Several members of Congress criticized the Department of Justice's release of some of the files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein saying the administration is not complying with law mandating the release of all files by the end of Friday.
Earlier, Democratic lawmakers warned the Trump administration that they were "examining all legal options" to hold it accountable to Friday's deadline, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accusing the administration of "breaking the law."
The Justice Department on Fridaybegan to releasewhat was expected to be hundreds of thousands of documents stemming from its investigations into Epstein.
Epstein files: DOJ begins releasing documents
But as the administration reviews the documents for sensitive materials, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an interview with Fox News earlier that more productions would be coming over the next several weeks -- indicating the administration does not believe it can fully comply with a law mandating the release of all files by 11:59 p.m. on Friday.
"So today, several hundred thousand, and then over the next couple of weeks I expect several hundred thousand more," Blanche said.
The comments set off immediate reaction from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
What authors of Epstein files bill say
California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a co-author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, posted a video on X explaining why he says the DOJ release "does not comply" with the law.
"Our law requires them to explain redactions. There is not a single explanation," Khanna said.
Khanna said the release is "incomplete" and he's exploring options like impeachment, contempt or referral to prosecution.
"We will work with the survivors to demand the full release of these files," he added.
Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who led the charge to force the vote to compel the Justice Department to release the files, said on X the document release "grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law" mandating the release of the files.
Dems examine legal options
Schumer charged that the administration is "hell-bent on hiding the truth" while asserting that failure to release all of the Epstein documents by Friday's deadline would be "breaking the law."
"Senate Democrats are working closely with attorneys for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and with outside legal experts to assess what documents are being withheld and what is being covered up by Pam Bondi. We will not stop until the whole truth comes out," Schumer pledged in a statement. "People want the truth and continue to demand the immediate release of all the Epstein files. This is nothing more than a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past."
Trump has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes, and said he hadn't spoken to Epstein for more than a decade at the time of his arrest in 2019.
Trump's name was mentioned several times across the hundreds of Epstein files that were made public earlier this year. White House chief of staff Susie Wilestold Vanity Fair in an article published this weekthat Trump "is in the file" but that "he's not in the file doing anything awful."
Reps. Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, said they're examining "all legal options" after "the Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself."
"Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein's decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring," Garcia and Raskin said in a statement.
House Democrats release another batch of Epstein photos
"Courts around the country have repeatedly intervened when this Administration has broken the law. We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law. The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ," they added.
The White House has not publicly commented on the criticism from Democrats.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee who has long been investigating Epstein's financial ties, proclaimed that anything short of a full release of the files by end of day Friday amounts to a "violation of the law."
"The law Congress passed did not say 'release some of the Epstein files' or 'release the files whenever it's convenient for Donald Trump.' Anything short of a full release today is a violation of the law and a continuation of this administration's coverup on behalf of a bunch of pedophiles and sex traffickers," Wyden wrote in a statement.
DOJ says working 'diligently' to meet deadline
Blanche penned a letter to members of Congress on Friday explaining the Justice Department's efforts to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the process still underway at the department to redact information that they say could impact victims.
"The Department has worked diligently to meet the Act's deadline," the letter said. "But the volume of the materials to be reviewed -- many of which continue to be produced to [Justice Management Division] -- means that the Department must publicly produce responsive documents on a rolling basis. The Department's need to perform rolling productions is consistent with well-settled caselaw that statutes should be interpreted to not require the impossible," the letter states.
Blanche said a Justice Department review has resulted in over 1,200 names being identified as victims or their relatives, and that even earlier this week one of the department's review teams alerted additional victim information that justified an updated review of materials. The review team, according to Blanche, consists of more than 200 department attorneys, including 187 from the Justice Department's National Security Division.
ABC News' Lauren Peller and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.