Further documents are waiting to be published in the scandal involving sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Time is running out for the US government. An important deadline is approaching soon.
Jan 6, 2026, 7:54 p.mJan 6, 2026, 7:54 p.m
Two and a half weeks after the end of a statutory deadline for the release of all documents relating to the deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, according to the US Department of Justice, more than two million files have not yet been published. The documents were “at various stages of review,” the ministry said in a letter to a federal judge at the beginning of the week.
The sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019: Many documents in the affair are still waiting to be published.Image: keystone
According to the letter, 12,285 documents totaling more than 125,000 pages have been published so far – less than one percent of the files currently under review. On Christmas Eve, the Justice Department reported the discovery of more than a million additional documents suspected of being related to the Epstein case.
According to the letter signed by Justice Minister Pam Bondi, more than 400 lawyers and at least 100 employees of the FBI will be busy reviewing the documents and data sets for several weeks. There is still “a lot of work to be done”.
The first deadline has already passed
Under a law passed by Congress in November, all Epstein files should have been made public by December 19th. However, the Ministry of Justice did not meet this deadline and many of the released documents were blacked out extensively. The government justifies the delays and redactions on the need to obscure the identities of Epstein’s victims. The opposition Democrats, however, accused President Donald Trump’s government of breaking the law.
Donald Trump (left) appeared more often in Jeffrey Epstein’s environment. Image: House Oversight Democrats
Epstein, who had been friends with Trump for years, had already been convicted in 2008 for using the services of underage prostitutes. Because of a controversial deal with the public prosecutor, the punishment at the time was only 18 months in prison.
In 2019, Epstein was arrested again for, among other things, sexual abuse of minors. About a month after his arrest, he was found hanging in his New York prison cell; according to official information, he committed suicide.
In the wake of the documents now made public, new allegations against former President Bill Clinton also became known. The British royal family had also removed all of Prince Andrew’s titles and appointments. The Austrian government also came under pressure because Epstein had a secret passport from the Alpine republic.
This picture of Bill Clinton (right) and an unknown man is also in the Epstein files.Image: keystone
The opposition Democrats accuse Trump of wanting to protect himself by delaying the release of files. Trump denies having closer ties to Epstein, but photos and documents published so far suggest the opposite.
The president could not be proven to have committed any personal misconduct. Trump had blocked the release of the documents for months and called the Epstein affair a “hoax.”
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