Judge Grants Expedited Processing of FOIA Request for Epstein Files Mentioning Trump or Mar-a-Lago
October 1, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge late Wednesday ordered the Department of Justice to expedite processing of Democracy Defenders Fund’s Freedom of Information Act requests for records concerning Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Donald Trump.
DDF’s FOIA request also included communications among senior DOJ and FBI officials about the administration’s handling of the Epstein files. The court found that the requests involve matters of “widespread and exceptional media interest” raising “possible questions about the government’s integrity that affect public confidence.”
The following is a statement from Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund and counsel in the case:
“We have long said that the public deserves answers about who and what is in the Epstein Files and that what the DOJ has produced so far falls far short of what Congress mandated. Stalling has been the administration’s tactic to keep these files from the public. That stops now. We will hold the DOJ to this court ruling, and we will keep pushing until Americans can see the records with their own eyes and judge the contents of the files for themselves.”
Read the order here.
# # #
Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.
For media inquiries, contact press@democracydefenders.org.
