The Justice Department began disclosing thousands of files and photos related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, following years of pressure from lawmakers and abuse survivors for more transparency into the government's investigations into the disgraced financier.

The records were released in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed last month and required the government to release virtually all Epstein-related files within 30 days.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said more files will be released "over the next couple of weeks," even though the law required the documents to be disclosed by Friday. He later told lawmakers that the Justice Department needed more time to pore through the records and redact victims' names.

Congressional Democrats have accused the Justice Department of failing to comply with the law, arguing the documents are too heavily redacted and should have been released in full on Friday.

Where to find the Epstein files
The files that were disclosed Friday under the Epstein Files Transparency Act are available on the Justice Department's website, broken into different data sets. The total number of files in the first five sets alone is roughly 3,900, nearly all of which are PDFs.

CBS News is also uploading the records to a searchable database, which is available here, though many of the files are photos, not text documents.

Here are the Justice Department's records:

Data Set 1
Data Set 2
Data Set 3
Data Set 4
Data Set 5
Data Set 6
Data Set 7

What's in the new Epstein files?
Thousands of the files are images, including photos that were seemingly taken in Epstein's mansion in Manhattan or his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those include photos of his bedroom in New York, his risque wall art and a taxidermied tiger.

Many photos show Epstein socializing with his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. Former President Bill Clinton also appears in several of the images — in some cases, the former president is posing with celebrities like Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. A spokesperson has acknowledged that Clinton traveled with Epstein on several occasions, but says he was not aware of Epstein's crimes, and accused the Justice Department of trying to scapegoat Clinton on Friday.

Some of the photos are redacted — in certain cases, they show Epstein posing with people whose faces are obscured.

There are also a number of investigative documents, some of which have heavy redactions. In a few cases, documents are almost entirely redacted.

Why were some of the Epstein files redacted?
The law that requires the Justice Department to release the files only allows redactions under narrow circumstances, including to take out Epstein survivors' personal information, violent images or child sexual abuse material. The government is also allowed to temporarily withhold records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution."

Records cannot be withheld solely because they would cause "embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity."

Some redactions in the documents released Friday appeared to omit victims' names, but the exact reasons for every redaction are unclear. The law also requires the department to give Congress a list of its redactions within 15 days.

What was Epstein investigated for and charged with?
The files that were released Friday are expected to stem from the litany of investigations surrounding Epstein and Maxwell, stretching back at least 20 years.

Allegations about Epstein's conduct appeared to emerge on the government's radar as early as the 1990s, when survivor Maria Farmer says she reported to the FBI that Epstein had abused her. In a lawsuit, she has accused the government of failing to look into her allegations.

Epstein was investigated by local police in Florida and federal prosecutors starting in the mid-2000s. That probe ended with a controversial 2007 deal in which federal prosecutors in Miami agreed not to charge him, in exchange for a guilty plea on prostitution charges in state court.

More than a decade later, Epstein was charged in New York federal court with abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls. Maxwell was charged with sex trafficking conspiracy the following year, and was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Files from several other probes could be made public. The government has investigated the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019, officially ruled a suicide. And it has investigated Miami prosecutors' decision to cut a non-prosecution deal.

Why the Epstein files are being released now
The files are being released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed into law in November. The legislation gave the attorney general 30 days to publicly release documents related to Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, the government's investigations into both and internal records about the cases.

The legislation was the result of years of pressure from Epstein and Maxwell's survivors, who pushed lawmakers for more transparency about how the government handled both of their cases. Epstein's death fueled conspiracy theories about his connections to high-powered figures in government and the business world.

The calls for transparency reached new heights over the summer. The Justice Department conducted a review of the Epstein files in the government's possession, and concluded that there was no "client list" or evidence that he had blackmailed prominent figures. The findings infuriated many of the president's supporters who had been calling for the release of the Epstein files for years, and opened the door for a bipartisan push to unveil the records.

California Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, was the lead sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. He introduced the bill in July, and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed a discharge petition aimed at forcing a vote on the measure. The push was delayed by opposition from House Speaker Mike Johnson and the government shutdown in the fall. But in November, the petition received the final signature required to bring the bill up for a vote.

It passed the House by a vote of 427 to 1 and the Senate unanimously approved it. President Trump signed it into law on Nov. 19, despite spending months pressuring Republicans to oppose it, starting the clock on the 30-day deadline.

In the wake of Congress' passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, three separate judges approved Justice Department requests to unseal grand jury transcripts from investigations into Maxwell and Epstein. One of those rulings stemmed from grand jury proceedings in South Florida in 2005 and 2007. Epstein ultimately escaped federal charges there and instead agreed to plead guilty to state prostitution charges.

The other two court orders came from judges in New York, where Epstein and Maxwell were charged in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

When will the next group of Epstein files be released?
It's unclear. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News earlier Friday that the department would release more files "over the next couple of weeks."

"We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce making sure every victim — their name, their identity, their story, to the extent that it needs to be protected — is completely protected," Blanche said.

That timeline does not comply with the law, which required the release of all eligible files by Dec. 19. The department's office of public affairs said before Friday's release that the "initial deadline is being met as we work diligently to protect victims."

Blanche's comments, and the department's failure to release all of the files, angered many Democrats who have harshly criticized the administration for its handling of the documents. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, accused the Trump administration of violating the law and suggested they could take legal action.

"Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein's decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring," Raskin and Garcia said in a joint statement. "For months, Pam Bondi has denied survivors the transparency and accountability they have demanded and deserve and has defied the Oversight Committee's subpoena. The Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself, even as it gives star treatment to Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell."

Raskin and Garcia said they are "examining all legal options" given Blanche's earlier admission.

"The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ," they said.

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