It is now thought that there are around 5.2 million documents in the Epstein files, five times the initial estimate. The government has already missed the deadline to release them, after a new law required their turnover on December 19. Now, around 400 extra lawyers are being sucked in to help wade through the mammoth task, as the government seeks to make ground on the deficit. Only around 100,000 files were released on the day of the deadline. At that point, authorities said there were about 1 million more documents that needed review, but according to The New York Times, the new figure of 5.2 million is now considered more accurate. Two hundred lawyers from the national security division had already been pulled in for the project, but now they are being told more help is needed. The Justice Department has faced criticism from across party lines, with claims it may have broken the law by missing the deadline. The department says it won’t be done until January 20, stating in its own defense, “We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible.”
Read it at The New York Times
