Justice Department watchdog to investigate handling of Epstein files
By Holmes Lybrand, CNN
(CNN) — The Justice Department’s internal watchdog is launching an investigation into the DOJ’s production of files and documents related to Jeffrey Epstein as controversy continues over the handling of the case of the convicted sex offender.
The Inspector General will focus on “the DOJ’s identification, collection, and production of responsive material,” it said in a statement Thursday, as well as “processes for redacting and withholding material” and how the Justice Department addressed issues following the release of Epstein documents.
The vast files collected throughout investigations related to Epstein were ordered to be released by Congress in a law that passed late last year. Some members of Congress have ridiculed the Justice Department for over-redactions and tracking their searches as they went through unredacted versions of the material.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November after repeated failures from the Justice Department to deliver on past promises that they would be releasing information on Epstein – even material it did not have, like the long-fabled list of contacts and co-conspirators that now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed was on her desk ready to be released early last year. No such list has been produced and the Justice Department has not charged anyone beyond Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump early this year in part because of her continued bungling of the Epstein investigation.
The DOJ’s Inspector General previously found that, after an investigation, Epstein killed himself in a jail cell in 2019. Maxwell, his longtime business partner, is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in conspiring with Epstein to procure minors for him to sexually abuse.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
The post Justice Department watchdog to investigate handling of Epstein files appeared first on News Channel 3-12.