It is uncertain if this is end of the road for the Epstein documents release saga.
Blanche said Friday’s drop “marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process” signalling that as far as the US justice department is concerned, it’s job over.
However, Democrats continue to argue that the department has withheld too many documents – possibly around two-and-a-half million – without proper justification.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who spearheaded the Epstein Files Transparency Act alongside Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, said he’s wary.
“The DOJ said it identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review and redactions,” he said.
“This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld. I will be reviewing closely to see if they release what I’ve been pushing for.”
The Department of Justice had been under heavy scrutiny after missing the 19 December deadline to release all files as mandated in the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed Congress and was signed into law in November.
But still, whether this saga is over remains to be seen.
Many – including within Trump’s base – have long believed there was a conspiracy to protect the rich and powerful who were connected to Epstein.
Blanche acknowledged the release of these documents would not satisfy that need for more information. He said the files don’t contain the names of specific men who abused women and that, if the department had those names, the men would be prosecuted.
“I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abused women, unfortunately.”