WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) today requested that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General conduct a comprehensive audit into the DOJ’s failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. While the legislation required the files to be released by December 19, the DOJ has released less than 1% of the documents and records by their own admission.

In the complaint, DDF urges an investigation specifically focused on whether the DOJ is:

• Failing to release or withholding in full responsive documents in violation of the EFTA

• Redacting information that is not permitted to be redacted under the EFTA

• Failing to justify its redactions through publication in the Federal Register

• Selectively releasing files for what appears to be partisan purposes

“Rather than the full transparency this law requires, the Department of Justice has released only a trickle of Epstein files, many heavily redacted with no explanation,”  said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), Executive Chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “What the DOJ has produced falls far short of what the law demands. Survivors and the public deserve a complete and transparent accounting of what information and records are being withheld and the legal basis for withholding it, including a full audit and analysis of the records still being kept from view.”

The complaint also notes the DOJ is required to provide Congress with a full reporting of any documents withheld and the justification, but no such information has been published in the Federal Register.

“Congress has directed that the Department of Justice provide answers. Instead, the Department has continued to deny, deflect, and delay. Democracy Defenders Fund will keep pressing, through our FOIA requests and every other legal tool available, until these records are produced as the law requires. We will not stop until the public gets the truth and accountability to which they are entitled,” said Eisen.

In August, DDF filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s DOJ over the refusal to release the Trump-Epstein files. The lawsuit follows a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests DDF has made to the federal government seeking records from its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The organization is specifically seeking records mentioning President Trump or his Mar-a-Lago residence, as well as communications among top DOJ leaders relating to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, including discussions of how department officials should address references to Donald Trump or Mar-a-Lago in any files. The requests also seek records of any communications between top leadership at DOJ and Bureau of Prisons (BOP) related to the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a cushy prison camp, following her meeting with Trump’s former personal attorney, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

You can read the complaint HERE.

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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.