--- alias: - Epstein files - Epstein Library - DOJ Epstein Library - Epstein document release category: Crime & Abuse Networks created: 2026-09-25 location: Washington, D.C. relations: - fn: 26 role: review of the Justice Department's redaction and release process start: 2026-04-28 type: subject_of with: '[[Government Accountability Office]]' start: 2025-02-27 summary: Body of Justice Department and FBI records on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, released in stages from February 2025 and, under a 2025 statute, as a library of nearly 3.5 million pages. tags: - Concept - DocumentRelease - JeffreyEpstein - GhislaineMaxwell - DepartmentOfJustice - FBI - EpsteinFilesTransparencyAct - Redaction - CongressionalOversight updated: 2026-09-25 --- The Epstein files are the investigative and prosecutorial records on [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) and [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/) held by the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/), the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) and the United States Attorneys' offices in Florida and New York. The department published them in stages: a first set of binders on February 27, 2025; an unsigned memorandum of July 7, 2025, declaring that no further disclosure was warranted; and, after Congress passed the [Epstein Files Transparency Act](/concepts/epstein-files-transparency-act/) in November 2025, a searchable online library that the department described on January 30, 2026, as "nearly 3.5 million pages."[^1][^2][^3] Every document produced under the statute carries a Bates number with the prefix EFTA.[^4] ### The First Phase, February 2025 On February 21, 2025, seventeen days after her confirmation, Attorney General [Pam Bondi](/people/pam-bondi/) was asked on Fox News whether the department would release a list of Epstein's clients. She answered: "It's sitting on my desk right now to review."[^5] On February 27 the department announced that Bondi, "in conjunction with" the FBI, had "declassified and publicly released" the first phase of the files. The release consisted of an evidence list, the flight logs previously entered as exhibits in [United States v. Maxwell](/events/united-states-v-maxwell/), a redacted contact book and a redacted "masseuse list"; the department itself stated that the phase "largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity." Binders of the material were handed to conservative commentators at the [White House](/places/white-house/). The same release said Bondi had received about 200 pages in response to her request for the complete files, had then "been informed of thousands of pages" not previously disclosed, and had directed FBI Director Kash Patel to deliver the remainder by 8:00 a.m. on February 28 and to investigate why her request "was not followed."[^2][^5] Patel was quoted in the release: "There will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned."[^2] That evening Bondi told the Fox program Life, Liberty and Levin that a "whistleblower" had informed her that "New York SDNY [was] sitting on thousands of pages of documents" and that the public would eventually see "the full Epstein files."[^5] According to information later given to Senator Dick Durbin's office, the FBI then placed about 1,000 personnel of its Information Management Division, including the section that processes [Freedom of Information Act](/events/freedom-of-information-act/) requests, on 24-hour shifts from March 14 through the end of March 2025 to review about 100,000 Epstein records, supplemented by hundreds of agents and staff from the New York field office. Durbin wrote that "these personnel were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned."[^5][^6] ### The July 7, 2025 Memorandum On July 7, 2025, the department and the FBI published a two-page memorandum that bears no signature and names no official. It stated that the FBI had searched "databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets," recovering "more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence," including "over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography." Its operative findings read: "This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list.' There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties." It stated that Epstein "harmed over one thousand victims" and concluded that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."[^1] The memorandum restated the FBI's conclusion that Epstein died by suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019, and said that camera footage showed nobody entering the tiers of the Special Housing Unit between about 10:40 p.m. on August 9 and 6:30 a.m. the next day. It described the footage posted with it as "full raw and enhanced" video.[^1] WIRED reported on July 11 and July 15, 2025, that the file's metadata indicated it had been modified and that nearly three minutes had been cut from it.[^5] On July 18, 2025, Durbin, as ranking member of the [Senate Judiciary Committee](/organizations/senate-judiciary-committee/), sent companion letters to Bondi and Patel asking, among other things, why the memorandum was unsigned and who drafted it, who ordered the flagging of records that mentioned Trump, what happened to the flagged records, and whether a log of them exists. The letter to Bondi also asked which department ethics officials had been consulted about her "potential conflict of interest." The letters set an August 1, 2025, deadline.[^5][^6] Two days before the letters, on July 16, 2025, the department removed [Maurene Comey](/people/maurene-comey/), an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York who had worked on the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions, without stated cause. She sued the department, Bondi and others on September 15, 2025, alleging that she was fired because her father is the former FBI director James Comey or because of her perceived political views (Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625, S.D.N.Y.).[^7] ### Congressional Productions The [House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform](/organizations/house-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform/) subpoenaed the Epstein estate on August 25, 2025, and on September 8 released the estate's first production, including the 2003 fiftieth-birthday album assembled by Maxwell. Chairman James Comer said the committee had "obtained information about Epstein's bank accounts" and would "pursue these bank records."[^8] On November 12, 2025, committee Democrats released three estate emails, among them a 2019 message to the writer Michael Wolff in which Epstein wrote that Trump "knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop"; committee Republicans released about 20,000 further pages the same day. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Democrats had leaked the emails "to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump."[^9] ### The Statute and the Clayton Investigation On November 14, 2025, four days before the House vote on the transparency bill, Trump publicly asked the department to investigate Epstein's dealings with [Bill Clinton](/people/bill-clinton/), [Larry Summers](/people/larry-summers/), [Reid Hoffman](/people/reid-hoffman/), [JPMorgan Chase](/organizations/jpmorgan-chase/) and "many other people and institutions." Bondi assigned the matter the same day to [Jay Clayton](/people/jay-clayton/), the United States Attorney for the [Southern District of New York](/organizations/us-attorneys-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/).[^10] The House passed the bill 427 to 1 on November 18, the Senate passed it by unanimous consent on November 19, and Trump signed it that day as Public Law 119-38. The statute allows the Attorney General to withhold records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary."[^11] Under a court order, Clayton was later required to certify that the production did not expose victims' identities.[^3][^4] ### The Production The statutory deadline was December 19, 2025. The department released a first tranche that day and, on December 24, said it had found more than one million additional documents potentially related to Epstein.[^12] On January 13, 2026, Representatives [Ro Khanna](/people/ro-khanna/) and [Thomas Massie](/people/thomas-massie/) told the court in United States v. Maxwell that as of January 5 the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" and asked for an independent monitor; Judge [Paul Engelmayer](/people/paul-engelmayer/) ruled on January 21 that he had no authority to supervise compliance.[^13] On January 30, 2026, Deputy Attorney General [Todd Blanche](/people/todd-blanche/) announced the publication of "over 3 million additional pages," including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, bringing the total to "nearly 3.5 million pages." A letter to Congress signed by Bondi and Blanche the same day stated that more than 6 million pages had been identified as potentially responsive; that more than 500 attorneys and reviewers had worked on the review; that "approximately 200,000 pages have been redacted or withheld based on various privileges," including deliberative process and attorney-client privilege; and that foreign-language pages and files that could not be loaded onto the review platform "have not been produced." The letter acknowledged that "inconsistencies will likely exist in how reviewers applied redactions."[^3][^4] The press release stated: "Notable individuals and politicians were not redacted in the release of any files." It also stated that "some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election," and that "the claims are unfounded and false."[^3] Within days, lawyers for victims reported thousands of redaction failures exposing victims' names and images, and the department took thousands of documents offline.[^14] Among the published records are the draft federal indictment prepared in the Southern District of Florida in 2007 before the [non-prosecution agreement](/events/epstein-non-prosecution-agreement/), which was never presented to a grand jury and bears the signature block of [Alexander Acosta](/people/alexander-acosta/) (EFTA01703108 to EFTA01703163), and a May 6, 2020, email in which a Southern District of New York prosecutor listed internal memoranda that included a co-conspirator memo "the Monday after Epstein's death," an 86-page "co-conspirator update memo," and a 13-page "corporate prosecution memo" described as "never discussed" (EFTA00030339).[^15][^16] ### The Section 3 Report On February 14, 2026, Blanche and Bondi sent the House and Senate Judiciary Committees the report required by Section 3 of the statute, stating that the department had completed its release. The six-page letter listed about 300 "government officials and politically exposed persons" whose names appear in the released material "at least once," without distinguishing between people who corresponded with Epstein and people named in news clippings; the list included Trump, Clinton, [Steve Bannon](/people/steve-bannon/), [Kathryn Ruemmler](/people/kathryn-ruemmler/) and [Leslie Wexner](/people/leslie-wexner/) alongside Elvis Presley, Princess Diana and Kurt Cobain. Representative Ro Khanna said the department was "purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email," and Representative Nancy Mace said names were missing from the list.[^17] ### Redactions of Named Men On February 9, 2026, Khanna and Representative Thomas Massie reviewed less-redacted files at the department for about two hours. That night the department unredacted 16 names on a list that had shown only Epstein and Maxwell. The list was an August 15, 2019, document from the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division naming eight people as co-conspirators, four of them unredacted after the change: Maxwell, the former Victoria's Secret owner Wexner, the modeling agent [Jean-Luc Brunel](/people/jean-luc-brunel/) and Epstein's longtime assistant [Lesley Groff](/people/lesley-groff/). A representative for Wexner said that "the Assistant U.S. Attorney told Mr. Wexner's legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect," and Groff's lawyer said she had never been told she was considered one.[^18] Blanche wrote that Wexner's name "already appears in the files thousands of times. DOJ is hiding nothing." At a [House Judiciary Committee](/organizations/house-committee-on-the-judiciary/) hearing on February 11, Bondi testified that Wexner's name had been restored within 40 minutes of Massie flagging it; Massie answered, "Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed."[^19] On February 10, Khanna read six names on the House floor that he said the department had hidden "for no apparent reason," including Wexner and [Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem](/people/sultan-ahmed-bin-sulayem/), chairman and chief executive of [DP World](/organizations/dp-world/). A department spokesperson said four of the six appear in a single document, that Wexner is referenced nearly 200 times and that bin Sulayem appears more than 4,700 times.[^20] Bin Sulayem, identified by Massie as the recipient of a 2009 Epstein email reading "I loved the torture video," resigned from DP World on February 13, 2026, without public comment; he has not been accused of a crime.[^21] ### Withheld FBI Interviews On February 24, 2026, NPR reported that 53 pages of FBI interview records and notes concerning a woman who had accused both Epstein and Trump of abusing her as a minor were missing from the public database; only her first interview, of July 24, 2019, which does not mention Trump, had been published. CNN reported the same day that an evidence log produced to Maxwell's lawyers listed about 325 FBI witness interview records, of which more than 90 were not on the department's site. A department spokesperson said: "We have not deleted anything," and that unpublished documents were "duplicates, privileged, (or) part of an ongoing federal investigation." On March 5 the department published 16 pages covering three further interviews with the woman, and said the records had been mistakenly tagged as duplicates; NPR counted 37 pages still missing. A White House spokeswoman said Trump "has been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein."[^22][^23] On March 4 the House Oversight Committee voted 24 to 19 to subpoena Bondi.[^24] ### The GAO and Inspector General Reviews On March 11, 2026, Senators Jeff Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Durbin asked the Government Accountability Office to examine the department's review, citing the department's claim that notable individuals were not redacted and calling it "plainly false." Their twelve questions included which political appointees approved the redactions before publication and what guidance was given to staff "regarding removing already-published records."[^25] In late April 2026 the GAO accepted the request, days after the department's Office of the Inspector General opened its own audit of the process; the GAO said it would coordinate with the inspector general to avoid duplication.[^26] On September 1, 2026, Massie and Khanna began collecting signatures on a discharge petition for a second bill, which would let members of Congress, state officials and survivors sue the department over compliance with the first act. Massie said the government "continues to withhold over three million files."[^27] [^1]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum on the review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files," Press Release No. 25-201, February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Department of Justice Publishes 3.5 Million Responsive Pages in Compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act," Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files [^4]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, "Re: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Production of Department Materials," January 30, 2026, pp. 1 to 6. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf [^5]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025 (citing Fox News, February 21 and 27, 2025; AP, February 27, 2025; WIRED, July 11 and 15, 2025). https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1 [^6]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, July 18, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-fbi-director-patel-re-epstein?download=1 [^7]: Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y., filed September 15, 2025). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/ [^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Releases Records Provided by the Epstein Estate, Chairman Comer Provides Statement," September 8, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-records-provided-by-the-epstein-estate-chairman-comer-provides-statement/ [^9]: House Oversight Committee Democrats, press release, November 12, 2025. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-oversight-committee-releases-jeffrey-epstein-email-correspondence-raising ; "House committee releases over 20,000 documents from Epstein estate," NPR, November 13, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/13/nx-s1-5607057/house-committee-releases-over-20-000-documents-from-epstein-estate [^10]: "Trump to ask DOJ to probe Jeffrey Epstein involvement with Clinton, JPMorgan, Summers," CNBC, November 14, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/trump-doj-jeffrey-epstein-clinton-jpmorgan-summers.html ; "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," The Washington Times, November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/ [^11]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656 (November 19, 2025). https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf ; Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 289, H.R. 4405, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289 [^12]: "DOJ says it has found over a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein," CNN, December 24, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/24/politics/epstein-documents-doj-million [^13]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y.), motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna, ECF Nos. 837, 838 (January 13, 2026); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844 (January 21, 2026). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf [^14]: Jessica Rawnsley, "Thousands of Epstein Documents Taken Down After Victims Identified," BBC, February 4, 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0k65pnxjxo ; MJ Lee, "Epstein victims' lawyers ask judges for takedown of released files," CNN, February 2, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/02/politics/epstein-victims-demand-takedown-epstein-files [^15]: United States v. Epstein, draft indictment, S.D. Fla. (unfiled, 2007), EFTA01703108 to EFTA01703163. Copy: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Jeffrey_Epstein_federal_draft_indictment_2007.pdf [^16]: Email from an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, subject "memos," May 6, 2020, EFTA00030339. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00030339.pdf [^17]: "Justice Department lists hundreds of prominent people named in Epstein files in letter to Congress," CNN, February 15, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/politics/doj-epstein-files-prominent-people ; "No more Epstein files will be released, DOJ tells Congress," UPI, February 15, 2026. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/02/15/epstein-files-released-list-names-bondi-blanche/4881771190174/ [^18]: Dareh Gregorian, "Justice Department releases names of 3 people the FBI once called Jeffrey Epstein 'co-conspirators,'" NBC News, February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-names-3-people-fbi-once-called-jeffrey-epstein-co-conspirators-rcna258335 [^19]: Todd Blanche, post on X, February 2026. https://x.com/DAGToddBlanche/status/2021043176350355731 ; Erin Kelly, "Bondi, Massie spar over Epstein files redactions," Spectrum News 1, February 11, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/02/11/bondi-massie-epstein-files- [^20]: "Rep. Khanna names 6 men he says were redacted from Epstein files for 'no apparent reason'; DOJ says some had no Epstein ties," CBS News, February 10, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/massie-khanna-epstein-files-6-men/ ; C-SPAN, "Rep. Ro Khanna Reads Names from Redacted Epstein Files," February 10, 2026. https://www.c-span.org/clip/us-house-of-representatives/rep-ro-khanna-reads-names-from-redacted-epstein-files/5192664 [^21]: "Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, 'Close Personal Friend' Of Epstein, Resigns As CEO Of DP World," Forbes, February 13, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/13/dubai-ceo-resigns-after-released-email-showed-epstein-thanking-him-for-torture-video/ ; "Emirati billionaire resigns as CEO of logistics firm following Epstein revelations," ABC News, February 13, 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/emirati-billionaire-resigns-ceo-logistics-firm-epstein-revelations/story?id=130136386 [^22]: "DOJ removed, withheld Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," NPR, February 24, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell ; "Justice Department posts more Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," NPR, March 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5737562/justice-department-missing-epstein-files-trump [^23]: "Dozens of FBI records apparently missing from Epstein files, including Trump accuser interviews," CNN, February 24, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/24/us/epstein-files-trump-accuser-missing-files-invs [^24]: Dareh Gregorian, Kyle Stewart, Owen Hayes and Michael Kosnar, "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," NBC News, March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779 [^25]: Senators Jeffrey A. Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Richard J. Durbin, letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, March 11, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/GAO-Epstein-Files-Redactions-Review-Letter.pdf [^26]: "Government watchdog to review DOJ's handling of the Epstein files," NBC News, April 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/government-watchdog-review-dojs-handling-epstein-files-rcna342513 ; Office of Senator Jeff Merkley, "At Merkley's Request, Independent Government Watchdog Launches Investigation into Trump DOJ's Handling of the Epstein Files," April 28, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/at-merkleys-request-independent-government-watchdog-launches-investigation-into-trump-dojs-handling-of-the-epstein-files/ [^27]: Erin Kelly, "Massie seeks signatures to force vote on second Epstein files bill," Spectrum News 1, September 1, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/09/01/massie-discharge-petition-epstein