A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release more unredacted records or justify keeping them sealed by July 2, with redacted versions of the files including sensitive interview notes documenting a minor’s uncorroborated sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, a Clinton-appointed judge, issued the order after granting a preliminary injunction sought by independent journalist Katie Phang, who sued Acting Todd Blanche in April. She alleged that the Justice Department failed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed last year when she requested several documents. The law requires the government to make Epstein-related investigative records public while allowing limited redactions to protect victims and other legally protected information.
More than half of the six million files have been made publicly available, with the remaining files withheld because of legal privilege protections or because they are duplicates, according to the Justice Department. But the department has faced growing criticism over the scope of its redactions, with critics arguing it has concealed information that should be public under the law.
In a 48-page memorandum, Sullivan ordered the Justice Department to either disclose less-redacted versions of several key Epstein records or justify the redactions. The documents covered by the order include eight emails with hidden senders or recipients; a 2007 draft federal indictment â with the names of potential co-conspirators redacted â that was never filed; and a 2019 email referencing alleged co-conspirators whose identities were obscured.
Among the redacted records is an email â with the recipient’s identity concealed â in which Epstein wrote that he “loved” a torture video he watched. During the litigation, Blanche suggested the recipient was wealthy Middle Eastern businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
The order also covers FBI records summarizing 2019 interviews with a woman who made allegations involving President Donald Trump. In the FBI’s interview summary, the woman alleged she met Epstein when she was 14 or 15 years old and that he later introduced her to Trump, whom she accused of sexually assaulting her in explicit detail. Those claims are uncorroborated, and the president has denied the allegations. Trump was friends with the late financier in the 1990s and early 2000s but cut ties after a falling-out in the mid-2000s.
The Justice Department is also required to issue a complete log of every redaction made in Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The Justice Department had argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because Phang could have sought the records through the Freedom of Information Act. Sullivan rejected that argument, concluding that FOIA did not provide Phang an “adequate remedy.”
Phang’s lawyers said the department’s previous denial of related FOIA requests showed that FOIA was not an adequate way to obtain the records.
“I have standing to be able to get Todd Blanche to comply with Judge Sullivan’s order, which is now telling him that on or before July 2, he either has to put up or shut up,” Phang said during an appearance on the MeidasTouch network. “He either has to bring forth unredacted files or show cause as to why he should not or cannot do so.”
The ruling also noted that the department itself had previously acknowledged the Epstein Files Transparency Act required broader disclosure than would ordinarily occur through FOIA, including limiting certain exemptions typically available under federal public records law.
Sullivan has become a prominent figure in cases involving Trump and
