The U.S. Department of Justice this week announced the discovery of more than 1 million additional documents potentially linked to the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein, significantly increasing the volume of documents that must be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. According to the filing, the new set of records was located by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI and has already been sent for legal review, a process that could take “a few additional weeks” due to the size of the collection.
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In a statement posted on the social network, the department reiterated that it would continue to “fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s directives” for the release of the records.
The discovery follows a series of intermittent disclosures that began last week, when the Justice Department began making thousands of documents related to the Epstein investigation public, in accordance with new legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump. The law requires full disclosure of materials the federal government maintains about the case, allowing changes only in specific situations, such as protecting victims or preserving ongoing criminal investigations.
The files already released total tens of thousands of pages and include reports, statements, travel records and other documents produced over years of investigation. Many of them, however, have gone public with extensive redactions, hiding their names and sensitive information. Among the redacted excerpts are references to people the FBI apparently describes as possible co-conspirators of Epstein.
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The volume of the changes has drawn criticism from lawmakers in both parties, who question whether the Justice Department is going beyond what the law allows by withholding information. Agency officials argue the removals are necessary to avoid exposing victims and reduce additional legal risks.
Even before the announcement of the new million documents, the ministry was already facing difficulties in meeting the deadlines set by the legislation. Reports in the American press indicate that the top leaders of the Justice Department have even asked for volunteers at a prosecutor’s office in South Florida to help them with the work of reviewing and editing the files.
The most recent revelations have also reignited political controversies. Among the documents released this week are references to President Donald Trump, including documents that federal prosecutors collected, in 2020, evidence that he repeatedly flew on Epstein’s private plane in the 1990s, as well as a subpoena to the Mar-a-Lago club ahead of the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate, in 2021. Trump was never charged by authorities of involvement in the financier’s crimes and denies any wrongdoing.
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Other files contained previously unseen images of former President Bill Clinton with Epstein, including photos in a swimming pool next to Maxwell and in a hot tub with a woman whose face was obscured. Clinton was also never accused of involvement in the crimes and, through his spokesperson, claimed to have severed ties with Epstein before the accusations became public.
The fragmented form of the disclosures caused unease within the White House itself, according to the American press, by prolonging a sensitive subject and keeping the affair at the forefront of the news. Parliamentarians and survivors of Epstein’s abuse also criticize both excessive editing and insufficiently careful disclosure episodes, which allegedly exposed victims’ data.
Following news of the discovery of the new documents, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, one of the authors of the bill that forced the opening of the records, said he would continue to pressure the Justice Department to ensure full compliance with the legislation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where some of the newly located documents originated, is responsible for the formal indictment against Epstein in 2019 and the subsequent conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking in 2021.
Without detailing the contents of the new files or how they were found, the Justice Department said only that all documents in its possession would be made public, as required by law, once the legal review was complete.
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