By SEUNG MIN KIM, ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Justice Department said Wednesday that it may need a \u201cfew more weeks\u201d to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying compliance with last Friday\u2019s congressionally mandated deadline.<\/p>\n
The Christmas Eve announcement came hours after a dozen U.S. senators called on the Justice Department\u2019s watchdog to examine its failure to meet the deadline. The group, 11 Democrats and a Republican, told Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume in a letter that victims \u201cdeserve full disclosure\u201d and the \u201cpeace of mind\u201d of an independent audit.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department said in a social media post that federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI \u201chave uncovered over a million more documents\u201d that could be related to the Epstein case \u2014 a stunning 11th hour development after department officials suggested months ago that they had undertaken a comprehensive review that accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.<\/p>\n
In March, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that a \u201ctruckload of evidence\u201d had been delivered to her after she ordered the Justice Department to \u201cdeliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office\u201d \u2014 a directive she said she made after learning from an unidentified source that the FBI in New York was \u201cin possession of thousands of pages of documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
In July, the FBI and Justice Department indicated in an unsigned memo that they had undertaken an \u201cexhaustive review\u201d and had determined that no additional evidence should be released \u2014 an extraordinary about face from the Trump administration, which for months had pledged maximum transparency. The memo did not raise the possibility that additional evidence existed that officials were unaware of or had not reviewed.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s post did not say when the Justice Department was informed of the newly uncovered files.<\/p>\n
In a letter last week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors already had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, though many were copies of material already turned over by the FBI.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department said its lawyers are \u201cworking around the clock\u201d to review the documents and remove victims names and other identifying information as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that requires the government to\u00a0open its files<\/a>\u00a0on Epstein and Maxwell.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will release the documents as soon as possible,\u201d the department said. \u201cDue to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n