DOJ says it has produced more than 3 million pages under Epstein Files Transparency Act

Deputy Attorney General Branch announced that the Department of Justice has produced more than 3,000,000 pages — approximately three and a half million responsive pages — in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Branch said the production includes "more than 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images" and that the department intentionally over-collected material during its search and review process to ensure comprehensive transparency.

Branch said the review drew on staff across multiple DOJ components, including the Office of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General's office, the Associate Attorney General's office, the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorneys' offices in the Southern District of Florida, the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of New York. "I want to thank the more than 500 lawyers and professionals" who worked on the effort, he said.

Why it matters: the release is the largest DOJ production tied to the investigations of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and responds to statutory direction. Branch described careful review and called the work "a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act."

Branch described the categories of material the department withheld, citing statutory and privacy protections: personally identifiable victim information, victims' personal and medical files, any depiction of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), material that would jeopardize an active federal investigation, and images or videos depicting death, physical abuse or injury. He said no files are being withheld for national-security or foreign-policy reasons. "We erred on the side of over collecting of materials ... to best ensure maximum transparency and compliance," Branch said.

On redactions, Branch said the department applied extensive visual redactions: "We redacted every woman depicted in any image or video with the exception of Miss Maxwell. We did not redact images of any men unless it was impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man." He invited members of Congress to arrange for an in-person review of unredacted materials if needed.

A small set of materials that were produced to the Southern District of New York in 2019 by a law firm were not released immediately; Branch said DOJ filed a motion in the SDNY to seek production of those materials subject to an existing protective order and that the materials would be released, with appropriate redactions, if the court grants the motion.

Branch said the department will submit the statutorily required report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees listing categories of released and withheld records and summarizing legal bases for redactions. He also noted an established DOJ inbox for victims to raise concerns or request corrections to redactions.

The press conference concluded with Branch taking reporters' questions about related matters, including whether additional prosecutions would follow from material in the files. He said DOJ would prosecute if it found evidence that satisfied legal standards, but he declined to identify specific names or new leads during the briefing.