US Justice Department releasing 3 million pages from Epstein files
eric tucker, Michael Sisak And Alana Rich
New York: The U.S. Justice Department has released more records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein and continued disclosures under a law aimed at revealing what the government knew about the millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with rich and powerful people like Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department released more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images in the latest Epstein disclosure.
The files posted on the department’s website contain some of the several million pages of records that officials say have been withheld since the documents were first published in December.
The documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which took effect after months of public and political pressure, requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Lawmakers complained that the Justice Department made only a limited disclosure last month, but officials said more time was needed to review the pile of additional documents discovered and review records to ensure sensitive information about victims was not inadvertently disclosed.
“Today’s announcement marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency and legality with the American people,” Blanche said at the US press conference where the statement was announced.
The disclosure appears to represent the largest dump of documents on a saga that the Trump administration has tried to shake up and that has long galvanized online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and others who suspect a government cover-up and are clamoring for a full accounting; He acknowledged that even Blanche might not be satisfied with the final explanation.
“There is a hunger or thirst for knowledge that I don’t think can be quenched by examining these documents,” he said.
After missing a Dec. 19 deadline set by the U.S. Congress for the release of all the files, the Justice Department said it tasked hundreds of attorneys with reviewing the records to determine what needed to be redacted or blacked out. But he rejected any effort to protect Trump, who said he cut ties with Epstein years ago despite a previous friendship, from possible embarrassment.
Materials blocked from publication include information that could compromise any ongoing investigation or reveal the identities of potential victims of sexual abuse. Blanche said that all women except Maxwell were removed from the published videos and images.
“We did not protect President Trump. We did not protect or protect anyone,” Blanche said.
The number of documents subject to review has increased to nearly six million, including copies, the ministry said.
Tips and printed emails for researchers
The latest records show that prosecutors have received tips over the years from people telling wild stories about being sexually abused by famous people. In some cases, FBI investigators diligently reached out to these tipsters and alleged victims and listened to their implausible-sounding stories (some involved the occult and human sacrifice) and then wrote dry reports summarizing what the people had to say and sent them to their superiors.
The cache also included email correspondence between prosecutors, printouts of thousands of emails that Epstein sent or received, news clippings and reports summarizing FBI agents’ interviews with witnesses and alleged victims in the investigation.
As with many previous documents related to Epstein, much material was blacked out. Some reports on FBI interviews were blacked out in their entirety, along with the name of the person being interviewed.
Based on previous version
Just before Christmas, the Justice Department released tens of thousands of pages of documents, including photographs, interview transcripts, search transcripts and court records. Many were either already open to the public or heavily blacked out.
Those records included previously released flight records showing Trump flying on Epstein’s private jet before they had a falling out in the 1990s, as well as several photos of Clinton. Neither Republican Trump nor Democrat Clinton have been publicly accused in connection with Epstein, and both have said they had no knowledge that Epstein was abusing underage girls.
Also released last month were transcripts of grand jury testimony describing FBI agents’ interviews 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 was sentenced to prison in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under 18. At the time, investigators had gathered evidence that Epstein was sexually abusing underage girls at his Palm Beach home, but the U.S. attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him in exchange for his guilty plea to lesser state charges.
In 2021, a federal jury in New York found British socialite Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of her underage victims. He is serving a 20-year sentence in a prison camp in Texas after being transferred there from a federal prison in Florida. He denies any wrongdoing.
U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone in connection with Epstein’s abuse of girls; but one of his victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused Epstein in lawsuits of arranging for her to have sexual encounters at ages 17 and 18 with numerous politicians, business moguls, prominent academics and others, all of whom denied her allegations.
Among those he accused was Britain’s Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor following the scandal that led to him being stripped of his royal titles. Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her case for an undisclosed sum.
Giuffre died by suicide on her farm in Western Australia last year, at the age of 41.
