Last Friday, the Department of Justice finalized its release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, publishing more than 3 million documents to its website.
But the Trump administration won’t release millions of other files in its possession and many other records were released with heavy redactions, exacerbating concerns from those critical of the administration who argue the releases have not answered some of the most significant questions around Epstein’s sexual abuse of young girls, his interactions with rich and powerful people and the ways he avoided any serious legal consequences despite years of scrutiny.
The disclosure of most of the government’s Epstein documents was forced by the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), the architects of that law, told The Washington Post that they have spoken to victims who have not yet seen their statements to law enforcement released to the public, raising their concerns that the disclosure has been incomplete. The two argued that the redactions appeared to not comply with the law, which requires that no document should be withheld or redacted based on “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.” Officials should instead make redactions to protect the privacy of victims, the law mandated.
“They, through incompetence, failed to redact the victims’ names,” Massie said, “while at the same time intentionally withholding documents and redacting documents that contain names of people that should probably be investigated.”
Massie pointed to the 2007 draft indictment of Epstein, one of the most anticipated records of the release, which had described a number of allegations of sex crimes federal prosecutors had compiled before Epstein reached a plea deal for lesser charges. Massie said he believed a number of the redactions had included co-conspirators, who he thinks should be publicly named.
In a Friday news conference, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that investigators identified over 6 million potentially responsive files, yet only 3.5 million have been cleared for public viewing. Most of those records came out Friday, revealing exchanges powerful men had with Epstein and his associates and graphic photos, including nude pictures of girls that the government later took down from its website.
“Today’s release marks the end of a comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the Act,” Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche wrote in a letter Friday. Justice Department officials are also seeking permission to release a portion of the documents related to a grand jury subpoena during the criminal investigation into Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Khanna and Massie have said they want to meet with Blanche about the documents they believe have not been released or were improperly redacted. Blanche told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “our doors are open if they want to come and review any of the materials that we produced.”
“We have nothing to hide,” he said. Justice Department officials have also said they plan to submit a report to Congress within 15 days detailing the reasons behind their redactions, as required by the law.
On Monday, President Donald Trump weighed in, saying the effort to release the documents was a waste of time. “Frankly, the DOJ, I think, should just say we have other things to do,” Trump said.
James Marsh, an attorney representing a number of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims, said his forensics team has been poring over the newly released documents, searching for answers and he remains hopeful that much can still be uncovered. But he said the release was disorganized and lacked context, making it difficult to fit puzzle pieces together.
One of his clients, Maria Farmer, said she had been “redeemed” after a previous document release finally showed that she had warned the FBI that Epstein possessed and distributed child pornography in 1996, a decade before a federal investigation was launched. Now, Marsh and his colleagues are seeking answers to their questions about why federal investigators didn’t look into Epstein’s crimes sooner.
While he said he believed there are “breadcrumbs” in what was released, Marsh also predicted there would be more to learn from further investigation, such as interviews of former FBI agents.
“Why was Epstein so empowered. Why was he so hard to resist,” Marsh said. “I don’t think we’re going to get that from the documents. The humans that are writing the documents can answer those questions.”
At the same time, Khanna said more needed to be done to dig through what has already been released and expose powerful men who maintained closer relationships with Epstein than previously known. For instance, The Post reported Monday that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the now former prince and Duke of York, was in several newly released files, including photos where he is seen kneeling over a woman.
“People are so focused on what hasn’t been released,” Khanna said, “there hasn’t been sufficient moral reckoning with the absolute depravity of the elite visiting Epstein’s island where young girls were raped.”
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