Classified material missing from Epstein files, documents suggest

Attorney General Todd Blanche has agelong maintained that the alleged Epstein files, adjacent those kept from the public, incorporate nary concealed accusation related to nationalist security.

When the papers releases began past winter, Blanche noted that the Epstein Files Transparency Act authorized withholding accusation successful the involvement of nationalist information oregon overseas policy, but said, "no files are being withheld oregon redacted connected that basis."

"There's not immoderate tranche of super-secret documents astir Jeffrey Epstein that we're withholding, we're really not withholding thing based upon [national defence information]," said Blanche, who was lawman lawyer wide astatine the time.

But the contents of astatine slightest 3 documents successful the monolithic tranche of files bespeak classified accusation was included successful files collected by the DOJ. 

One of the documents shows Blanche's Office of the Deputy Attorney General itself received classified worldly related to Epstein successful March 2025. By law, worldly tin lone beryllium classified for nationalist information purposes. 

What precisely was classified and wherefore remains a mystery. 

The Department of Justice says it collected 6 cardinal pages of worldly and yet released implicit 3 million of those pages aft reviewing for duplication, attorney-client privilege and relevance to Jeffrey Epstein. 

Congressional challenges and a lawsuit are casting doubts connected the DOJ's claims and demanding the merchandise of more documents that were held back.

Clues astir classified material

Included among the Epstein files is an eight-page timeline of the FBI's New York office's archetypal efforts past twelvemonth to way down and present its voluminous files to the Justice Department's Washington headquarters.

On March 25, 2025, 1 papers shows transportation of "16 Epstein items to ODAG," referring to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. Among them, items No. 2 and No. 6 are described arsenic "Epstein Transparency Project - Classified Material" and "CDs with classified materials (x2)." 

The Epstein Transparency Project refers to the Justice Department's effort to reappraisal the files and redact, withhold oregon wide them for release. It is not wide what precisely was identified arsenic classified. Each CD was apt susceptible of holding hundreds of megabytes of material.

Also successful the files is an email sent that aforesaid time from the portion main of the National Security Classification Operations Unit — an bureau whose relation is to reappraisal FBI documents for classification oregon declassification. The email includes an attachment labeled "Epstein - Classified Document Memo.docx." 

The assemblage of the email says determination were 3 documents "identified that stay classified." One was described arsenic an "FBI papers which is classified erstwhile see-through." A redaction obscures the portion chief's statement of the different 2 documents.

The individuality of the email's recipient is besides redacted.

It's besides not wide whether the 2 documents — the email and the database — are referring to the aforesaid classified material. 

Coding strategy reveals missing pages

A CBS News investigation of a numerical coding strategy utilized by the DOJ to signifier the Epstein files offers clues astir immoderate of the documents the section has withheld. 

The codes don't uncover what's missing, but they bash amusement wherever gaps exist, raising questions astir the DOJ's mentation for wherefore documents were withheld.

Among the missing documents are pages from Epstein's ain fiscal records collected arsenic grounds successful a national prosecution. 

Here's however it works: Documents from the Epstein files are labeled with a drawstring of numbers opening with the letters EFTA stamped connected the bottommost right-hand corner; EFTA stands for Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Those are called Bates numbers — a communal mode of organizing monolithic papers batches successful ineligible cases. Every leafage receives its ain number. In the Epstein files, the series goes from 1 to 2,858,498, which is the tally of astir however galore pages of documents were released. 

According to the DOJ, different documents — including tribunal records and investigative files they've antecedently released — bring the full to implicit 3 million.

Alongside the Epstein files' Bates numbers are other, older coding numbers that look connected galore documents. This indicates that those documents had antecedently been utilized successful national ineligible cases, perchance collected arsenic portion of an earlier subpoena.

For instance, Bates coding connected immoderate of the documents is from the Ghislaine Maxwell transgression lawsuit and was utilized to signifier files fixed to Maxwell's ineligible squad up of her 2021 trial arsenic portion of the find process. 

Other Bates numbers bespeak documents were collected from Epstein's banks, including JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, during the FBI's probe into his trafficking activities. 

Similar gap analyses person been done successful the past by autarkic researchers. 

Missing fiscal documents

Finding gaps successful these documents is simply a elemental process of counting. 

In tens of thousands of instances, the main EFTA fig volition beforehand by 1 but the different Bates numbers beforehand by 2 oregon more. Those gaps bespeak pages that had been determination earlier were apt removed astatine immoderate constituent aft the DOJ obtained them. 

Take the images below: The EFTA fig advances by 1 but the JPM-SDNY and SDNY_GM numbers beforehand by 2, arsenic bash the leafage numbers from the archetypal document. 

In different example, a bid of astir 4,500 images of checks from Epstein's accounts has gaps wherever 66 of those cheque images should be. Oftentimes the missing representation is lone the beforehand oregon the backmost of the check, though successful respective cases some are missing. 

Comparing each of these numbers against the last EFTA leafage numbers, it is imaginable to cipher that determination are tens of thousands of pages of documents that are missing from these sections, with nary wide crushed why. 

"Financial records were not a permissible class for removal," Barbara McQuade, the erstwhile U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told CBS News.

Like each national prosecutor, she says she is precise acquainted with Bates numbers. "It's the crushed you person Bates numbers, truthful you announcement thing similar that," she said.  

The DOJ hasn't responded to CBS News' caller inquiries astir the Epstein files, but it has antecedently said that each papers required to beryllium released by the Epstein Files Transparency Act has been released, and the remaining files were unrelated, privileged, oregon were duplicative.

Email gaps

Another series of Bates numbers that supply a representation to wherever documents were removed appears to beryllium from a preliminary processing of the files.

One ample series of those person "R1" successful betwixt EFTA and the leafage number. 

This R1 numbering is recovered crossed astir 995,000 released pages, betwixt p. 61 and p. 2,214,171 successful the files. Each leafage is besides labeled with an EFTA leafage number. 

While the EFTAs are sequential, the R1s person gaps which scope from 1 leafage to hundreds of pages. Each clip a spread appears — for example, if the EFTA advances by 1 but the R1 advances by 2 — it's grounds that pages were removed. 

By comparing these sequences it's imaginable to place gaps wherever documents, mostly emails, were removed betwixt that earlier reappraisal and the last release. No partial emails turned up successful the thousands of documents we examined, truthful the removals look to beryllium full email exchanges.

Here's what a conception of that looks like: 

The emails are not sequential successful day and leap by days, months and years, truthful knowing what was removed from discourse is simply not possible. 

But the results of calculating the differences betwixt the archetypal and past of the numbers successful this earlier series versus the aboriginal series is 1.2 cardinal pages, which is the full fig of identified gaps from conscionable this 1 section.

Most of the documents successful this conception are emails to oregon from Jeffrey Epstein, including connection with young women who would aboriginal impeach him of abuse; email exchanges with his concern associates; messages to oregon from his assistant, Lesley Groff; oregon emails sent oregon received by Ghislaine Maxwell.

"De-duping"

There is 1 imaginable mentation for galore of the email gaps. Instructions fixed to DOJ attorneys moving connected processing the redactions state: 

"If the papers is an email concatenation and the most-inclusive email (i.e., containing each the back-and-forth) has already been reviewed and redacted arsenic due for production, the interstitial back-and-forth tin beryllium marked arsenic duplicates." 

In different words, each emails exchanged anterior to the past email successful a concatenation tin beryllium considered a duplicate, due to the fact that the past 1 should see each of the messages, and eliminating the duplicates volition velocity up the redaction process. Once a papers is marked arsenic a duplicate, it would apt beryllium excluded from the files. 

If that was the case, this was lone partially accomplished due to the fact that duplicate emails inactive beryllium passim the files. 

There's besides the anticipation that errors successful the process could person resulted successful important emails mistakenly being deleted.

Lack of transparency

The reappraisal and redaction process was conducted by hundreds of DOJ attorneys moving nether a compressed timeline. Given the standard of the task, it's imaginable that pages were withheld arsenic a effect of honorable mistakes. But without a roadmap to the redactions and removals, it's intolerable to marque that determination. 

Independent writer Katie Phang is suing the Justice Department, seeking the merchandise of much files arsenic good arsenic an mentation of redactions and removals. A national justice has made respective rulings successful her favour and the DOJ is appealing those rulings. 

As portion of her lawsuit, Phang is asking the tribunal to name a peculiar maestro to reappraisal the files.

"If it wasn't intentional, past was it gross negligence? Were you conscionable lazy? If it was intentional past I deliberation there's [expletive] determination that they don't privation radical to see," Phang told CBS News. "My speculation runs an full spectrum of absorption — but astatine the extremity of the time it conscionable makes the DOJ look bad."  

The DOJ has acknowledged making respective mistakes.

It admitted to removing, and past restoring, a photograph of present Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick connected a 2012 sojourn to Epstein's island, contradicting claims Lutnick had antecedently made astir his contacts with Epstein.

Last year, DOJ officials claimed a minute was missing from prison information video from the nighttime Epstein died, which turned retired to not beryllium true.

"This is simply a lawsuit wherever the process has inhibited nationalist spot successful what is yet released, and there's a agelong contented of this, whether it's the Pentagon Papers oregon the Epstein files," said lawyer Stanley Brand, a seasoned litigator and distinguished chap successful instrumentality and authorities astatine Penn State Dickinson Law.  

"This is conscionable different portion wherever the authorities process, wherever making this worldly disposable conscionable fuels suspicion that there's thing we're not seeing, and I don't cognize that ever gets resolved."  

In:

• United States Department of Justice
• Jeffrey Epstein