Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department’s release of more than 3 million pages from the department’s files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as survivors and lawmakers criticize the disclosure as insufficient and filled with redaction errors.
“We took great pains, as I explained on Friday, to make sure that we protected victims,” Blanche told ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “Every time we hear from a victim or their lawyer that they believe that their name was not properly redacted, we immediately rectify that.”
Blanche said that redaction errors only impact “about .001% of all the materials.”
“We knew this — I said this on Friday — that that, of course, the nature of this type of review was so — the volume of materials that were reviewed, that there would be times when this happened. And so we’re, we’re working hard to make sure that we fix that, and I expect that that will continue,” he said.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Feb. 1, 2026.
ABC News
A group of Epstein survivors issued a statement Friday slamming the latest release, and demanding accountability for others they say either enabled Epstein or have been accused of abuse by victims as well.
“Survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected. That is outrageous,” the group of survivors wrote. “The Justice Department cannot claim it is finished releasing files until every legally required document is released and every abuser and enabler is fully exposed.”
But save for the possibility a judge approves the release of a “small number of [additional] documents,” Blanche said the department’s review of Epstein-related files is “over.”
“This review is, is over. I mean, we reviewed over 6 million pieces of paper, thousands of videos, thousands — tens of thousands of images, and — which is what the statute required us to do,” Blanche said.
The deputy attorney general also criticized lawmakers who were “quick to complain” about the release.
“There is no way they have spent any time looking at the materials we produced. Because I know the materials we produced. We produce them on Friday. By Saturday, they’re already complaining about what we did?” Blanche said.
He reiterated that lawmakers can request to view the unredacted materials, but said he had not received a letter from the co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act asking to do so.
“I didn’t get that letter yet. They leaked it to the press before they actually sent it to me,” Blanche said. “We have nothing to hide. We never did, and our doors are open if they want to come and review any of the materials that we produced.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
