Recap: The US Department of Justice released nearly 3 million documents related to the Epstein case on Friday. This belated release fuels suspicions surrounding the Trump administration, as the president is mentioned several times.

Three million documents related to the Epstein case have been released. After several weeks of delay, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday, January 30, the release of 2,000 videos, 180,000 images, and millions of other documents concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This is the largest quantity of files released to date by the US Department of Justice regarding Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 before his trial.

This publication comes late, as a law passed by Congress last year required the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files by December 19, 2025. A delay that the number two at the Department of Justice, Todd Blanche, justified by the need to protect victims by hiding certain elements on the documents.

But these piecemeal releases and redactions are fueling distrust of the Trump administration's handling of the case, even though the initial documents released confirmed a past relationship between the convicted sex offender and Donald Trump. According to the New York Times, at least 3,200 references to the American president are present in the documents published this Friday. Le Nouvel Obs examines this new development in the Epstein case.

• “More than three million pages”

“Today we are releasing more than three million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and more than 180,000 images,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference. He clarified that not all of the more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images released originated from Jeffrey Epstein or his associates, explaining that the vast majority of it was “pornography.”

Images and videos of all the women were redacted, with the exception of those of Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, Todd Blanche emphasized during a press conference. The deputy attorney general also indicated that no images of men had been censored, except when it was impossible to censor the images of the women without also censoring those of the men.

Elements that could identify victims, those depicting sexual violence against children, or those compromising an ongoing investigation have also been removed, the BBC reports.

Todd Blanche also stated that federal prosecutors had identified 6 million pages as "potentially relevant" under the congressional law requiring the release of Epstein files, as reported by The New York Times. However, he later indicated that "the number of relevant pages is significantly lower than the total number of pages initially collected." Hence the 3 million documents currently being released.

• Why such a delay in publication?

Congress had set December 19 as the deadline for releasing the documents. The delay in releasing them justified the slow pace by citing the need to protect victims by redacting names or even entire passages, or by covering faces in photos.

The law that required the Justice Department to release Epstein's files also mandated that it explain to Congress why it had redacted certain information. Justice Department representative Todd Blanche indicated that federal authorities would submit their report "in due course."

As with previous releases, the Justice Department redacted certain information, notably under the "deliberative process privilege," which allows government agencies not to disclose certain communications exchanged before a final decision is made in a case, as explained by the "New York Times."

Nevertheless, these delays and redactions fueled accusations of cover-up against the Trump administration. The US president had, moreover, been particularly resistant to the efforts of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who were pushing for the release of this enormous trove of documents; some of which had highlighted Donald Trump's past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The New York Times reports that Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who authored the law compelling the Justice Department to release Epstein's files, shared his skepticism regarding Todd Blanche's explanation of which documents have, or have not, been released. He indicated that he would examine whether certain documents he is requesting were disclosed, such as "victim statements collected during interviews with the FBI (Form 302)" or "a prosecution memorandum prepared during the 2007 Florida investigation."

He added that "refusing to publish these documents only protects the influential people involved and damages public trust in our institutions."

• What do these new documents contain?

Since Friday, several media outlets have been analyzing the contents of these millions of recently released files. According to The New York Times, there are at least 3,200 references to President Donald Trump. The newspaper notes that this number could increase in the coming hours. Some documents appear to be from reports submitted to investigators in the Epstein case. Others are mentions of Trump in press articles, included in the investigation file. There are also emails, as Donald Trump and Epstein communicated regularly, particularly about his chances of being elected president in 2016.

The New York Times also identified a diagram, created by federal authorities, illustrating Jeffrey Epstein's inner circle, several members of which were considered potential accomplices. It includes the names and photos of several people known to be part of the pedophile's entourage, notably his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, his lawyer Darren Indyken, his accountant Richard Kahn, his financial advisor Harry Beller, and Jean-Luc Brunel, who committed suicide in a French prison after being charged with rape.

The BBC reports that documents link Ghislaine Maxwell to a naturalization certificate, listing her address as "Little St. James Island," the very island Jeffrey Epstein purchased in 1998. Maxwell, his former associate, is the only other person currently facing charges in the case. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States.

Psychological reports on Jeffrey Epstein during his incarceration are also included in these new publications.

• What was in the latest published documents?

Previous publications have mainly shed light on the spectacular network of the extremely wealthy New York financier, who died in prison in 2019 in New York before being tried for setting up a system of sexual exploitation of underage girls.

Among the documents published in December, photos of former Democratic President Bill Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein or women with concealed faces had particularly attracted attention.

Other evidence confirmed the close relationship that once existed between the wealthy businessman and Donald Trump, who has never been accused of criminal activity related to Jeffrey Epstein. The American president acknowledges having associated with him in the 1990s, but claims to have severed ties before he faced legal repercussions.

He had declared in January 2024 on his Truth Social network: "I never flew on Epstein's plane." However, Donald Trump's name appears eight times on the passenger list of Jeffrey Epstein's private plane between 1993 and 1996, according to an investigator in a 2020 email made public as part of the initial releases.