Congress will be able to view unredacted versions of the publicly released Epstein files beginning Monday, according to a letter sent to members from a Justice Department official and obtained by MS NOW.
The letter, sent by Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis, says senators and representatives can review the documents on computers in a reading room at the Justice Department. They can take notes but cannot bring electronic devices into the room, the letter says. They also cannot bring staff into the room.
The letter instructs members to provide the DOJ with 24 hours’ notice of when they want to view the files. It also says the DOJ will keep a record of the dates and times members conduct their reviews.
Having access to the unredacted files beginning Monday will allow members of the House Judiciary Committee to view them before Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to testify before the panel next Wednesday. The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., noted Bondi’s upcoming hearing in a letter he sent to her Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week requesting access to the unredacted files.
The most recent batch of files — comprising more than three million pages, including 2,000 videos and 18,000 images — was released last week, despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act requiring the release of all files by Dec. 19. The newly released files include references to President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk and other famous and prominent people, but so far there is no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by any of the principals mentioned.
Many of the files contained sloppy redactions — including the names of dozens of known or suspected survivors, according to MS NOW’s review — prompting blowback from survivors of Epstein and their allies.
Monday is also when the late Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, will testify remotely before the House Oversight Committee from the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, where she is serving the rest of her 20-year sentence for her role in his child sex trafficking operation. A lawyer for Maxwell, David Oscar Marcus, confirmed to MS NOW this week that she will exercise her 5th Amendment right to remain silent.
Fallout has continued to mount following the latest document drop. A top lawyer and art world executive resigned from their positions this week after their emails with Epstein were revealed.
Former President Bill Clinton — who was pictured in the files released in December — and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee at the end of the month. They have pushed for a public deposition, but committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has demanded a closed-door, filmed deposition. “I will not sit idly as they use me as a prop in a closed-door kangaroo court by a Republican Party running scared,” Bill Clinton said in a Friday post on X. “If they want answers, let’s stop the games & do this the right way: in a public hearing, where the American people can see for themselves what this is really about.” MS NOW is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from NBC, AP, CNBC and CBS. Journalists from each newsroom worked together to examine the documents and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents. Lisa Rubin and Fallon Gallagher contributed to this report.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky. Recommended
