Breaking: "Justice Department's watchdog is reviewing compliance with the law mandating Epstein files release" [View all]
WASHINGTON (AP) The Department of Justices internal watchdog said Thursday that it is reviewing the departments compliance with the law mandating the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The review from the inspector generals office will focus on how the department collected, reviewed and redacted materials in preparation for release and its process for addressing privacy concerns that arose after the files were made public, when Epstein survivors complained that personal information about them was disclosed.
The audit will focus on one of the more politically sensitive chapters of the Trump administrations Justice Department, when officials bowed to public pressure and to a law from Congress to release millions of pages of records that the executive branch had initially said would not come out. It marks the first significant effort by the watchdog since Trump took office for a second time to scrutinize the actions of a department that has been riven by tumult, including mass firings of employees and allegations of politicization of investigations.
/SNIP
The departments subsequent release of records generated complaints from victims, who said sloppy redactions had left their identities exposed, and to criticism that information that could have been damaging to Trump was withheld from disclosure.
By ERIC TUCKER
Updated 12:50 PM EDT, April 23, 2026
The story just broke. The article is not much longer than this excerpt. Here is the link.
https://apnews.com/article/epstein-files-justice-department-release-watchdog-bd1f97448163f69311917e768a5d2a9f