Newly released internal emails show the FBI mounting a costly overtime-fueled sprint to analyze the Epstein files as political pressure grew to release them—in a project dubbed the “Special Redaction Project,” Bloomberg reports.
President Donald Trump swept back into power on a promise to make public all FBI documents related to his late pedophile ex-friend Jeffrey Epstein, and put his Attorney General Pam Bondi in charge of overseeing the matter.
A conspiracy theory still thrives among some in Trump’s base that Epstein knew the names of other rich or powerful pedophiles.
Correspondence obtained and detailed by Bloomberg’s FOIA Files lays out how FBI Director Kash Patel sent about 1,000 special agents to the bureau’s Central Records Complex in Winchester, Virginia, for crash-course redaction training on the “Epstein Transparency Project,” also called the “Special Redaction Project.”
The documents chart the bureau’s hours, costs, and shifting directives from the Justice Department under Bondi, 60, who initially said Epstein’s “client list” was “sitting on my desk,” before officials then claimed in July it did not exist, sparking more MAGA anger.
Bloomberg’s records show the bureau paid $851,344 in overtime between March 17 and March 22 alone, and clocked 4,737 overtime hours from January through July—with more than 70 percent of that in March as personnel worked nights and weekends.
The news site reported that emails showed Phase 1 redactions were “complete” by March 24, while a hastily revised Phase 2 was prepared for the Department of Justice.
Categories under review included “search warrant execution photos,” “street surveillance video,” and aerial footage, alongside records tied to Epstein’s death investigation.
The financier’s death in prison in August 2019 was ruled a suicide. He was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving 20 years for her role in the crimes.
Bloomberg’s cache also captures the bureaucracy of the project. They include PowerPoints and videos guiding redaction standards, “stand by” alerts as more boxes were digitized, and late-night updates as DOJ changed criteria mid-stream.
One April note shows FBI leadership checking on remaining “Epstein-related reviews,” while another references jail video later made public.
Despite a months-long fight to keep the files private, on Nov. 19, Trump, 79, signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, compelling the DOJ to release them within 30 days.
Reuters reported the new law allows redactions for ongoing probes and victim privacy. A Manhattan judge has since pressed DOJ to detail what it intends to unseal on a tight clock.
While Congress has demanded sweeping disclosure, the Justice Department says it will comply while protecting victims.
Trump denies any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, with whom he had a friendship that ended in the mid-2000s.
The Daily Beast has asked the Justice Department to comment. The FBI has refused to do so.
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