to redaction failures exposing the names or personal information, they mentioned, of “practically 100 particular person survivors whose lives have been turned the other way up by the DOJ’s newest launch.”
The DOJ’s letter — submitted by Jay Clayton, the U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York — additionally notes that the Justice Division has “additional expedited its processes” for responding to Epstein victims’ issues and for eradicating paperwork to be reexamined for extra redactions.
The letter offers no indication that the federal government intends to drag the location offline, however it says they’re persevering with to interact with victims and their counsel to establish and take away supplies, and are “making additional enhancements” to finest tackle victims’ issues whereas additionally complying with the disclosure necessities of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that mandates the discharge of the recordsdata.
“As of the writing of this letter, all paperwork requested by victims or counsel to be eliminated by yesterday night have been eliminated for additional redaction, and the Division is continuous to course of any new requests and to run its personal searches to establish every other paperwork that will require additional redaction,” Clayton wrote. He famous that the DOJ had additionally eliminated a “substantial quantity” of paperwork recognized independently by the division.
Paperwork that have been included within the U.S. Division of Justice launch of the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.
Jon Elswick/AP
Clayton wrote that the DOJ has “iteratively revised its protocols” and has “groups of personnel” monitoring requests by victims and their legal professionals.
The Justice Division is just not “relying solely” on the victims to establish particular paperwork, Clayton mentioned. A group labored by means of the weekend, in response to the letter, operating “supplemental searches to establish missed redactions.”
“The primary 24 hours of engagement on these points, in addition to the Division’s personal inner evaluate of its processes, following the discharge of paperwork on Friday led to vital enhancements to and streamlining of the Division’s processes for addressing sufferer issues,” Clayton wrote.
Three million pages from the DOJ’s recordsdata on Epstein were being released to the general public, Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche mentioned Friday. Blanche mentioned in whole there have been 6 million pages of Epstein paperwork within the DOJ’s recordsdata, however that just about 3 million pages have been being withheld for numerous causes together with the presence of kid sexual abuse materials and the duty to guard victims’ rights.
