What to know on the initial release of materials from the Epstein files

The Justice Department came under intense scrutiny over the weekend for its initial release of files related to the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender, even as it prepared to make public more material from the inquiries.

Some victims and advocates criticized the batch posted by the Justice Department on Friday as heavily redacted and containing few revelations. Some lawmakers asserted that the department's failure to meet a 30-day deadline to release all of the files, as imposed by Congress last month, meant that the Trump administration had failed to adhere to the law.

After the initial release, the department removed from the online collection a small number of photographs from inside Epstein's home. Among them was one showing a credenza with a number of pictures, including at least one of Donald Trump, raising questions about whether the administration was seeking to shield the president. That image was later reposted by the department.

The release of the files had been long awaited by those who believed the materials could shed light on Epstein's activities and his ties to prominent and powerful men. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while under indictment on federal charges of sex trafficking minors.

The Justice Department said more documents would be released in the coming weeks, as it sought to comply with a bipartisan law that required the entire investigative record, with a few exceptions, to have been made public by the end of the last week.

Here are key takeaways about the initial release.

The Justice Department said it would not remove mentions of Trump.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said Sunday that the Justice Department was trying to comply with the statute requiring the release of the files but that it was a gargantuan task that had to be done carefully to protect victims.

"You're talking about a million or so pages of documents -- virtually all of them contain victim information," Blanche said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He said the administration would not remove any mentions of Trump from the files as they continued to be released in the coming weeks. "We are not redacting information around President Trump," Blanche said.

Later Sunday, the Justice Department republished the deleted image of the credenza in Epstein's home that held the picture of Trump. "After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction," the Justice Department said in a statement on social media.

Some lawmakers expressed frustration.

Rep Thomas Massie, R-Ky, who helped write the Epstein files legislation, said administration officials were "flouting the spirit and the letter of the law." In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, he cited the many redactions and the administration's failure to release all the files Friday.

Speaking about Epstein's victims, Massie said he believed "the most expeditious way to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi," the attorney general. Massie, one of the authors of the law compelling the Justice Department to release of all of its material on Epstein, said he and the co-sponsor of his law, Rep Ro Khanna, D-Calif., were in the process of drafting that resolution.

Either congressional chamber can vote to hold a person or official "in contempt" by a simple majority vote. Massie said he and Khanna were drafting a resolution that would impose a fine on Bondi "for every day that she's not releasing these documents."

The documents produced no major revelations.

The released files, which included thousands of photographs and investigative documents, added little to the public's understanding of Epstein's conduct. The materials also did not provide much additional insight into Epstein's connections to wealthy and powerful businessmen and politicians who associated with him.

The materials were mostly drawn from investigations into Epstein reaching back to an initial inquiry opened by police in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005. There were also files from a subsequent investigation conducted by federal prosecutors in Florida that ended in 2008 with a plea deal, and from a final inquiry by prosecutors in Manhattan in 2019 that was never resolved, after Epstein died in jail while the case was still proceeding in what the medical examiner ruled was a suicide.

Many of the documents, which included phone records, travel logs and what appeared to be case files with interviews featuring some of Epstein's female victims, were heavily redacted.

The reaction from the right was muted.

Trump's right-wing supporters have traditionally been among the most ardent advocates for releasing the Epstein files. They have long been convinced that the documents would contain evidence that a cabal of prominent men -- in their telling, mostly Democrats -- had joined Epstein in abusing young women and covering up their crimes.

But those same supporters were largely silent as the files came out, perhaps in response to the dearth of new incriminating information. Trump on Friday and throughout the weekend conspicuously refrained from commenting on the release of the materials, even though the case has haunted him politically.

Whether those who have woven elaborate conspiracy theories around Epstein and the government's handling of the investigation will be satisfied by anything the Justice Department releases seems open to question.

Bill Clinton was featured prominently.

Whether by design or chance, many of the photographs included in the files were of one of Trump's most prominent political adversaries: former President Bill Clinton.

One image depicted Clinton reclining in a hot tub with a person whose face had been blacked out. In many of the photos of Clinton, he was the only person whose identity could be discerned. The files provided little or no context for the pictures.

The photos of Clinton were made public after Trump ordered the Justice Department last month to investigate any ties between the former president and other Democrats to Epstein. Bondi immediately followed up on Trump's instructions by directing Jay Clayton, the US attorney in Manhattan, to undertake the case.

The White House on Friday sought to make political hay of the release of the photos of Clinton.

"We did see something," Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, wrote in a social media post above the image of Clinton in the hot tub. "Just not what you wanted."

A spokesperson for Clinton suggested that the White House had engineered the release of the photos to distract from Trump's own relationship with Epstein.

"The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton," said the spokesperson, Angel Urena. "This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever."

There were few mentions of Trump.

For months, Trump actively fought the release of the Epstein files, calling them a Democratic "hoax" and threatening to punish members of Congress who voted to allow them to be made public.

But his name was rarely mentioned in the materials released Friday. It remained unclear, though, whether he would figure more in the release of files still to come and whether the Justice Department selected the initial batch with politics in mind.

Trump and Epstein were close friends for years, and the president's earlier reluctance to release the files prompted speculation about whether they prominently featured him.

Most of the photos of Trump released Friday had already been made public, including images of him and his wife, Melania, with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a federal prison sentence for helping Epstein traffic underage girls.

Written references to Donald Trump came up in Epstein's address book and flight logs, as well as a message book in which Epstein's assistants let him know about missed phone calls. Versions of those documents were already public.

Trump's name also comes up in interviews with Maxwell, transcripts that the Justice Department had previously made public and rereleased Friday.

Epstein attracted the rich and famous.

The files showed how Epstein attracted a remarkably broad spectrum of famous people into his orbit, from rock stars Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger to legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.

While the materials bore no suggestion that these celebrities had any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein's illicit activities, they stood nonetheless as a remarkable testament to his ability to attract attention from the rich and famous.

Still, the documents and photos were largely silent about a roster of other well-known people who have long been associated with Epstein and his finances, including businessmen like Leon Black and Leslie H Wexner.