The Epstein files are still being released by the thousands after the deadline for the Department of Justice to disclose them passed on Friday.

On Tuesday another 10,000 files were uploaded to a government website – much of which covered the Federal Bureau of Investigations inquiry into the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. The documents are part of another 4,000 files released on Friday, some of which contain hundreds of pages.

The emails, photos, videos, memos and reports start in 2005 and span four presidential administrations. They have been made public under the Epstein Transparency Act, a bipartisan measure signed into law by President Donald Trump on Nov. 19. Miami Herald reporters are sifting through the documents. Here is what we know so far.

The latest files name Trump multiple times

The Department of Justice released a statement Tuesday that about 30,000 additional pages had been disclosed overnight. In the statement, the department defended Trump against any wrongdoing that may be in the files.

“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” notes the statement on social media. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

The first release on Dec. 19 focused more on former President Bill Clinton, with minimal mentions of Trump. One file showing a picture of Trump with women in a desk drawer disappeared, and was re-uploaded. In at least one document that was already public elsewhere, Trump’s name was redacted.

But Monday’s files had more mentions of the president.

A photo, since removed, shows a hat with “Trump Princess” written on it. In one tip to the FBI, someone claimed to have met a woman who said she was raped by Trump and Epstein.

In 2023, Epstein’s brother Mark sent a separate tip to the FBI in which he said he believed that Epstein was murdered.

“I have reason to believe he was killed because he was about to name names. I believe Presient (sic) Trump authorized is (sic) murder,” reads a note from Mark Epstein.

Another bizarre letter was signed by “J. Epstein” and addressed to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar. The postcard was postmarked on Aug. 13, 2019, three days after Epstein’s death. It included a line stating that: “Our president also shares our love of young, nubile, girls.”

The Department of Justice stated on social media Tuesday that it was investigating the letter, and later posted a statement that the FBI found the letter to be a forgery.

“The FBI has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE. The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time,” read the statement.

Trump had a long-documented friendship with Epstein, but has denied any wrongdoing. He told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Monday that “Everybody was friendly with this guy.”

“I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown. I think it’s a terrible thing,” he said.

Co-conspirators names redacted in files

In July, the Department of Justice released a memo that no further disclosure of the Epstein files was necessary. It stated that there is no “client list,” no credible evidence of blackmail, and no evidence that would “predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

But among the files are notes about 10 co-conspirators who were investigated or contacted by the FBI.

On Jul. 7, 2019, the day after Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on federal sex trafficking charges, unnamed individuals, apparently from the FBI in New York, discussed contact with 10 co-conspirators. Most of their names are redacted, but one person is Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and another is Jean Luc Brunel, a French model scout who died by suicide in 2022.

The Epstein Transparency Act requires that the Attorney General submit to the House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary a summary of all redactions and their legal basis within 15 days of completion of the release.

As the documents were supposed to be released on Friday, Dec. 19, that deadline would presumably be Jan. 3, 2026.

What is still missing? Where are the tapes?

While the files cover a lot of ground, they still leave many questions unanswered – and point to the existence of even more material.

In August 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York paid $12,262.50 to an audio and video expert witness service for tapes pertaining to the Epstein investigation, the new documents show.

They wrote in emails that approximately 22 VHS tapes and 49 cassette tapes needed “to be converted, labeled, and indexed,” spanning 133 hours of footage.

Where those tapes are, and what they are, is still an open question.

Victims have long alleged that Epstein kept tapes of prominent men. Among the files is also an unverified tip to the FBI that Clinton and Trump are both on tapes.

Just before the second round of files were released on Monday, California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna wrote on social media platform X that he and victims were looking for specific documents, that had yet to be disclosed.

On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky told the Herald that the files show that the Department of Justice downplayed what information they had.

“In spite of being incomplete and overly redacted, the files show Patel, Bondi, and Trump misrepresenting what’s in them for nearly a year,” Massie said. “A complete disclosure consistent with the Epstein Files Transparency Act will reveal more men should be investigated for sex crimes.”

Congressional leaders allege cover-up

As the documents have rolled out, representatives have threatened legal action against the DOJ for not meeting the deadline, and questioned what was missing from the files, and why.

“The new documents that Congress has forced the Justice Department to release make one thing clear: We are witnessing a criminal White House cover-up,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote in a statement Tuesday evening.

While the Epstein Transparency Act does not specify penalties for any violations of the law, it does require all files to be released within 30 days of its enactment — which set the deadline for last Friday, Dec. 19.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has publicly clashed with the president over the release of the Epstein files, reacted on social media Tuesday.

“This is horrifying. Trump called me a traitor for fighting him to release the Epstein files and standing with women who were raped, jailed in stalls, and trafficked to men,” she wrote. “Only evil people would hide this and protect those who participated. I pray for these women.”

What we know about Epstein’s death

The newly released records included at least five of Jeffrey Epstein’s last will and testaments as they were modified between 2007 and 2019.

Epstein’s longtime personal attorney Darren Indyke was listed as the first executor to his estate across all five wills, but Epstein added and removed various other Wall Street executives from the list over the years.

In November 2014, Epstein added former Harvard University president Larry Summers as a backup executive, the records show. He was removed when Epstein modified his will again in 2019.

In that final will — notarized two days before Epstein’s death — the disgraced financier placed his entire $578 million fortune into a separate trust, as has been previously reported.

Just a month after he was arrested in 2019, Epstein was found hanging in his prison cell, the cause of death ruled suicide. But years later, there are still questions about the circumstances around his death. Among the files released this week are documents from the Bureau of Prisons, many of which already have been made public.

Reached by the phone on Tuesday, Mark Epstein confirmed that he submitted the 2023 tip to the FBI, and said that he believed his brother was murdered. He said that the FBI never got back to him, but that he did meet with the DOJ at a separate date. “The Justice Department is obviously covering this up,” he said.

Asked why he believed Trump was involved, he said “The question becomes, who would be in a position to orchestrate this and have the Justice Department cover it up?”

“Someone killed my brother. Where I come from, you don’t kill my brother,” he said.

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(Miami Herald reporters Julie K. Brown, Ana Claudia Chacin, Shirsho Dasgupta, Claire Heddles, Ben Weider and Churchill Ndonwie contributed to this report.)

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