Sarah Krissoff, a former U.S. prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, pictured next to a frame of Jeffrey Epstein. (Fox News; U.S. Justice Department/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Krissoff, who worked as a prosecutor for almost 14 years in the Southern District of New York, described key differences between the Epstein files and the normal redaction process that attorneys grapple with. Those distinctions make it unclear who would have had final say about the information the DOJ released on Friday as the agency attempted to follow through on the requirements laid out by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
That law, passed by Congress last month and signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 19, gave the DOJ just 30 days to make its documentation of Epstein public. It included some exceptions for protecting the identity of victims.
Despite the thousands of files that became publicly available at the end of last week, the DOJ’s first trove sparked criticism from some lawmakers and viewers online outraged that the department hadn’t released them all at once.
"They are hiding a lot of documents. That would be very helpful in our investigation," Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN on Monday morning.
SCHUMER ACCUSES DOJ OF BREAKING THE LAW OVER REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES
Former President Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein in photos found in the newly released Epstein files. (Department of Justice)
"The case file often implicates many other people that are not charged in the crimes. So, there may be 15 people charged in a drug ring. You've only charged one or two people; you don't want to impugn those other people who have not been charged by releasing information showing their involvement in this drug ring," Krissoff said.
"The last thing you want to do is put that neighbor's information or his name or even his statement out there," Krissoff said.
She believes that there’s a danger in forcing disclosure of an ongoing case simply because of great public interest and setting a precedent for that to become a regular occurrence. In her view, it could disrupt ongoing investigations of the future that draw intense public interest.
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The DOJ said it will continue to release its documents on Epstein on a rolling basis. It has not announced when they expect to continue their release of the Epstein files.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ex-federal-prosecutor-says-doj-had-power-release-all-epstein-files