Judge Orders Justice Department to Release or Justify Specific Epstein Files by July 2

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the Justice Department on Thursday to release unredacted versions of several Jeffrey Epstein files or explain why it cannot do so. The judge set a compliance deadline of Thursday, July 2.

The documents covered by the order include eight emails with either the sender or recipient blacked out, a draft indictment of Epstein with the names of potential co-conspirators obscured, and a 2019 email that mentions several co-conspirators whose names were redacted.

Sullivan also ordered the Justice Department to release the interview notes behind several FBI documents summarizing unverified allegations against President Trump or explain why it cannot release them. The government must additionally release a log listing every redaction it has made to the Epstein files.

The court order follows a lawsuit filed in April by independent journalist Katie Phang. In a 48-page opinion, Sullivan concluded that Phang had the right to sue over unreleased files and was likely to prevail. He stated that FOIA does not provide an adequate remedy.

The Justice Department argued that Phang cannot sue to force release of the documents because the proper recourse is to file a Freedom of Information Act request. It requested that Sullivan pause any order in Phang's favor for at least seven days, but the judge denied that request.

" Millions of records on Jeffrey Epstein have been made public since December, though the Justice Department has stated that only about half of the 6 million pages it collected would be released.