Judge orders expedited processing of request for records related to DOJ's handling of Epstein files

The records request concerned the July decision not to release the files.

The Department of Justice is facing new scrutiny over the decision to withhold the Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this year.

(snip)

Progressive legal nonprofit Democracy Forward brought the lawsuit after the Justice Department "constructively denied its expedited review request" regarding the internal records, according to the ruling, including whether Attorney General Pam Bondi “misled the American people in representing that the ‘client list’ was on her desk and ready for review,” and whether the DOJ “reversed course on the decision to disclose the Epstein matter case files out of a desire to cover-up the content within.” Specifically, the FOIA request sought records that might show that the reported mention of Trump’s name in the files prompted the reversal.

Judge Tanya Chutkan – who oversaw Trump’s criminal case related to his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result – ruled on Monday that Democracy Forward demonstrated that their request was reasonably tailored to a "matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions about the government’s integrity that affect public confidence,” clearing the legal bar to order expedited processing.

“The request for ‘records reflecting all correspondence between Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’ is plainly tied to the concern discussed in the media that the Justice Department reversed its position on the disclosure of the Epstein documents only after Attorney General Bondi reportedly informed the President that his name appeared in the files,” Judge Chutkan wrote.

(snip)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-orders-expedited-processing-request-records-related-dojs/story?id=127872573

_____________________________________

There is a video on the link