The United States Department of Justice, meeting the legal deadline established by Congress, released this Friday (19) thousands of new files related to the case of pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of sexual crimes, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial in a federal prison.
The material was made available through a public consultation portal of the Department of Justice (www.justice.gov/epstein), which brings together documents from state and federal investigations, court records, files obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and materials that had also been released since September by the Oversight Committee of the US House of Representatives.
According to the Department of Justice, the disclosure meets the requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law approved with broad support from Congress and sanctioned by President Donald Trump, which ordered the release of all information about the case.
The files released this Friday include images of Epstein’s travels with his ex-girlfriend and collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell, images from security cameras at his residences, recordings from the cell where he died, flight records, contact books and materials seized during police investigations. Some of the content had already been previously released by the department itself.
According to the Department of Justice, many documents appear partially censored to protect the identities of victims and preserve ongoing investigations. Sensitive lists, such as massage therapist records, had entire sections hidden for security reasons, as required by law.
In a note published on social media, the Department of Justice stated that “the Trump administration is offering levels of transparency that previous governments never even considered”, highlighting that the initial deadline for releasing the files was met at the same time that measures were adopted to protect survivors of abuse committed by Epstein. The release of the files takes place within the scope of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law approved with broad support from Congress and sanctioned by President Trump, which determined the release of all information about the Epstein case by this Friday.
According to CNN, among the documents released are unpublished photographs of former president Bill Clinton alongside Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The images show Clinton in leisure settings with the two, although it is unclear when or where they were captured.
According to the American media, the total collection that must be disclosed exceeds 300 gigabytes including documents, images and videos.
