A federal judge has ordered theDepartment of Justiceto release additional unredacted records tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender JeffreyEpsteinor explain why some information should remain hidden, marking the latest development in the ongoing fight over public access to the files.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the DOJ until July 2 to either remove several redactions or justify keeping them in place after independent journalist and legal commentator Katie Phang filed a lawsuit in April over the files' redactions and the department's handling of the records in court, according toABC NewsandCBS News.
The judge's order applies to several documents, including eight emails with the identities of senders or recipients blacked out, a draft indictment that omits the names of alleged co-conspirators and FBI interview notes related to unverified allegations against President Donald Trump. Sullivan also directed the DOJ to release a log detailing every redaction made to the files published under theEpstein Files Transparency Act.
The ruling follows months of criticism surrounding the department's rollout of the records. Since December, the DOJ has released millions of pages connected to Epstein. However, lawmakers and survivors have questioned why portions of the files remain heavily redacted or have not been made public at all, according to CBS News.
The department has defended its approach, arguing that some records contain duplicate information, fall outside the scope of the law, are protected by legal privilege or include details that could identify victims. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has stated that the DOJ has complied with the law and said the millions of pages that remain withheld are not relevant to the law's requirements, ABC News reported.
Among the records at issue is an email mentioning a "torture video," which sparked bipartisan questions earlier this year after lawmakers challenged why the recipient's identity had been withheld. Blanche later suggested on social media that the recipient was Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the former CEO of DP World.
In a48-page opinion, Sullivan rejected the DOJ's argument that Phang should instead seek the records under the Freedom of Information Act, finding that she has standing to bring the lawsuit. The judge also denied the department's request to pause the order while it considered an appeal.
Sullivan also sided with the Public Integrity Project, ruling that Phang was harmed by the DOJ's withholding of the records.
"The Court concludes that Ms. Phang satisfies the second part of the test: she is suffering the type of harm–lack of transparency–that Congress sought to prevent by requiring disclosure of the information, and the disclosure of the information that Ms. Phang seeks would help her in her work," the ruling said, according to ABC News.
Phang's attorney, Brendan Ballou, accused the DOJ of trying to protect powerful people and said Thursday's ruling would provide greater transparency for the public and Epstein's survivors.
"The government thought that it could ignore its own law and blow off a judge's order, all for the sake of protecting the very powerful and the very rich," Ballou said in a statement obtained by CBS News. "It didn't work, and now the public will finally get transparency around Jeffrey Epstein and his network."
The Justice Department has not publicly commented on the ruling.
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