US justice department releases 3 million new pages of Epstein files, shedding new light on case
Fresh cache of files are Trump administration's latest move to meet the law that required all records be released by December 19 last year.
The US Justice Department is releasing more than three million pages from the Epstein files on Friday, along with photos and videos, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced.
On Friday, Blanche said all images of women were being redacted aside from those of Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Today, we are producing more than 3 million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images in total, that means that the department produced approximately three and a half million pages in compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a press conference.
The new cache of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is the Trump administration's latest effort to comply with a law passed in November that required the department to release all Epstein-related records by December 19, 2025.
The department had said at year's end that it still had more than five million pages to review and needed to re-assign hundreds of lawyers to do so, drawing criticism from some members of Congress that the administration's slow pace had violated the law.
President Donald Trump had spent months resisting any release until both Democrats and Republicans in Congress advanced the law over his objections.
The law permitted some redactions, including to protect victims and preserve ongoing investigations. But the files released thus far have been heavily redacted, in some cases entirely so, frustrating lawmakers.
Continuous political friction
Trump has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and he has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes.
Epstein, a New York financier, was found hanged in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
While his death was ruled a suicide, it has engendered years of conspiracy theories, some of which Trump himself boosted to his own supporters during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it had released 12,285 Epstein-related documents — under 1% of the total — while more than 2 million remain under review.
Also released last month were transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who said they were paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.
Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
In 2008 and 2009, Epstein served jail time in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18.
At the time, investigators had gathered evidence that Epstein had sexually abused underage girls at his home in Palm Beach, but the US attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him in exchange for his guilty plea to lesser state charges.