WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department’s internal watchdog said on Thursday it would investigate how the department complied with a law requiring the release of investigative files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The DOJ’s Office of Inspector General, which operates independently of the department, said it would “evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the act.”
The law, passed in November, required the Justice Department to release nearly all of its files related to sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, a financier who cultivated ties with wealthy and powerful figures, and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The review will likely prolong scrutiny of the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files, an issue that has shadowed Justice Department leadership under President Donald Trump and that the DOJ has appeared eager to move on from after federal prosecutors spent weeks reviewing material. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have criticized the department’s rollout of the files, bemoaning the release of some victims’ identities and redactions in the records that appear to go beyond limited exemptions allowed under the law.
Trump’s dissatisfaction with the issue was one reason he fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi this month.
DOJ officials have argued the Trump administration has been more transparent on the issue than its predecessors, though Trump opposed the release of files until shortly before the act passed the House of Representatives and Senate with bipartisan support. Department officials have said any identification of victims was inadvertent and that lawyers worked on a compressed timetable to review millions of pages of files.
(Reporting by Andrew GoudswardEditing by Rod Nickel)
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