 "A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, November 12, 2025.
- AFP")
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Wednesday that it has been told by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI that they have uncovered more than a million more documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein , and processing its release would take “a few more weeks”.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the DoJ said that it received this set of documents from the US attorney for the southern district of New York and the FBI in “compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, existing statutes, and judicial orders”.
“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files," the department wrote in the post.
The statement came after it was reported earlier that there were hundreds of thousands of additional records related to Jeffrey Epstein to review – a process that involves a team of 200 departmental analysts and which will take another week to complete. According to an Axios report, approximately 750,000 records have been reviewed and disclosed, with about 700,000 more to be examined.
However, the report also pointed out that there are main duplicates, so the remaining number of records may only be in the thousands. “This will end soon,” an official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the outlet. “The conspiracy theories won’t.”
More to come
On Friday last week, the day the first set of documents was released, Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche maintained that the department would release more files in a few weeks. “I expect we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr Epstein," he said in a statement at that time.
During the weekend, there was outrage from victims and legal threats over the limited initial Epstein files release despite the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by December 19. The pressure on the DoJ to complete the review process and release the files comes as lawmakers Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, have threatened contempt hearings against the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, over the Justice Department’s failure to meet the deadline in full.
Amid the chaos, CNN reported that the US Justice Department office in Florida has asked for career prosecutors to volunteer over the “next several days” to help redact the remaining unreleased files. “We have an obligation to the public to release these documents, and before we can do so, certain redactions must be made to protect the identity of the victims, among other things,” the Southern District of Florida leadership wrote in an email on Tuesday, obtained by CNN.
The department added that it was “aware the timing could not be worse. For some, the holidays are about to begin, but I know that for others, the holidays are coming to an end.” On Tuesday, the Justice Department released a third set of files, comprising 30,000 records from the investigations into Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell .
Interestingly, this set of files contained more mentions of US President Donald Trump than the previous drops. The documents included an email from 2020, apparently sent by a federal prosecutor in New York, that said Trump “travelled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware)”, including one where the only listed passengers were Epstein, Trump and a “then-20-year-old”.
“There has been lots of sensationalism and even outright lies these past few days about the ‘Epstein Files’,” Blanche said in a statement on X. “But let’s separate fact from fiction. Document production is just that. We produce documents, and sometimes this can result in releasing fake or false documents because they are in our possession. After all, the law requires this," the deputy attorney general clarified. Overall, the latest release of Epstein files cast some light on the FBI’s effort to identify and contact additional possible “conspirators”.