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The Department of Justice’s National Security Division is racing to redact thousands of pages of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a CNN reportCongress mandated documents related to Epstein be released on Friday, Dec. 19 in a bipartisan bill last monthThe Department of Justice declined to comment on the report to CNN

The Department of Justice is reportedly in a rush to redact thousands of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with just hours to go before the Congressionally-mandated deadline to release them on Friday, Dec. 19.

According to CNN, “frustration” is mounting within the DOJ, citing multiple sources familiar with the process. One source told CNN that some attorneys have processed over 1,000 documents each since Thanksgiving week. The attorneys have to make sensitive decisions on legal privacy, protecting Epstein’s victims and other concerns as they decide to redact. 

Complicating matters is that some lawyers at the DOJ’s National Security Division — which is handling the redactions — think they haven’t received clear instructions on how to make the most information available under the law Congress passed, multiple sources told CNN. One source told the outlet that lawyers were given a four-page internal guidance on how to make redactions, and almost every guideline reportedly has an exemption.

Two sources told the outlet that Counterintelligence specialists were asked to drop other assignments to work on processing Epstein files, but some declined.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment to CNN. PEOPLE also reached out to the DOJ.

In November, Congress passed a bipartisan bill calling on the Justice Department to publish “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein” by Dec. 19. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Nov. 19.

The Epstein files will likely include documents from multiple federal law enforcement agencies. One source told CNN that there could be duplicates, which would increase the chances of the same document being redacted in different ways when the cache is released. 

Jeffrey Epstein.

Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty

There is a fear that they could mistakenly release private information, which is what happened when social security numbers and other information were included when over 60,000 pages related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination were released earlier this year. Epstein’s survivors might be particularly concerned, and some told CNN on Dec. 16 that the DOJ did not reach out to them.

“We are kind of going at this in the dark right now,” one survivor, Dani Bensky, told CNN in a joint interview with other survivors. “It’s a little bit tricky because we won’t see the files before they come. We don’t know what time they’re dropping on the 19th. We don’t know.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

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Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have continued to release files related to Epstein, although they are not related to the files the DOJ is working on. They come from a group of over 100,000 documents the Oversight Committee obtained from Epstein’s estate.