Justice Department leaders asked federal prosecutors in Florida to volunteer during the Christmas holiday period to help speed the review and redaction of documents connected to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
An internal email sent Tuesday went to all prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, seeking immediate assistance with what was described as an “emergency request” from the deputy attorney general’s office.
The request asked assistant U.S. attorneys to assist remotely with reviewing and redacting Epstein-related records, which include hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos, emails, and investigative materials.
This outreach signals a renewed push by the Trump administration to comply with a congressional mandate requiring the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related files in federal possession.
That deadline passed last Friday, drawing criticism from transparency advocates and lawmakers after the department acknowledged it had not completed the required redactions in time.
Since then, the Justice Department has continued releasing batches of records. The holiday-week request suggests additional disclosures could be imminent, potentially extending through Christmas and New Year’s.
To encourage participation, DOJ leadership offered volunteer prosecutors compensatory time off at a later date. However, the timing has reportedly frustrated some career attorneys, especially after a year marked by staffing changes, departures, and internal turmoil within the department.
“The timing could not be worse,” leadership wrote in the email.
Hundreds of Justice Department lawyers — including national security specialists — have already been assigned to the effort over the past month, expanding work that was initially handled in limited fashion by the FBI and other agencies.
The latest request appears to broaden the pool of reviewers more than a month after Congress passed the transparency law and President Donald Trump signed it.
Many have criticized the redaction rules as overly cautious or confusing, potentially slowing progress. When documents were first released Friday, many were already public.
However, nearly 30,000 additional records released overnight included new material, such as internal prosecutor emails, investigative subpoenas, and interview records related to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking case.
Justice Department officials maintain that redactions remain necessary to protect victims’ identities and other sensitive information, stressing their obligation to balance transparency with privacy and legal safeguards.
