“Another Betrayal”: How the DOJ’s Epstein Release Re-Traumatized Survivors (2/5/26)

The release of the Epstein files triggered immediate outrage from survivors after the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed identifying details that should never have seen daylight. For many victims, the files were not a moment of transparency but a fresh violation—names, contextual clues, and personal information surfaced in a way that made them identifiable to the public. Survivors and their advocates accused the DOJ of recklessness, arguing that the government had been warned repeatedly about the risks and still chose speed and optics over basic victim protection. The result was renewed trauma for people who had already endured years of abuse, silencing, and institutional neglect.


That outcry quickly hardened into a broader indictment of how the Epstein case has been handled from start to finish. Survivors said the exposure confirmed their worst fears: that the system remains more focused on document dumps and procedural box-checking than on the human beings harmed by Jeffrey Epstein. Advocates stressed that anonymity is not a courtesy but a safeguard, especially in a case involving global attention and powerful interests. By failing to protect it, the DOJ not only endangered survivors’ privacy and safety but also deepened the mistrust that has long defined this case—turning what was billed as accountability into yet another chapter of institutional failure.


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Thousands of Epstein files taken down after some survivors' names and nude photos found | CBC News