DOJ says it has found over a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein
CNN
Marshall Cohen
(CNN) — The Justice Department on Wednesday said it has uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and may need “a few more weeks” to review and release them to the public.
The department made the revelation in a post on X, saying the the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI had informed the department of the new documents.
“The DOJ has received these documents from SDNY and the FBI to review them for release, in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, existing statutes, and judicial orders,” the post said.
“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files,” the post continued.
It was not immediately clear how the new documents were discovered or what might be in them. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
The announcement on Wednesday comes after a week of intermittent releases as required by a new transparency law that Congress passed last month. The department already had been facing criticism for not releasing everything as required on December 19, though officials insisted they needed time to redact information to protect victims and alleviate other possible legal concerns.
Even before the revelation Wednesday of more possible documents, the Justice Department had been scrambling to get out everything in its possession. CNN reported Tuesday that Justice Department leadership had asked for volunteers in a prosecutor’s office in South Florida to help with redactions.
The Justice Department first posted a massive trove of documents required to be released under the new law on the Friday deadline. That was followed up with another drop early Saturday, and another major release on Tuesday, which contained several notable references to President Donald Trump.
A bipartisan array of lawmakers and a growing number of survivors of Epstein’s abuse have criticized the Trump administration’s rollout of the documents. Some have raised questions about the heavy-handed and seemingly haphazard redactions that shielded Epstein’s associates from scrutiny. Others have expressed anger over under-redacted materials that exposed victims’ information.
After the department’s revelation Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna – who, alongside GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, had pushed for the bipartisan bill that compelled the Justice Department to make public the Epstein files – said that the two of them would “continue to keep the pressure on.”
“After we said we are bringing contempt, the DOJ is now finding millions more documents to release,” the California Democrat posted on X, adding, “The Epstein class must go.”
Massie, meanwhile, re-posted a video of Attorney General Pam Bondi telling reporters that when she appeared to claim in February an Epstein client list was sitting on her desk, she was actually just referring to an Epstein file.
“So what you’re saying is the files were never on @AGPamBondi’s desk like she claimed in this video?” Massie wrote.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the highest ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement, “It’s outrageous that Trump’s DOJ has illegally withheld over 1 million documents from the public,” adding that his committee wanted to hear from whistleblowers or “anyone at the DOJ who can assist us in bringing justice for the survivors.”
Frustration has also been mounting inside the White House about the handling of the files, with the drip-drip-drip nature of the releases prolonging a story Trump has long been loathe to discuss and the administration’s own message shifting dramatically in recent days.
The newly released documents revealed that federal prosecutors collected evidence in 2020 that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times in the 1990s, and that the Justice Department subpoenaed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club before the trial of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2021.
Also in the documents was a letter purportedly signed by “J. Epstein” to convicted sex offender Larry Nasser, containing what appeared to be a lewd reference to Trump. But the Justice Department said Tuesday that the letter was fake in-part because it didn’t appear to match Epstein’s handwriting. On Wednesday, the department testily responded on X to a journalist who questioned why officials would include a dubious document in its release.
“Because the law requires us to release all documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in our possession so that’s what we are doing, you dope. Are you suggesting we break the law?” the department’s official X account said.
Trump has never been accused by any law enforcement agency of involvement in any of Epstein’s crimes. He denies wrongdoing.
Other documents released last week contained never-before-seen pictures of former President Bill Clinton with Epstein, swimming in a pool with Maxwell, and sitting in a hot tub with a woman whose face was redacted.
Clinton also has never been accused by authorities of any involvement in Epstein’s crimes. In response to the disclosures, Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña said: “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first.”
That more documents have come from the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York is not itself surprising. That is the office that investigated and charged Epstein in 2019 and followed that up with a successful sex-trafficking prosecution against Maxwell in 2021.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
