A month has passed since the deadline Congress imposed for the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein. What’s the latest news?
Judge allows further release of grand jury materials in Epstein case
A Manhattan judge has authorized the release of sealed Epstein grand jury records after Congress passed the Epstein File Transparency Act.
The Justice Department said in a Jan. 27 court filing that it expects to finish processing millions of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “in the near future,” but gave no timeline for releasing the information to the public as required by law.
More than a month after the deadline set by Congress for the Justice Department to release all Epstein files, millions of documents and photos have not been released.
The Justice Department said in its filing that it had made “significant progress” in identifying documents and compiling victim-identifying information from emails, text messages, video and audio recordings.
“Hundreds of Department employees are working diligently to complete this review and production as quickly as possible without compromising the privacy of victims,” the filing states.
In November 2025, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Epstein File Transparency Act, ordering the Justice Department to release all documents related to Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019.
President Donald Trump signed the law on November 19, 2025, giving the Justice Department 30 days to release all files except those that could violate victims’ privacy or jeopardize a federal investigation.
In the final hours before the Dec. 19, 2025 deadline, the department began publishing batches of emails, photos and other documents related to Epstein.
However, only a portion of the ministry’s files were made public. And many of them arrived at the Justice Department’s so-called Epstein Library with heavy redactions or no context at all. The department also did not provide written explanations for all the edits, as required by law.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the time that the remaining pages would likely take several weeks to complete as lawyers reviewed the documents to ensure the victims’ names and identifying information were not accidentally released.
Already five weeks after that deadline, here’s the latest information on the release of the Epstein files.
The Justice Department announced earlier this month that millions of files were still under review.
The Justice Department said in a court filing earlier this month that about 13,000 documents have been posted to Epstein’s library so far, but up to 2 million more still need to be reviewed.
In a Jan. 5 filing with U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Attorney General Blanche said 400 attorneys and 100 document analysts were reviewing the documents to ensure victims’ names were redacted.
In a separate court filing, the department said it had made “significant progress” in the review process since the Jan. 5 update, but it did not say how many more documents were still pending review.
“The Department is coordinating resources for this review from various departments and offices. Leaders from these various departments are on the phone daily (and in some cases twice a day) to address progress, coordination, deduplication, reviewer questions, victim issues, and technical issues,” Bondi and Blanche said in their Jan. 15 filing.
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for updates on when more files would be released or when all documents and photos would be available.
The Jan. 27 filing said “millions of pages” of material were manually reviewed, including internal department communications, documents obtained and produced during the course of various investigations, and audio and video files obtained during the investigation.
“At this time, the Department is unable to provide a specific date and cautions that ongoing processes, including quality control checks and preparation of document management systems, may require additional efforts to ensure the protection of victims’ identifying information,” the filing states regarding when the process will be completed.
Parliament’s request for an independent review was rejected
Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (R-California), who led the effort to force the release of the Epstein files, asked the judge to intervene in the review process.
In a Jan. 8 letter, the lawmakers asked Engelmayer to appoint a special monitor or independent monitor to ensure the Justice Department complies with the law for releasing the Epstein files.
“Not only is the Department of Justice’s actions a serious violation of its disclosure obligations under the Epstein File Transparency Act, but, as this court has recognized in previous decisions, the Department’s actions are deeply traumatizing to survivors,” the letter states.
Mr. Bondi and Mr. Blanche filed a response arguing that Mr. Massey and Mr. Khanna’s request has no legal basis.
Engelmayer rejected the lawmakers’ request on January 21, saying federal criminal cases are not the place to judge whether the Justice Department is following the law.
Contributor: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
