Justice Department begins releasing long-awaited Epstein investigation files

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday began releasing its files on Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and wealthy financier known for his connections to some of the world’s most influential people, including Donald Trump, who as president had tried to keep the files sealed.

READ MORE: Justice Department faces deadline to release Epstein investigation files

The total number of files being released in accordance with a congressional mandated deadline was not immediately clear, though Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Fox News Channel interview that he expected the department to release “several hundred thousand” records Friday and then several hundred thousand more in the coming weeks.

The release included photographs, call logs, grand jury testimony and some documents and records that have already been in the public domain.

Files appear online after a waiting room-like queue

High interest led the Justice Department to regulate access to its Epstein files website for a time.

The webpage went live Friday afternoon with a waiting room-type queue akin to what concertgoers sometimes see when they go online to purchase tickets.

Visitors were greeted with the message: “You are in line for Department of Justice web content. When it is your turn, you will have 10 minutes to enter the website.”

The webpage then refreshed to reveal a landing page with various categories of documents, including court records and other disclosures.

The Department of Justice releases a library of new documents from disgraced late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, seen in this landing page photographed by Reuters in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

What’s inside the released files

Among the thousands of records released by the Justice Department are photos, call logs, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts. Many of the documents have been redacted and at least some have already been in the public domain.

Some of the photos and transcripts feature Epstein and his longtime confidant, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell was charged with recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse. She was convicted in late 2021 and is serving a 20-year-prison sentence.

The files also included video clips from inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City from the day Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell. The video clips had already been released previously by the Justice Department and officials have said for years they showed no one else entering the area around Epstein’s cell before he was found dead.

DOJ tells public to flag any identifying information that should’ve been hidden

The Justice Department said “all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims, other private individuals, and protect sensitive materials from disclosure.”

However, in a notice posted with the files, the department warned that some may have been missed as it rushed to get records online. Because of the volume of information involved, the release “may nevertheless contain information that inadvertently includes non-public personally identifiable information or other sensitive content, to include matters of a sexual nature,” the notice said.

The department asked members of the public to notify it promptly of any information that should not have been posted “so we can take steps to correct the problem as soon as possible.

The law mandating the release, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requires the Justice Department to make such redactions.

White House responds to DOJ’s release of Epstein files

The White House said the release of the files shows how the administration is the “most transparent in history.”

“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” said a White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson.

Jackson pointed to other Democrats who have had ties to Epstein, such as Delegate Stacey Plaskett, who had received text messages from Epstein during a 2019 House hearing with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer.

Justice Department acknowledges production is incomplete

In a letter to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, Blanche wrote that the Justice Department was continuing to review files in its possession and expected additional disclosures by the end of the year.

The Justice Department also said it was withholding some documents under exemptions allowed in the law and was redacting names of victims.

Blanche wrote that the department will “continue to add to the public website materials that are responsive under the Act and the Department will inform Congress when that review and production are complete by the end of this year.”

Sisak reported from New York.