US authorities have discovered more than a million more documents potentially related to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that they plan to release in the coming days and weeks, officials say.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have informed the Department of Justice (DoJ) about the discovery and turned over the documents for lawyers to review.
“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” the DoJ said on social media on Wednesday.
The department said that given the volume of material, the process could take “a few more weeks”.
The agency said it would “continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files”.
The statement did not specify how the FBI and New York prosecutors came across the additional material.
The news comes after the justice department released thousands of documents last week – some heavily redacted – related to their investigations into Epstein.
The files were released after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act – signed into law by US President Donald Trump – that ordered the agency to share all the documents with the public while protecting victims’ identities.
Many of the documents released last week had names and other information blacked out, including names of people who the FBI appears to cite as possible co-conspirators in the Epstein case.
The justice department has faced criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over the amount of redactions in its files, which the law only permits in the case of protecting victims’ identities and active criminal investigations.
