Justice Department and FBI sued for access to records on Jeffrey Epstein probe

Jeffrey Epstein (US Department of Justice/PA)

An advocacy group has sued the Justice Department and the FBI for records detailing their handling of the sex-trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The legal organisation Democracy Forward is seeking records related to senior administration officials’ communication about Epstein documents and any regarding correspondence between Epstein and President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, appears to the be first of its kind. The group says it submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act for the records related to communications about the case in late July that have not yet been fulfilled.

“The court should intervene urgently to ensure the public has access to the information they need about this extraordinary situation,” said Skye Perryman, the president and chief executive of the Democratic-aligned group.

Donald Trump (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The federal government often shields records related to criminal investigations from public view.

Democracy Forward has filed dozens of lawsuits against Mr Trump’s Republican administration, challenging a range of policies and the president’s executive orders.

The case has been subject to heightened public focus since the Justice Department said last month it would not release additional documents from the case.

The decision sparked frustration and anger among online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Mr Trump’s base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up.

The Trump administration has sought to unseal grand jury transcripts, though that has been denied by a judge in Florida. US District Judge Robin Rosenberg said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the exceptions under federal law that could make them public.

A similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York.

The House Oversight Committee has also subpoenaed the Justice Department for files on the investigation, part of a congressional probe that legislators believe may show links to Mr Trump and other former top officials.

Since Epstein’s 2019 death in a New York jail cell as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges, conservative conspiracists have stoked theories about what information investigators gathered on Epstein and who else knew about his sexual abuse of teenage girls.

Mr Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago, and he has repeatedly tried to move past the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but legislators from both major political parties have refused to let it go.