'Complete disappointment': Backlash over release of Epstein files

The first wave of heavily redacted files mostly contain information that has been public for years.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi today released government documents related to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, but the first wave of files posted on the Justice Department website have largely been circulating in the public domain for years and didn't include any new bombshells about the sex trafficking case that has been a favourite subject of conspiracy theorists.

The small batch of documents included copies of flight logs from Epstein's private plane, which have long been available in multiple court cases, and a heavily redacted photocopy of an address book purportedly compiled by Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, which has been cited in media accounts for many years.

The Justice Department also released a blacked-out list of masseuses and an evidence list showing entries for more than 150 items, including nude images, massage tables, sex toys and other items.

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There wasn't any indication whether the list was from Epstein's case, Maxwell's case or some other investigation.

Bondi had teased the documents during a Fox News appearance this week, declaring, "Breaking news right now, you're going to see some Epstein information released."

The Justice Department said it was making the documents public to show its commitment to transparency.

President Donald Trump, who was in office when Epstein was arrested in 2019, suggested while campaigning last year that he'd seek to open up the government's files.

But the rollout of the documents – which were first given to political commentators at the White House hours earlier in binders that read "The Epstein Files: Phase I" – showed the administration's penchant for showmanship and preference for conservative influencers with large social media followings.

The Justice Department didn't post them on its website until hours later, along with a note downplaying their significance.

"The first phase of declassified files largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the US government," the note said.

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The documents are unlikely to satisfy online sleuths eager for fresh details about Epstein's crimes and his connections to famous people, which have long been the subject of intense media scrutiny.

The lack of new information drew criticism even from some conservatives.

"GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!" Florida Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna wrote on social media, calling the rollout a "complete disappointment".

Bondi suggested in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that more records were recently discovered.

She ordered the FBI to hand over "the full and complete Epstein files" to her by Friday morning local time, and directed Patel to "conduct an immediate investigation" into why her order to the FBI to turn over all documents was not followed.

Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s, but wound up serving just 13 months in jail.

He was indicted on federal charges in New York in 2019, more than a decade after he secretly struck a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of similar charges of sex trafficking.

READ MORE: Nearly 3000 Epstein pages released but questions remain

The case has drawn widespread attention because of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell's links to royals, presidents and billionaires.

Maxwell herself is the daughter of the late British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who once owned the New York Daily News.

Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, Epstein's criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests.

In January 2024, a court unsealed the final batch of a trove of documents that had been collected as evidence in a lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre.

Much of the material, including transcripts of victim interviews and old police reports, had already been publicly known.

They included mentions of Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Britain's Prince Andrew and magician David Copperfield, as well as testimony from one victim who said she met Michael Jackson at Epstein's Florida home but nothing untoward happened with him.

The previously released files included a 2016 deposition in which an accuser recounted spending several hours with Epstein at Trump's Atlantic City casino but didn't say if she actually met Trump and did not accuse him of any wrongdoing.

Trump has also said that he once thought Epstein was a "terrific guy," but that they later had a falling out.

In 2023, The Associated Press obtained thousands of pages of records shedding light on the final days of Epstein's life at a now-shuttered federal jail in Manhattan.

They included emails between jail officials, psychological evaluations, internal agency reports, memos and other records.

The Justice Department's Inspector General later issued a report finding that a "combination of negligence, misconduct and outright job performance failures" by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and jail workers enabled Epstein to take his own life in August 2019.

The watchdog report found no evidence of foul play.

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