What to know
- EPSTEIN RECORDS RELEASED: The Justice Department released thousands of records related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein today after Congress passed bipartisan legislation last month forcing the release. The documents include photos and court records. Follow live updates below as NBC News reviews the documents.
- MORE TO COME: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress that more documents would be released in the coming weeks. The law required the Justice Department to make public "all unclassified records" related to Epstein with limited exceptions, including to protect the identity of victims, within 30 days. President Donald Trump signed the law on Nov. 19 — exactly 30 days ago.
- DOJ BACKLASH: The authors of the Epstein bill, Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said the release does not comply with their legislation. Khanna said they were "exploring all options" to obtain the full release.
- EPSTEIN CASE: Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges.
Maria Farmer says she feels 'redeemed' after her 1996 FBI report is released
Maria Farmer, an Epstein survivor, lauded the release of her child pornography complaint to the FBI as part of the partial release of the Epstein files today.
“This is amazing. Thank you for believing me. I feel redeemed. This is one of the best days of my life. Of course, it’s mixed with the fact that I’m devastated about all the other little girls like Virginia who were harmed because the FBI didn’t do their job," Farmer said in a statement through her attorneys.
"I’m crying for two reasons. I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed," she added.
Farmer's 1996 complaint form filed with the FBI Miami office alleged that Epstein stole photos she had taken of her 12 and 16-year-old sisters and sold them. She sued the federal government earlier this year in federal court over alleged failures to protect her and other Epstein victims.
Farmer’s legal team said in a news release that the document "proves that if the FBI had simply done its job in 1996, Epstein’s decades-long sex trafficking operation could have been stopped at the outset."
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky says she feels 'validated' at files' release, but says not enough information was made available
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky said she feels “validated” at the release of thousands of files from the DOJ today, but added that it wasn’t as much information as survivors had hoped for.
“There’s so much information, and yet not as much as we may have wanted to see,” Bensky said during an interview with NBC News.
“There is part of me that feels a bit validated at this moment, because I think so many of us have been saying, ‘No, this is real, like, we’re not a hoax,’” Bensky said.
Bensky said she and others carry the trauma of surviving Epstein with them, and had been preparing themselves for the files’ release. Asked whether she thought that the release of the files felt like justice, Bensky said the release is not complete enough to make that call.
“Justice is a hard word for me to find, because the website is very hard to search. I know that I’m looking for specific things. I know all the other survivors are out there looking for things,” Bensky said, noting she had been looking for the name of an FBI agent with whom she spoke in 2019, but adding that the search feature’s lack of functionality “is complicating matters quite a bit.”
“It does feel a bit incomplete at this point to make that call,” Benksy said.
Spokesman defends Bill Clinton amid release that includes photos of him pictured with Epstein, others
Angel Ureña, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, defended the former president in said in a statement posted on X tonight, after Clinton appeared in a series of photos alongside Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and with other people whose faces were redacted.
“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be," Ureña said.
"There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that. Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats," he added.
Ureña also referred to comments from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that appeared in a Vanity Fair profile this week. Wiles had disputed Trump’s claim that Clinton would be incriminated in the files, saying, “there is no evidence” that Clinton visited one of Epstein’s private islands as many as 28 times.
Ureña previously said in a statement in 2019, “President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”
Actor Kevin Spacey seen in photographs
There are several photos of actor Kevin Spacey included in today’s tranche. He is pictured alongside Jeffrey Epstein and many other unidentified men.
NBC News reached out to Kevin Spacey’s team.
DOJ files include Maria Farmer's original FBI complaint
A complaint form from the FBI Miami office dated Sept. 1996 says that a complainant claimed Epstein stole photos she had taken of her 12 and 16-year-old sisters. The document says the complainant believed he sold the photos.
The complaint further alleges that Epstein requested that the complainant take pictures of young girls at swimming pools.
Epstein, the complaint alleges, then threatened the redacted complainant that he would burn her house down if she told anyone about the photos.
Lawyers for Epstein accuser Maria Farmer confirmed that she was the complainant. Farmer sued the federal government in May for failing to protect her and other victims. According to the lawsuit, Farmer alerted the FBI that Epstein stole nude and partially nude photos of her sisters, which he then transported across state lines.
In a statement following the document's release, Farmer said that she felt "redeemed."
"This is amazing," she said. "Thank you for believing me. I feel redeemed. This is one of the best days of my life. Of course, it’s mixed with the fact that I’m devastated about all the other little girls like Virginia who were harmed because the FBI didn’t do their job. I’m crying for two reasons. I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed.”
Rep. Massie criticizes Bondi, Blanche for document release
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, criticized the release of the DOJ's release of documents, saying on X, that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche have "grossly" failed to "comply with both the spirit and letter of the law."
"Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago. @RepRoKhanna is correct," Massie said on X. Massie co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the legislation that forced today's release of documents, alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
Rep. Khanna says files released don't comply with law, redactions aren't explained
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in a video statement tonight that files released by the Justice Department today do not comply with legislation that he co-authored with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to make the files public.
"The Justice Department's document dump this afternoon does not comply with Thomas Massie and my Epstein Transparency Act," Khanna said in a video statement posted to X.
Khanna referred specifically to a 119-page grand jury transcript, also mentioned by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this evening, that was completed redacted.
"Our law requires them to explain redactions, there's not a single explanation for why that entire document was redacted," Khanna said.
"Thomas Massie and I are exploring all options. It can be the impeachment of people at Justice, inherent contempt, or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice. We will work with the survivors to demand the full release of these files to demand justice," he added.
Schumer criticizes 'heavily redacted,' incomplete release of files
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the Justice Department's incomplete release of the Epstein files this afternoon.
“This set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence," Schumer said.
“Simply releasing a mountain of blacked out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law," he added.
Congress last month approved legislation that Trump signed into law forcing the release of the records.
Schumer pointed to a 119-page document in the files that was "completely blacked out," and said that Democrats are looking into actions to ensure the Trump administration's accountability.
How big are the files?
Across the four data sets, there are more than 3,500 files, totaling more than 2.5 gigabytes of photos and documents.
Mick Jagger pictured with Clinton, alongside woman with redacted face
One of the photos released in the tranche of documents shows Clinton pictured alongside Rolling Stones icon Mick Jagger.
Standing between the two is a woman whose face has been redacted.
The context and date of the photo are unknown. NBC News has reached out to representatives for Jagger and Clinton for comment.
