Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the FBI has told a federal court that processing more than 2 million pages of records discovered in a hidden room at FBI headquarters could take approximately 158 years at the agency’s proposed rate.

The records are at the center of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch after FBI Director Kash Patel and then-Deputy Director Dan Bongino publicly discussed the discovery of documents that had not been processed through normal FBI records procedures.

"The FBI just told a federal judge in this case that, based on the rate of production, 500 a month, it will take 158 years to process the records in the hidden room, the burn bag room. 158 years," Fitton said.

Fitton said Judicial Watch sought the material after Patel and Bongino disclosed the existence of the room and discussed records involving investigations and other government actions targeting President Donald Trump.

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"Kash Patel was FBI director, Dan Bongino was hired as assistant FBI director for a few months, and Dan and Kash disclosed that there was a secret room they were made aware of with documents about the weaponization and lawfare targeting Trump," Fitton said. "Jack Smith documents, they talked about burn bags, Russiagate documents, etc."

Judicial Watch subsequently requested records from the room through FOIA. According to Fitton, the organization eventually sued after concluding that the FBI had failed to respond appropriately.

During the litigation, the FBI initially reported approximately 1.9 million records in the room, Fitton said. He said the agency's latest filing puts the collection at more than 2 million pages.

"And so they they said, Well, we'll give you 500 records a month or we'll review 500 records a month," Fitton said. "And I don't even think they were even reviewing them, they wanted to organize and digitize them."

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Fitton said Judicial Watch is also seeking answers about whether the room and its contents were searched in response to earlier FOIA requests and lawsuits.

"By the way, why didn't you search this room? I don't mean you, Kash, or Dan Bongino or whoever. Why didn't the FBI search this room in response to our other FOIA lawsuits and FOIA requests?" Fitton said.

According to Fitton, the FBI stated in a joint status report that processing the material at 500 pages per month would require approximately 158 years. Judicial Watch is challenging that timetable and is asking the federal court to permit limited discovery.

"We want answers as to what's going on here," Fitton said. "They were playing games with FOIA, they're playing games as to what's in that room. So we're asking the court for the right to conduct limited discovery."

Judicial Watch wants to question the FBI through a limited deposition about who discovered the room, when it was discovered, who had access, its security classification and how documents came to be stored in filing cabinets, safes, boxes and burn bags.

The organization also wants information about what steps the FBI has taken to place the material into standard records-management systems and whether the documents had previously been searched in response to other FOIA requests.

Fitton said the FBI has reported that it has not yet accessed a safe believed to contain additional records.

"So they still haven't even opened all the doors in the room, practically speaking," Fitton said.

"They've got a safe they haven't looked through yet."

Fitton said the room had previously been identified as a sensitive compartmented information facility containing multiple safes or file cabinets.

Estimates of the material initially ranged from approximately 950,000 to 1.9 million records before the latest figure exceeded 2 million pages.

He also pointed to Bongino's May 29, 2025, Fox News interview discussing the discovery. A

ccording to the statement quoted by Fitton, Bongino said some of the material dated to the James Comey era and had not been processed using standard FBI procedures.

Fitton argued that the agency should devote substantially more resources to reviewing the material rather than expecting Judicial Watch to narrow its request.

"And the suggestion is that Judicial Watch should therefore curtail our request, as opposed to them reviewing and releasing, in an emergency fashion, these records in a more timely way," Fitton said.

He compared the proposed timetable with the government's handling of records connected to Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that millions of pages in that matter were processed much more quickly.

"I know these are more important than the Epstein files, and the Epstein files demonstrate, when the pressure's on, they can release 3 million plus records relatively quickly," Fitton said.

"Here, there's only 2 million."

Fitton also noted that processing 500 pages does not necessarily mean Judicial Watch would receive all 500 pages.

Records could still be withheld because of classification or other exemptions, leaving the organization to challenge those decisions separately.

"The FBI isn't above the law, and they're hiding records from the American people required to be released under the Freedom of Information Act, not in 158 years, but according to the law, in 20 days," Fitton said.

Judicial Watch has a court hearing scheduled for next week concerning its effort to obtain more information about the records and the FBI's handling of the collection.

"Instead of telling a federal court judge and the American people they have to wait 158 years, they should be they should be saying, We're getting them out on an emergency basis. You'll have them in two months," Fitton said.

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