Live updates as 3 million Epstein files released by DOJ

Blanche said national authorities redacted each representation oregon video of each pistillate depicted successful the records they're releasing, but for Ghislaine Maxwell. They besides redacted images of exploited minors. 

No images of men were redacted, Blanche said, unless it was intolerable to redact the representation of the pistillate without besides redacting the man.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Friday the Justice Department is releasing much than 3 cardinal pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images and videos related to its probe into convicted enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Blanche said it appears that Epstein took immoderate of the photos, though immoderate were taken by others. He said the images and videos made nationalist see "significant redactions" to support survivors of Epstein's crimes.

The lawman lawyer wide said the national authorities identified much than 6 cardinal pages arsenic being perchance responsive to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed precocious past year. He said much than 500 lawyers and different combed done the records implicit nights, holidays and weekends. 

The Justice Department said connected Dec. 24 that "over a cardinal much documents perchance related to the Jeffrey Epstein case" had been uncovered by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI, adding that the process of releasing the files whitethorn instrumentality "a fewer much weeks."

SDNY prosecutors filed national enactment trafficking charges against Epstein successful 2019 and helium was awaiting proceedings successful that lawsuit erstwhile helium died successful jail. The bureau besides prosecuted his subordinate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted successful 2021 and sentenced to 20 years successful prison.

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The Justice Department published the first batch of files connected Dec. 19, which consisted of 5 information sets containing thousands of photos of what appeared to beryllium Epstein's properties successful Manhattan and the Virgin Islands, on with photos of Epstein's travels — including immoderate images of salient figures, including erstwhile President Bill Clinton, President Trump, Mick Jagger, Woody Allen, Larry Summers and others. They person not been accused of wrongdoing. 

The merchandise besides included PDF files of telephone logs, telephone records, handwritten notes and constabulary files. 

The adjacent day, different batch of documents was released, featuring expansive assemblage presentations, interrogation transcripts, tribunal records and an interior Justice Department transcript of an interrogation with the U.S. lawyer progressive successful an earlier national probe into Epstein successful the mid-2000s.

Some files were heavy redacted, drawing criticism from lawmakers who pushed for the release.

Then connected Dec. 23, the Justice Department released a monolithic tranche of much than 11,000 files, totaling astir 30,000 pages of photos, tribunal records, emails, quality clippings, videos and different records. Many of the files included mentions of Mr. Trump, though the Justice Department said immoderate of the documents contained "untrue and sensationalist claims" astir the president. The president has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Thousands of pages of materials from Epstein's estates and different sources had already been made public anterior to the Justice Department's action.

The Justice Department's merchandise of the Epstein files comes aft involvement swelled earlier this twelvemonth upon the merchandise of an interior DOJ review, which found nary "client list" among the grounds collected by investigators, contempt earlier claims by the lawyer general.

Following months of unit from lawmakers, constituents and survivors, an effort to unit a ballot to compel the Justice Department to merchandise the files gained capable enactment successful the House successful November. Lawmakers rapidly approved the legislation, and Mr. Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into instrumentality connected Nov. 19, giving the Justice Department 30 days to merchandise the files. 

Though it faced a Dec. 19 deadline to merchandise each the files, the Justice Department said it volition merchandise the files connected a rolling ground owed to the volume, citing the clip it takes to marque redactions to support the survivors' privacy.