DOJ Releases Redacted Epstein Files, Celebrity Photos Surface

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department made a massive, yet heavily redacted, release of documents tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, offering little new insight into his crimes but exposing a handful of celebrity photographs.

The Scope of the Release

The DOJ released thousands of pages, but the documents were heavily redacted and incomplete. Many of the materials had already been made public through lawsuits, court filings, the Palm Beach police reports that sparked the 2005 state criminal probe, and the House Oversight Committee investigation. The release also included criminal filings against Epstein and his co‑conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell’s appeal for her conviction, and civil complaints filed over the years.

New Material and Redactions

One of the newly disclosed documents is Maria Farmer’s 1996 complaint to the FBI alleging that Epstein stole photographs she had taken of her 12‑ and 16‑year‑old sisters and sold them. Farmer said in a statement Friday, “I feel redeemed.” Her 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.”

The transparency act required the attorney general to make all unclassified records public within 30 days. That deadline ran out on Friday, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged that the release was several hundred thousand pages short of “all” and that it could take a “couple of weeks” for the rest to appear. Blanche said the delay was due to the need to protect victims: “What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim — their name, their identity, their story — to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected,” he told Fox News.

Rep. Ro Khanna, co‑author of the law, said the department must provide a detailed timeline and an explanation for every redaction. “Some of the documents I’ve just been scanning them have very heavy redactions,” Khanna said, adding that “they owe the Congress and the American public an explanation for every redaction.”

Rep. Thomas Massie added that victims’ lawyers had told him there were at least 20 names of men accused of sex crimes in FBI possession, but no such names appeared in the release.

Celebrity Cameos in the Files

The documents contain a handful of celebrity photographs. President Donald Trump is mentioned only briefly, and his chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that he appears in the files but “he’s not doing anything awful.” Trump has said he had a falling out with Epstein before any criminal charges.

Former President Bill Clinton appears in several undated photos: standing with Epstein, in a hot tub, swimming in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell, and in other poses with a woman whose face is blacked out. Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Ureña said Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane four times in 2002 and 2003 for Clinton Foundation trips. Trump called Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Clinton’s ties to Epstein, although Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Other celebrities captured in the images include Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger standing with Clinton, late pop star Michael Jackson standing next to Epstein, and actor Kevin Spacey standing with Epstein. Spacey said he had traveled on Epstein’s plane as part of a humanitarian mission but never spent time with him. In a post on X earlier this year, Spacey wrote, “Release the Epstein files. All of them. For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can’t come soon enough.”

Findings and Next Steps

In a letter to Congress, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the records “did not reveal credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals, nor did it uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The DOJ release remains incomplete, and the remaining documents are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Key Takeaways

• The DOJ release is heavily redacted, incomplete, and offers little new insight into Epstein’s crimes.
• The release includes new material such as Maria Farmer’s 1996 complaint and a handful of celebrity photographs.
• The 30‑day deadline for full disclosure expired, and the remaining documents are expected in the next few weeks.

The release highlights the challenges of balancing transparency with victim privacy while shedding light on the extent of the public’s interest in the Epstein case.