The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Saturday released more files, documents and photos connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a day after the deadline for releasing all of the files.
DOJ on Friday released thousands of its documents, but came under criticism from Democrats and Republicans in Congress for not complying with a law passed by Congress this fall to release all the documents by Friday.
The two batches of documents included photos of locations where Epstein lived in New York and Florida, grand jury testimony and handwritten messages.
DOJ redacted the names of FBI case agents and other law enforcement officials who gave testimony to the grand jury. One document released Saturday shows testimony in May 2007 from an FBI employee investigating Epstein’s bank accounts.
Several handwritten notes include missed calls to Epstein with some messages that included “She has Females for Mr. J.E.” and “I have Females for him.” Most of the caller’s names on the messages are redacted. One undated note with no message reads that the call was from “Donald Trump.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said one file released Friday of a photo Epstein’s desk that included two printed pictures of President Trump was no longer accessible on DOJ’s website.
One shows a known photo of Trump with first lady Melania Trump, Epstein and the financier’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000. The other shows Trump surrounded by women in bathing suits.
“This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release,” read a post from the Oversight Democrats’ X account. “[Attorney General Pam Bondi] is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
The PDF of the picture no longer appears on DOJ’s “Epstein Library” webpage.
The initial release of the files on Friday was met with a wave of criticism.
Lawmakers slammed DOJ for not releasing all the documents as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which gave DOJ 30 days after its was signed into law to prepare the documents for release. This included making redactions to protect the names and identities of victims and to hide the names of individuals potentially under investigation.
Files released on Friday included several photos of prominent people with Epstein. Several included former President Clinton, actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, musicians Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The faces of women in several of the photos were covered with black squares.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who co-led the bill’s passage with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), accused DOJ of “FLAUNTING LAW” on Saturday.
He shared two screenshots on the social platform X, one of the Epstein Files Transparency Act requesting DOJ to provide lawmakers with internal communications about whether it sought to charge and investigate or not to charge and not to investigate Epstein.
The other screenshot showed the “DOJ letter to Congress asserting privilege to omit materials related to decisions, because they weren’t specified by law,” Massie wrote.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted on X Friday night: “RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.” Mace was among the four Republicans, including Massie, to support the discharge petition forcing the House to vote on the Epstein files bill.
This story was updated at 4:15 p.m.