DOJ signals it will appeal ruling requiring removal of some redactions in Epstein files

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday signaled its plans to appeal a ruling requiring the department to unredact various documents from the Epstein files in a suit brought by attorney and independent journalist Katie Phang.

The preliminary injunction , entered in June, orders redactions be removed in key documents of interest in the files, including “at least eight email exchanges with Mr. Epstein regarding a ‘torture video’ and sexual activity with young women, including minors,” as well as interviews with a woman who said she was abused by President Trump as a minor.

Under the June order, the Justice Department must either produce the documents or “show cause” as to why they cannot comply.

The notice of appeal does not get into any of the DOJ’s legal arguments and narrowly complies with a 60-day ruling to appeal U.S. District Judge Emmit Sullivan’s order.

But it also raises that the Justice Department is unsure about its ability to appeal the order, calling the matter “inconclusive” and describing its filing as a “protective notice of appeal.”

The Justice Department has argued it has a number of reasons as to why it has not fully unredacted the documents, including that the redactions cover victim identities and contact information for some who were communicating with Epstein.

Some of the details sought by Phang have since been unveiled — including that Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was the one who had been emailing the now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about the torture video.

“Given this and widespread media attention as to the purported identity of the sender of this email—information Plaintiff could have readily obtained with a simple internet search—unredacting the email address would not only be inconsistent with how other private email addresses have been treated; it would serve no purpose beyond sharing that private email address,” the DOJ wrote in responding to Phang.

But Phang’s suit also sought further information about a tranche of documents that detailed the FBI’s interviews with a woman who claimed Trump violently attacked her as a minor.

Sullivan chastised the DOJ during a recent hearing for failing to comply with his initial order and warned prosecutors that he has held attorneys in contempt before.

“You want me to issue another order and say, ‘I really mean it this time’?” Sullivan said during a hearing earlier this month, according to NBC News .