Justice Department releases 3 million pages of Epstein files

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The Justice Department on Friday released a new tranche of Jeffrey Epstein records, disclosing more than 3 million pages of files and thousands of videos and photos as required by a federal law, the Associated Press reported. The release followed years of litigation and public scrutiny over what authorities would make available from the documents prosecutors had identified as potentially subject to release.

According to the Justice Department’s disclosure, officials posted more than 600,000 documents online by Friday evening. The remaining material—millions more pages among other materials—was still not publicly available by the end of the day, which Democrats criticized, according to AP reporting.

AP said its journalists reviewing the new batch found messages showing Epstein’s communications with multiple high-profile figures. The documents were released with extensive redactions and without clear organization, AP reported, limiting what analysts and reporters could determine from the text as it was presented.

One of the accounts highlighted by AP focused on Epstein’s communications with Steve Bannon, a top adviser to then-President Donald Trump. AP reported that the documents showed Epstein exchanged hundreds of friendly messages with Bannon months before Epstein died by suicide in 2019, including discussions of politics and travel, and reference to a documentary Bannon was said to be planning to “help salvage Epstein’s reputation.” In March 2019, AP said, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome, and in a later exchange Epstein messaged, “Now you can understand why trump wakes up in the middle of the night sweating when he hears you and I are friends.” AP reported that the context was unclear due to the way the materials were released.

AP also described another Bannon exchange from 2018 that it said dealt with Trump’s threats at the time to oust Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump had named to the job the year before. AP further reported that Epstein also communicated around that period with Kathy Ruemmler, describing an email in which Epstein warned that Democrats should stop demonizing Trump as a Mafia-type figure while also deriding Trump as a “maniac,” and that Ruemmler later said she “regrets ever knowing him,” according to a spokesperson.

In a separate thread, AP reported that the new documents included emails between Epstein and Elon Musk about visiting Epstein’s island compound, the site of many allegations of abuse. AP said Musk and Epstein exchanged messages in 2012 and 2013, including an inquiry from Epstein about how many people Musk would like flown by helicopter and a Musk response that suggested it would likely be just him and his partner at the time, with Musk asking, “What day/night will be the wildest party on =our island?” AP said it was not immediately clear whether those visits took place, and that Musk’s companies did not respond to emails seeking comment.

AP reported that Musk had previously maintained he declined Epstein’s overtures, including a statement he posted on X in 2025: “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.” The AP reporting also said the documents included an invitation sent to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to visit the island in December 2012; AP reported that Lutnick’s wife accepted and said they would arrive on a yacht with their children. AP said the exchange also included drinks on another occasion in 2011, and later communications about construction of a building across the street from both of their homes.

AP reported that Lutnick later distanced himself from Epstein, calling him “gross,” and saying in 2025 that he cut ties decades ago. AP said he did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

The new documents also provided detail, AP said, about Epstein’s incarceration and his death in 2019. AP reported that Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and found dead in his cell about a month later, and that multiple investigations determined the death was a suicide. AP said the latest batch included emails between investigators about Epstein’s death, including an investigator’s observation that his final communication did not look like a suicide note.

AP also reported that the materials described an effort jail staffers used to mislead media gathered outside the jail while Epstein’s body was removed. AP said the staff used boxes and sheets to create what appeared to be a body and loaded it into a white van labeled as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and that reporters followed the van before learning later that Epstein’s actual body had been moved in a black vehicle that departed “unnoticed,” according to interview notes.

AP said reporters across the country contributed to the story, including Michael R. Sisak and Philip Marcelo in New York, Cal Woodward in Washington, Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, and Meg Kinnard in South Carolina.