Washington, Jan 31, 2026
The U.S. Justice Department began releasing millions of records linked to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, saying it had completed an unprecedented review ordered under a new transparency law signed by President Donald Trump.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters that the department was producing more than three million pages of material, including over 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images, as part of its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law on November 19, 2025.
“In total, that means that the department produced approximately 3.5 million pages in compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a news conference at the Justice Department.
Blanche said the review effort involved more than 500 lawyers and professionals across multiple divisions, including the FBI and several U.S. attorney’s offices. He said teams met “twice daily, sometimes more,” for nearly 75 days to complete the work.
The department initially identified more than six million pages as potentially responsive, Blanche said, but released fewer records after applying legal and privacy standards. “We erred on the side of over-collecting,” he said, adding that the final production was smaller because of required exclusions.
Blanche said the released material includes documents, emails, interview summaries, images and videos gathered during the Epstein and Maxwell investigations. He said many of the videos and images include commercial pornography or material seized from Epstein’s devices that he did not create.
The department withheld categories of records permitted under the law, Blanche said. These include files containing victims’ personal or medical information, any depiction of child sexual abuse material, records that could jeopardize active investigations, and images of death or physical abuse.
He said no records were withheld or redacted on the grounds of national security or foreign policy. The department also applied standard legal privileges, including attorney-client and work product protections.
Blanche said all women appearing in images or videos were redacted, except for Maxwell, to protect victims’ identities. He said men were not redacted unless it was impossible to obscure women without doing so. Members of Congress may review unredacted materials by arrangement with the department, he added.
Responding to questions, Blanche said he was not aware of any secret non-prosecution agreements claimed by Maxwell. “To the extent that such arrangements exist, I’m not aware of them,” he said.
He rejected claims that the department was shielding President Trump or others. “We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody,” Blanche said, adding that the department complied fully with the statute.
Blanche also said the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, describing it as a standard FBI investigation conducted in coordination with other agencies. He declined to discuss details, citing the ongoing inquiry.
The department would submit a required report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees detailing records released and withheld, along with explanations for redactions. After publishing those justifications in the Federal Register, he said, the department’s obligations under the act would be complete, he said.
Jeffrey Epstein, a financier with powerful connections, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, was later convicted for her role in recruiting and abusing underage girls and is serving a lengthy prison sentence.(Agency)
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