The Justice Department released hundreds of thousands of pages of records about Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. This came just hours after a senior official hinted that even more files would be made public in the coming days.

As soon as the documents went live shortly after 4 p.m. ET, the DOJ website struggled to handle the traffic. Millions of people tried to search the files at once. Reporters and online investigators were placed in a virtual queue, but many were pushed back or told their place in line had expired.

Friday was also the official deadline for the DOJ to follow a bipartisan law signed by President Trump. The law ordered the release of all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials related to Epstein plus as much classified information as possible. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019, while waiting for trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

But officials say this is not the final release. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department is carefully reviewing every document before publishing it.

He explained that they are making sure every victim’s name, identity, and personal story remain fully protected where required.

Blanche added that more files are coming soon: several hundred thousand pages now, and several hundred thousand more expected over the next few weeks.

The push to release the files was led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), with help from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

Top Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees were quick to accuse the Trump administration of trying to duck the law’s requirements, which include a Jan. 3 deadline to provide legal explanations for holding back any Epstein-related material.

“Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar international sex trafficking ring,” said Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). “For months, [Attorney General] Pam Bondi has denied survivors the transparency and accountability they have demanded and deserve … The Department of Justice is now making it clear it intends to defy Congress itself, even as it gives star treatment to Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law,” Gardia and Raskin added. “The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ.”

The bill to release the files, co-sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), had been stalled in the House of Representatives for months before three other Republicans Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia signed on to a discharge petition forcing a vote over the objections of Republican leadership and President Trump, who Greene recently claimed berated her over the move.

Trump had insisted for months that the push to release the files was a Democrat-led “hoax” meant to distract from his accomplishments, but the commander in chief bowed to political reality and signed the bill after it passed the House, 427-1, and cleared the Senate by unanimous consent.

Among the files expected to be released Friday were grand jury transcripts from the federal investigation into Epstein as well as Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in December 2021 of sex trafficking conspiracy and other charges.

Friday was the deadline for the Justice Department to comply with the bipartisan law.Getty Images

Jeffrey Epstein, pictured in 2004, died in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.Corbis via Getty Images

Judges have also approved releasing grand jury information about a Florida investigation into child sex offenses by Epstein, which led to him taking a sweetheart plea deal in 2008 under which he served just 13 months in state prison, spending much of that time on work release.

Friday’s release will follow the Nov. 12 disclosure of 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate obtained by the House Oversight Committee. Democrats on the panel have also released dozens of photographs featuring Epstein with some of his famous and powerful friends including film director Woody Allen; Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates; political theorist Noam Chomsky; and former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Public interest in the Epstein case intensified after the FBI and DOJ released a joint memo July 6 concluding that Epstein committed suicide in jail and did not keep a “client list” of rich and powerful men to whom he trafficked girls as young as 14 contrary to widespread speculation.