Almost all the Epstein files given to Congress were already public, Democrats say

Emily Goodin, Miami Herald on Aug 23, 2025

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Only a small percentage of the Jeffrey Epstein files turned over to a House committee this week contained new information, Democrats charged.

The Justice Department, in response to a congressional subpoena, sent its first tranche of files on the case to the House Oversight panel on Friday. But the files raised more questions than answers, Democrats said.

“Only 3% of the documents given to the Oversight Committee are new,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the committee, said in a statement.

“The rest are already in the public domain. Less than 1% of files have been released. DOJ is stonewalling. The survivors deserve justice and the public deserves transparency.”

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said the “limited disclosure raises more questions than answers.”

The only new disclosure, he said, was less than 1,000 pages from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s log of flight locations of Epstein’s plane from 2000 to 2014, and “forms consistent with re-entry back to the U.S.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has been criticized for the lack of new information released about the case. And Attorney General Pam Bondi came under fire for initially promising a massive release of files only to say months later that there was nothing the public would gain from it.

On the same day the Justice Department files were handed over to lawmakers, DOJ released transcripts of Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview with the deputy attorney general, where she talked about meeting Trump, the relationship between Epstein and Bill Clinton and denied introducing Prince Andrew to the late, disgraced financier.

The majority of the government’s Epstein files — estimated to be around 100,000 pages — have not been released to the public. More files will be turned over to the Oversight panel, which promised to release them after redacting personal information.

But it’s unclear when the next tranche of files will sent to Capital Hill.

“The Committee continues to review the 34,000 pages of documents and has no further update at this time,” a committee spokesperson told McClatchy. “It’s important to note that this is the first batch of documents from the DOJ, with more to come.”

House Republicans are struggling with how to handle the Epstein issue. While many of their supporters want the files released, a public disclosure also risks revealing potentially embarrassing information about how the Epstein investigation was handled and President Donald Trump’s friendship with the late financer.

The president has said ties with Epstein ended long before Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution in 2006. Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.

Democrats, meanwhile, are keeping the pressure on.

The House of Representatives will face a vote on public disclosure of the files when lawmakers return to Washington after Labor Day weekend.

Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky are co-sponsoring a discharge petition designed to force the release of the Epstein files.

To keep the public pressure on, Khanna and Massie will host an event with 10 Epstein victims at the Capitol building.

“On September 3rd, I’m holding a press conference with survivors of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse. Some will be speaking for the first time. We’ll hear from them why releasing this information is so important,” Khanna said.

President Trump said on Friday he supports the release of files and urged Bondi to turn them over.

“Innocent people shouldn’t be hurt but I’m in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn’t care less. You got a lot of people that could be mentioned under those files that don’t deserve to be,” he noted, adding “but I have said to Pam and everybody else, give them everything you can give them, because it’s a Democrat hoax. It’s just a hoax. The whole Epstein thing is a Democrat hoax.”