Everything we KNOW is missing from Epstein files release

The release of the Epstein files has been met with a growing backlash after huge swathes of the documents were redacted.

The Department of Justice dumped hundreds of thousands of pages on Friday in line with last month's law compelling their release.

The legislation lays out specific guidelines on what could and could not legally be redacted in regards to documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in a New York jail cell in 2019.

One of the stipulations was that nothing could be withheld solely because it 'embarrassed' a government official or public figure.

President Donald Trump was rumored to feature heavily in the files, including by his former First Buddy Elon Musk and Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles. 

But an initial review of the cache by the Daily Mail has turned up minimal reference to Trump, who was once friends with Epstein but has long claimed he cut ties before the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.

Several caveats were put in place ahead of the files' release to protect victims' privacy or national security, among other considerations.

As such pictures of abuse, victim identities, information relating to non-public figures or which could compromise active investigations were withheld.

But there is a growing discontent over the extent of the redactions including one document entitled, 'Grand Jury NY', which features 119 entirely blacked out pages.

The DOJ has admitted that despite the huge dump, more documents will be published over the coming weeks. 

CNN previously reported that officials had complained about the speed at which they were expected to redact. 

Today's release revealed inconsistencies in redactions with some men's faces blurred in certain images but not in others.

House Democrats are among those criticizing the partial release.

'Technically they're not in compliance,' Democratic congressman Ro Khanna told The Guardian.

'The law calls for all the documents that are unclassified to be released. They have not done that. The law also calls for them to explain redactions. I haven't seen yet whether they've done that or not. My initial read is that they have a lot of redactions without explanation.'

Problems also arose with accessing the documents initially. The search function did not work at first, which meant viewers have to pore through hundreds of thousands of pages of materials. 

Now, it is possible to enter terms like 'Ghislaine Maxwell' and get results. Though, searches of 'Donald Trump' or 'Bill Clinton' still turn up nothing.

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Social media vented their frustration with the level of redaction.

'One of the Epstein documents is just 100 straight pages of entirely redacted pdf. Just black rectangles. No gaps,' one person wrote.

'The world is ran by a pedo elite but the general public will likely never know the full story. 90% of the released Epstein files are fully redacted,' another raged.

'No way this is real. The whole thing is [redacted]. This isn't 'releasing' anything, this is lack of transparency.' 

Brian Krassenstein, a liberal influencer on X, said he opened a file about Ghislaine Maxwell's trial, only to find that it was redacted. 

Social media users also pointed out that many images in the Epstein files are redacted as well.

Among the redactions were several explosive images featuring a host of famous faces. The DOJ did not provide any context for the pictures and there has been no suggestion those photographed are guilty of any crime.

They include one of former President Bill Clinton lazing about in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and sex trafficking accomplice.

Clinton was also seen in a photo with Epstein himself where both men were wearing satin shirts with loud patterns.

Clinton's spokesman released a statement in the wake of the new images.

'The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,' the spokesman said.

'This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever.

'So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be.

Epstein was also seen with Michael Jackson in an undated photograph. The late King of Pop was also seen with Clinton, though it was unclear if this was a different occasion.

The front man of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, was seen in a photo seated in between Clinton and Epstein at a table.

Billionaire Richard Branson was also seen in a photo with Epstein.

Photos of actor Kevin Spacey were also included in Friday's release, though none have emerged that show him in the vicinity of Epstein or Maxwell.

Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years for her role in recruiting and sex trafficking minors for Epstein, is pictured in one photograph outside the Prime Minister's office in London.

In another image, Maxwell pulled down the front of her top for the camera. The context for many of these photos remain unknown.

One set of photos appear to be from one of Epstein's birthday celebrations, as he is wearing a party hat.

In another photo from what was likely the same day, given that he is wearing the same white bathrobe, his face is covered in a green clay mask.

The DOJ's document dump today was 30 days in the making. When President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, it gave the nation's top law enforcement agency a month to comb through millions of investigative materials to prime them for release. 

During a press conference on drug prices that was scheduled ahead of the release, Trump refused to take questions about the subject.

'I think that is a very big statement, and what happened here is the biggest statement of all, because no one thought anything like this was possible,' Trump said. 

'And I think based on that, I won't even take questions today because there's no way I can take questions that are anywhere comparable to what you just witnessed. You just witnessed drug prices that will go down at levels never thought even possible…Never thought even possible.'

Over the coming hours and days, many more revelations will be reported as news outlets continue to explore the truly gargantuan number of files.