FBI Director Kash Patel has offered up a bizarre reason as to why the Department of Justice has botched the release of the Epstein files.
Asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier on Tuesday if he had any regrets over the way the files had been handled, Patel argued that under President Trump’s leadership, members of his administration were able to produce “the most transparent DOJ and FBI in history.”
“Three other administrations had the opportunity to do this, and we produced everything we legally and lawfully could,” he continued. “We work with our partners in Congress. We follow the statutes and the court orders, and we produce, what, three million-some pages. So I think we got to the result in the right way.”
As for whether the administration could have released the files faster—the first batch was released in December followed by the second and what the DOJ claims is the final tranche on Friday—Patel said he wasn’t sure, “because of numerous court cases, multiple protective orders, multiple court ceilings.”
“Now we’ve produced everything we can while protecting victims’ rights and following the law.”
The Department of Justice was compelled to release the Epstein files by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Despite being legally obligated to release the files, the DOJ has faced significant criticism for its delays, obfuscations, controversial redactions and ultimate failure to release all 6 million pages of files.
In addition, despite Patel’s claims that the Trump administration has produced everything it can while protecting victims, the final batch of Epstein files included dozens of unredacted images of naked young women.
In total, there were roughly 40 unredacted images uploaded in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the DOJ to exclude sexually explicit images and any information that could allow people to identify victims. Seven different people were exposed as a result of the error, according to the New York Times.
The DOJ was also forced to remove thousands of documents on Monday after they had been incorrectly redacted, resulting in the publication of information that identified several victims.
“The Department now has taken down several thousands of documents and media that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information due to various factors, including technical or human error,” the DOJ wrote in a letter to two U.S. District Court judges with the Southern District of New York in response to a demand from survivors that the DOJ’s Epstein files website be taken down as a result of the error.
Amateur sleuths were also able to use Photoshop to undo redactions made in the first round of files, revealing that the DOJ had failed to redact them properly, exposing sensitive information to the entire world.
Despite only releasing just over half of the six million files relating to the Epstein case, the DOJ has announced that it has completed its review of the files and fulfilled its legal obligations.
“We’re releasing more than 3 million pages today, and not the 6 million pages that we collected,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Monday.
“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” he added.
“After submitting the final report to Congress, as required under the Act, and publishing the written justifications for redactions in the Federal Register, the department’s obligations under the Act will be completed.”
