NEW YORK — The U.S. government has a limited amount of time to release its Jeffrey Epstein papers.
The Justice Department must release all of its information about Epstein to the public by Christmas, according to a law signed by President Donald Trump and passed by Congress after months of animosity and accusations.
A judge decided on Wednesday that the public can see the private grand jury transcripts from Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case. The third judge to overturn previous rulings in order to conceal Epstein-related case material was U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman. The new law, which mandates that the government provide its records on Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, was mentioned by all three. The papers planned for release are scarcely revelatory, Berman has warned.
A lot has already been made public, notably by Congress and through litigation, but there will undoubtedly be previously unheard material in the thousands of pages that are expected to be made public in the Florida transcripts and other Epstein-related papers.
Additionally, don't anticipate a "client list" of well-known guys who cavorted with Epstein. In July, the Justice Department stated that there is no such list, despite long-standing rumors to the contrary.
Here's a summary of what should and shouldn't be made public, as well as a recap of how we got here:
Who is Jeffrey Epstein?
Epstein was a millionaire money manager who was accused of sexually abusing underage girls while mingling with celebrities, politicians, billionaires, and members of the academic elite.
His connections to influential figures, such as Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and the British lord Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, have generated a great deal of interest and conjecture. Clinton and Trump have not been charged with any misconduct. Andrew has denied mistreating others.
In 2005, Epstein was charged with paying a 14-year-old girl for sex, which prompted Palm Beach, Florida, police to start looking into him. After the FBI became involved in the case, Epstein struck a covert agreement with the Florida U.S. attorney to avoid federal prosecution, which allowed him to enter a guilty plea to a relatively minor state-level prostitution offense in 2008. He participated in a correctional work-release program for 13 months.
The issue was resurrected in 2019 during Trump's first term, when federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Epstein of sexually abusing dozens of girls and charged him with sex trafficking. One month after his arrest, he committed suicide while incarcerated.
In 2021, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime confidante and ex-girlfriend, was found guilty of sex trafficking by a federal jury in Manhattan in 2021 for her role in recruiting several of his juvenile victims. She has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
What does the Justice Department have on Epstein?
Records about the failed Florida inquiry, the Manhattan investigations, and everything else the Justice Department undertook to look into Epstein's business dealings in the meanwhile.
They could include notes and reports from FBI agents, transcripts of witness interviews, photos, videos, and other evidence, Epstein's autopsy report, and certain things that are already public, such flight logs and travel records.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act says that the Justice Department must make public all unclassified records and investigative materials, such as files about immunity deals and internal emails about who to charge or look into.
The transcripts might help explain why federal prosecutors decided not to move forward with their case from twenty years ago. No one knows when the transcripts will be made public.
What does the law not allow to be released?
Anything that has information about the victim that can be used to identify them.
The legislation lets the Justice Department keep documents secret or black out parts of them that would be "a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" if they were made public. It also doesn't allow the release of any materials that show the sexual abuse of children, death, physical abuse, or injury.
In other words, if there are films or pictures of Epstein or anyone else sexually abusing females who are young, they can't be shown to the public.
The law also says that records can't be kept secret or redacted just because releasing them would be embarrassing or hurt the reputation of a public figure, government official, or foreign dignitary.
When may anyone see the files?
The bill says that the Justice Department has to make the papers available to the public in a way that can be searched and downloaded within 30 days of Trump signing it. That implies by December 19 at the latest.
The legislation also lets the Justice Department keep materials that it deems could hurt an ongoing federal investigation, though. That has been the Justice Department's stance for a long time. Files can also be kept from people if they are classified or if they have to do with national defense or foreign policy.
Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi told a top federal prosecutor to look into those who knew Epstein and some of Trump's political enemies, like Clinton. The investigations into Epstein and Maxwell are long over.
That inquiry, which Trump pushed for even though the Justice Department had already found no evidence to justify it, might provide the administration a reason to keep back some of the information for a while.
What about the list of clients?
Epstein's so-called "client list," which is said to be a list of his prominent friends, has been the white whale of people who are trying to figure out what happened to him.
In February, Bondi told Fox News that the "client list" was "sitting on my desk right now to review."
The only problem is that the Justice Department said it doesn't exist. In July, they sent a letter claiming that their assessment of Epstein-related information had not turned up any incriminating "client list." The anonymous report also noted that there was no credible proof that Epstein had "blackmailed prominent people as part of his actions."
Why are these records being made public now?
Congress is making the government do something because Trump broke a campaign pledge last year to make the data public. Earlier this year, the Justice Department did provide some information, most of which were previously public. But in July, they suddenly stopped after promising a "truckload" more.
This led a small, nonpartisan group of House legislators to start what was thought to be a long shot push to force their release through legislation. In the meantime, parliamentarians began to make public the records they had obtained from Epstein's estate. Last week, they released 23,000 pages of these materials.
As criticism from the public and politicians grew, including some of Trump's friends, Congress quickly passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 18 and Trump signed it into law the next day.
Yes. Over the years, tens of thousands of pages of records were made public through civil litigation, Epstein and Maxwell's public criminal case dockets, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.
There are already a lot of documents available, such as police reports from Florida, state grand jury records, depositions from Epstein's workers, his flight records, and his address book. In July, the Justice Department made public video footage from the jail on the night Epstein died.
The FBI has even put out some papers about Epstein, putting more than 1,400 pages on its website. However, a lot of the information was blacked out and some was obscured because it was under seal.
