DOJ under scrutiny for Epstein files

WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA) - The Epstein files are still making waves in Washington, D.C. despite Congress and President Donald Trump having gone home for the holidays.

President Trump responded to the continued controversy as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for legal action against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for not releasing the full files, and now former President Bill Clinton is weighing in.

As lawmakers head home for the holidays, many lobbing parting shots against the DOJ for not releasing the full files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by last Friday's deadline, set under the Epstein Transparency Act.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brought up a resolution for legal action against the DOJ for what he called its "blatant disregard of the law in its refusal to release the complete Epstein files," and accused the Trump Administration of hiding the truth.

"This whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has," Trump expressed.

Trump voiced frustration over the continued controversy saying, "I thought that was finished. I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents."

So far, though, less than 10,000 documents have been made public, and there are heavy redactions, with close to 700 pages entirely blacked out.

The DOJ says it's necessary to protect victims.

NBC News legal analysts, like Misty Marris, said a judge would likely grant an extension on the files' release.

"I think here we're looking at this from the public perspective. You know, outside of the courtroom, there's, there's reason to have skepticism. It's really the way that this is played out over time," Marris shared.

Former President Clinton is now joining calls criticizing the process. He's appeared in a series of photos that his spokesperson called selective releases, implying wrongdoing against someone repeatedly cleared, and is now urging the DOJ to release anything that remains related to the former president to promote transparency over insinuation.

Trump said he didn't like the photos of Clinton being posted, arguing that many people are appearing in images that never did anything wrong tied to Epstein.

The president himself has appeared in some photos, including one that was removed and then reposted, which the DOJ says to protect women who were also pictured.