The Justice Department’s internal watchdog said Thursday it is investigating whether the department complied with a law requiring full disclosure of files tied to Jeffrey Epstein. The audit, handled by the Office of the Inspector General, comes after complaints that the DOJ withheld records in its possession about Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Deputy Inspector General William Blier said the preliminary goal is to assess how the department identifies, redacts and releases records that the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires it to disclose. The watchdog said it will issue a public report once the work is finished.
The inquiry lands after months of criticism from congressional Democrats, who had asked the watchdog to review the department’s handling of the files and whether it was responding to the law. The Epstein Files Transparency Act cleared Congress in November and was meant to force disclosure of department records related to Epstein.
The review also comes after Todd Blanche, 12 days into his tenure as acting attorney general last week, told News the department had already turned over everything. “No, we have released everything,” he said, adding, “We are not sitting on a single piece of paper, nothing that should be released.” Blanche said any material left out was excluded because “it was not responsive to the law.”
That claim now sits directly alongside the watchdog’s audit, which is the clearest sign yet that the fight over the Epstein files is not over. The question is no longer whether the files exist. It is whether the department has released all it is legally required to disclose, and the inspector general’s report is the first official test of that answer.
