Most of the Epstein documents have not been released. What’s going on?

More than a month has passed since the US Department of Justice was subpoenaed to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The deadline was December 19, and on that day thousands of documents saw the light, including many photographs.

But that is only a small part of the whole. The Justice Department says there are two million more Epstein documents.

The law ordering the release said the victims’ names, as well as images of child sexual abuse, confidential documents and anything necessary for the ongoing investigation must be withheld.

So the lawyers had to check all the documents individually before removing them for release. The Department of Justice says it has 400 lawyers working around the clock to do that, which is the reason for the delay.

But lawmakers in Congress are getting impatient.

What has been released so far

In November, both houses of the US Congress passed legislation requiring the Justice Department to release everything related to Epstein within 30 days. The next day, US President Donald Trump signed it into law, meaning the deadline to do it was Dec. 19.

That afternoon, thousands of documents (12,285 according to the court’s request) were released. They included emails between Epstein and other people, photos of Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, graphic images of women and graffiti believed to depict child sexual abuse.

There were many pictures of former US president Bill Clinton. Although he has not been accused of wrongdoing, Congress has ordered him and his wife Hillary Clinton to testify. They have refused and now they are being despised.

The release also included material the Justice Department says is fake, including a handwritten letter that appears to be from Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nasser, and an AI-generated video of Epstein in prison.

What is still outstanding

The Department of Justice says there are another two million documents that must be reviewed before they can be released. It said on December 31 that it would take “a few more weeks” to get through them.

It is unknown what exactly is in the millions of documents. One thing conspicuously missing is Epstein’s “client list.” There have been rumors for years that there was a list of famous men who hired Epstein, possibly for sex-trafficking purposes. In February of last year, US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed this in an interview, saying that the list was on her desk for review.

But by summer, Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel had changed their story dramatically. They said there was no list of customers.

WATCH | What we still don’t know about the Epstein files:

What was learned – and still is not known – after the release of some of the Epstein files

The US Department of Justice released thousands of documents, photos and files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. But some Democrats criticized the partial release because the department has a deadline to release all files by the end of Friday.

Is the Department of Justice acting illegally?

Although the deadline passed more than a month ago, the Department of Justice said it needed more time to review the files because it was also necessary to protect the victims’ information. But he has not given us a firm time frame as to when that work will be done.

Some in Congress feel they can’t wait any longer. The two members of the House who wrote the law calling for his release now say it is being flagrantly violated by the Department of Justice. Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna last week asked the judge to appoint an independent monitor to ensure that the documents are released immediately. “Simply put, the DOJ cannot be trusted with the disclosures mandated under the Act,” the congressman said.

Earlier this week, a judge rejected that request. The Department of Justice said it expects to update the court “soon” on its progress.