Trump administration releases over three million documents from Epstein case file

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Friday that the Justice Department has unblocked the release of a new batch of documents and photographs from the archive of Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial.

“Today, we are producing more than three 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 Department of Justice, headed by Pam Bondi, estimated earlier this month that it had declassified less than 1% of the documents in the Epstein file. Congress had set a deadline of December 19, 2025, to release all the documents that the financier, accused of pedophilia among other crimes, had accumulated over the years.

The Department of Justice admits that some documents have been deleted or redacted so as not to make them public. “Some pornographic images, commercial or otherwise, were censored, as the Department treated all the women appearing in them as victims. No prominent figures or politicians were censored in the disclosure of any files.”

In a statement announcing the declassification of the third volume of documents from one of the most high-profile cases in recent decades due to Epstein’s friendship with current U.S. President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice said: “Through the process, the Department provided clear instructions to reviewers that the redactions were to be limited to the protection of victims and their families.”

The deputy attorney general explained that images of all the women appearing in the files have been excluded to protect their privacy, except for those of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s partner. Maxwell was accused of participating as an accomplice in a sex trafficking ring involving hundreds of underage victims, for which she is serving 20 years in prison.

Late last year, Congress passed a motion to compel the White House to fully declassify the entire Epstein archives in its possession. Lawmakers also demanded the Justice Department release a report explaining why it had omitted any information.

The Department of Justice explains that the files were compiled from five main sources: the Florida and New York cases against Epstein, the New York case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the New York cases investigating Epstein’s death, the Florida case investigating a former Epstein butler, multiple FBI investigations, and the Office of the Inspector General’s investigation into the millionaire’s death.

Blanche explained that federal prosecutors identified up to six million pages as “potentially relevant” for release under the criteria set forth in the law passed by the U.S. Congress, which requires the Trump administration to release the Epstein and Maxwell files. The deputy attorney general explained that officials had been overzealous and identified more documents than were required of them; therefore, he insisted, the volume is less than everything that was collected.

The deputy attorney general said that “Justice Department employees have been working hard to get the files released, with more than 500 lawyers and professionals putting in long days and nights to complete this production.”

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