The Department of Justice on Friday began releasing the remaining investigative files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a massive collection of investigative and court documents, correspondence, and dozens of photos that have previously not been made public.
Some of the photos in the 3,500 files released on the DOJ’s website appear to be highly sexual in nature and have been redacted. Some are marked CSAM, which stands for Child Sex Abuse Material.
Among the items in the filings is a book titled “Massage For Dummies” that was seized by investigators.
Epstein was charged in 2019 in Manhattan federal court with sex trafficking of minors, many of whom he allegedly preyed on while they were performing massages on him. He died while awaiting trial and his death was ruled a suicide.
In the files, there are several photos of Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell on what appear to be trips or vacations with others.
Epstein was known to surround himself with rich and influential people and was friends for many years with Donald Trump before the Manhattan mogul was elected president. There are photos of him with former President Bill Clinton, including a series of undated shots of them with Maxwell on what appears to be a trip to Thailand.
There is also an undated shot of Clinton and Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger flanking a woman whose face has been blacked out at an unspecified event.
And there is a previously unknown photograph of Epstein with the late singer Michael Jackson.
The DOJ did not provide any context for the photos and NBC News has reached out to Clinton, Jagger and Jackson’s estate for comment.
Clinton has repeatedly stated that he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes and cut ties with him before he was accused in 2006 of having sex with a minor. He also has denied visiting Epsein’s private island in the Caribbean — an assertion that was backed up by Trump confidante and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair that was published this week.
The DOJ and FBI said over the summer they did not uncover any evidence to warrant opening an investigation into any other person in Epstein’s orbit.
Also included in the document release is an apparently new photo of Epstein holding a novelty check made out to him for $22,500 that bears what appears to be Trump’s signature.
Trump and Epstein were fast friends until they had a falling out some 15 years ago. But the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
The newly released documents also include some of the case files from the FBI’s New York office dating back to 2019 when they did the investigative legwork that led to Epstein being charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
Large sections of those records, which include DMV records and grand jury subpoenas, have been redacted.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law last month by Trump, the deadline to release all of the long-awaited files was Friday.
But earlier in the day, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ would release “several hundred thousand documents” and that the agency would “release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”
Also, when the documents appeared on the DOJ site, the search function enabling the public to navigate the files online appeared to not be working for some users.
For weeks, the DOJ had not responded to requests for information about how and when the files would be made public, not even to the lawmakers who had been asking for that info.
Before the latest batch of records were released, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. told NBC News that he believed the information would show “in certain cases how powerful men said that they had control over the local police in New York or had contacts with the FBI and told survivors not to report things because they would not go anywhere.”
Khanna also said he believed the files would shed new light on happenings on Epstein’s private island.
In addition to Trump and Clinton, Epstein had been close friends with powerful men like Ohio billionaire Les Wexner and former Prince Andrew of Britain, among others.
Epstein died in his jail cell while awaiting trial and the circumstances of his death fueled years of conspiracy theories, some of which Trump himself fanned.
During the presidential campaign in 2024, Trump promised to “declassify the Epstein files” if elected. And in February, his handpicked attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced that an Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now” waiting to be reviewed and released.
But the hyped up “Epstein binders” Bondi circulated to MAGA influencers contained no client list and turned out to be information that was already in the public sphere.
Then in July, Trump’s core supporters erupted in anger when the DOJ and FBI announced that an exhaustive Epstein case review had uncovered no evidence that justified investigating other individuals, and despite earlier pledges of transparency, they said no more information about the case would be released.
Faced with an open revolt by some of his most ardent supporters, Trump called the demands for releasing the files a “Democratic hoax.”
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department to turn the entirety of the Epstein files over to the panel in August. The DOJ eventually turned over 33,295 pages of Epstein-related records, most of which were already public. The committee referred to the release as the first of what would be a series of releases, but the DOJ did not turn over any other documents.
The demands for Trump and his DOJ to release the remaining files only grew louder.
Then, in November, the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails written by Epstein in which he wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” but didn’t directly accuse him of any wrongdoing.
Under pressure, the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act that Trump signed into law on Nov. 19.
Epstein was first charged by Florida federal prosecutors in 2006 with having sex with a minor. He wound up pleading guilty to state charges involving a single underage victim after reaching a secret non-prosecution agreement.
That deal resulted in Epstein serving just 13 months in a Palm Beach County jail, where he was allowed to leave almost daily via a work-release program and have his own private security detail.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term for conspiring to sex traffic minors and is reportedly seeking to get her sentence commuted by Trump, according to a whistleblower report to Congress.
