Five Million Excuses: The DOJ’s Latest Stall on the Epstein Files (1/6/26)

The DOJ missed a legally mandated December 19 transparency deadline on the Epstein files and has offered little more than vague assurances that it is still “working behind the scenes” to process millions of documents. That explanation rings hollow given how long the government has possessed this material and how predictable the transparency requirement was. Missing the deadline is not a clerical slip but a statement of priorities, signaling continued institutional resistance to full disclosure. The invocation of massive document counts functions less as a justification than as a delay tactic, one designed to exhaust public attention and blunt accountability while preserving protection for powerful interests connected to Epstein.

The DOJ has repeatedly shifted the goal posts on Epstein transparency by turning clear legal and public demands into an endless process with no fixed endpoint. Each time a deadline or disclosure requirement approaches, it is met not with documents, but with new justifications—more records to review, more redactions to apply, more internal steps to complete. What began as a mandate for transparency has been reframed into a moving target defined entirely by the DOJ’s own pace and preferences. This pattern allows the department to appear cooperative while functionally delaying accountability, keeping the most damaging material out of public view while insisting progress is being made. The result is a rolling postponement that undermines the law itself and reinforces the perception that when Epstein is involved, transparency is something the DOJ controls, not something it complies with.



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