Epstein files release deadline was a month ago. What's going on?

A month after the deadline for the Department of Justice to publish all its files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, upwards of millions more have yet to be released.

In November 2025, lawmakers in Congress overwhelmingly backed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which called on the Justice Department to release all its documents on Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019.

President Donald Trump signed the act into law on Nov. 19, 2025, giving the Justice Department 30 days to release all its files with the exception of those that could violate victims' privacy or jeopardize federal investigations.

In the eleventh-hour of that deadline, on Dec. 19, 2025, the department began to issue a tranche of emails, photos and other documents related to Epstein. But not all of the department's files were released by the deadline. And of those that were, many of them arrived to the DOJ's so-called Epstein library with heavy redactions or no context.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the time that lawyers were still sifting through the materials to make sure victims aren’t named or identified, and it would likely take several weeks to produce the remaining pages.

With 30 days having since passed from that deadline, here's a look at the latest on the Epstein files release.

Millions of files still being reviewed, DOJ said earlier this month

The Justice Department said in a court filing earlier this month that nearly 13,000 documents had been posted to the Epstein library so far, but up to two million more still need to be reviewed.

In the Jan. 5 filing addressed to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche said 400 lawyers and 100 document analysts were reviewing the documents to ensure victims' names are redacted.

Another court filing last week said the department has made "substantial progress" in the review process since the Jan. 5 update, but did not specify how many more documents were still pending review.

"The Department is coordinating resources for this review from various components and offices. Leadership from these various components holds daily calls (sometimes twice daily) to address progress, coordination, deduplication, reviewer questions, victim issues, and technical issues," Bondi and Blanche said in the Jan. 15 filing.

Congress leaders push for independent body to review DOJ's Epstein file handling

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), the lead sponsors of the bill to force the Epstein files release, have continued their push by asking a judge to intervene in the review process.

In a Jan. 8 letter, the lawmakers asked Engelmayer to appoint a special master or independent monitor to ensure the Justice Department complies with the law to release the Epstein files.

"The conduct by the DOJ is not only a flagrant violation of the mandatory disclosure obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but as this Court has recognized in its previous rulings, the behavior by the DOJ has caused serious trauma to survivors," the letter said.

Bondi and Blanche filed a response to the lawmakers on Jan. 16 in which they argued Massie and Khanna do not have legal basis for the request.

USA TODAY reached out to the Justice Department for comment on Jan. 20.

Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected].