What to know
- EPSTEIN RECORDS RELEASED: The Justice Department is continuing its release of thousands of records related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 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.
- DOJ BACKLASH: The authors of the Epstein bill, Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said the initial 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 death was ruled to be a suicide. His accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges.
Top Senate Judiciary Dem promises to investigate Epstein files release
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a statement Saturday promised to, "investigate this violation of law and make sure the American people know about it," referring to the Justice Department's failure on Friday to release all of the Epstein files.
Friday was the deadline outlined in the law Congress passed last month ordering the release of the Epstein files.
"Yesterday could have been a win for survivors, accountability, and transparency to the public. It wasn’t. After mishandling the Epstein files all year, the Trump Administration is now violating federal law to protect the rich and powerful. It took an act of Congress to force Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Dan Bongino to even consider providing justice. They had a choice: survivors or Donald Trump. They chose the latter," Durbin said. "Senate Judiciary Democrats will investigate this violation of law and make sure the American people know about it."
Almost 700 pages redacted in Friday's Epstein files drop
In the four data sets released yesterday pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, an NBC News analysis found that more than 680 pages of documents were entirely redacted.
Court documents released today don't mention Trump or Clinton
An initial search of the court documents posted in the new files posted today revealed no mentions of “Trump,” “Donald Trump,” “Clinton” or “Bill Clinton.” An important caveat: These documents do contain redactions that cannot be searched.
DOJ releases more Epstein files
The Department of Justice this morning posted another batch of Epstein files online. The three new tranches of documents are all labeled as being related to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
