The distraction is not releasing them. If there was enough shit in the files for a conviction, the previous administration would have prosecuted. They were sealed from the public not from the DOJ.
The reality is that there's no shortage of dirt in them (that likely doesn't pile up to guilt beyond a reasonable doubt), but his base doesn't care, and will never care.
Co-conspirators are prosecuted in parallel or semi-parallel all the time, without waiting for the core prosecution to conclude.
There was no reason for why the administration had to wait for the files to be unsealed to go after anyone it wanted to. Unsealing them only makes the records available to the public at large, not the rest of the DOJ.
1) They're not co-conspirators under indictment. It's hard enough getting one conviction on this sort of thing without the likes of Les Wexner throwing a wrench in the process. And to be fair, it seems to have worked: Maxwell seems to be the only person anywhere to be tried, convicted, and incarcerated for the sex trafficking portion of Epstein's operation. The UK has only indicted Andrew and Peter Mandelson for their mishandling of state secrets.
2) The people mentioned as co-conspirators do have the resources to make this "go away" in the realest terms. This is a KGB-like circle of accountability. They don't have to rely on lone wolves with questionable mental state to make their problems disappear. They've got the connections and resources to get a professional to do it, through bribery, intimidation, or worse.
It's possible releasing the files would have negative consequences on both the current and previous administration, which is why neither of them did it.
secret third option: the dirt is still effective as blackmail and thats more valuable to powers that be than prosecution. the fbi acquired all the videos on disc from a safe in wexlers 5th ave mansion, yet no one was arrested for sex crimes, weird!
The reality is that there's no shortage of dirt in them (that likely doesn't pile up to guilt beyond a reasonable doubt), but his base doesn't care, and will never care.