In her statement, Bondi, along with Deputy Todd Blanche, noted that some confidential materials remain under seal.
“We have released all records, documents, messages, and investigative materials in the Department's possession that pertain to nine categories,” they stated.
Among the 300 names mentioned in the materials are President Donald Trump, Barack and Michelle Obama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, as well as Bill Cosby, Robert De Niro, and Hillary Clinton.
Also on the list are Prince Harry, Woody Allen, Kamala Harris, Mark Zuckerberg, Bruce Springsteen, Elon Musk, Pope John Paul II, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat from New York), Bono, Beyoncé, and many others.
It should be noted that the presence of these names in the files does not necessarily indicate illegal activities or direct connections to Epstein, as the source points out.
Some of the mentioned individuals had “extensive email correspondence” with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, while others were mentioned in materials that, at first glance, do not relate to the cases of Epstein and Maxwell, representatives of the Justice Department explained.
According to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department was given until December 19 to release all documents related to the deceased financier.
The files contain information about organizations that are allegedly connected to Epstein, including data on his activities in human trafficking and financial operations, as well as correspondence between the Justice Department and federal officials who investigated his cases.
According to the Justice Department, a team of hundreds of lawyers analyzed about 6 million pages of documents and ultimately published more than 3.5 million pages of materials after a compressed timeline.
Some documents remained undisclosed due to “deliberative process privilege, work product, and attorney-client privilege,” Bondi and Blanche explained. Additionally, the names of victims and personal data were redacted.
Earlier, Blanche reported the existence of “a small number of documents” whose fate depends on ongoing litigation; they will be released upon court approval.
“No materials were withheld due to embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including information about public officials or high-profile individuals,” Justice Department representatives emphasized.
“Any omissions from the list are unintentional, and, as noted in previous reports to Congress, this is related to the volume and speed with which the department complied with the law's requirements,” they added.
“Individuals whose names were redacted for law enforcement sensitivity reasons are not included in the list.”
The letter was addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (Republican from Iowa) and senior committee Democrat Dick Durbin (Illinois), as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Republican from Ohio) and his Democratic colleague Jamie Raskin (Maryland) on Saturday.
Although Bondi did not sign the letter, Blanche signed it, even though her name was listed at the top of the document.
It is important to emphasize that the Epstein files contain some allegations and messages that the Justice Department could not verify or deemed unreliable.
Last week, Congressman Ro Khanna (Democrat from California), who co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act with Congressman Thomas Massie (Republican from Kentucky), named six individuals from the files on the House floor, claiming they are “wealthy and influential men whom the Justice Department has concealed without apparent reason.”
Under the Constitution's free speech provision, legislators are protected from certain types of liability, including defamation lawsuits, when acting within the scope of their official duties.
Subsequently, the Justice Department stated that four of the mentioned individuals appeared only in a photo collection from the Southern District of New York and had no known connections to Epstein.
“The problem is that you did not reach out to us, but went straight to X (formerly Twitter) and the House floor, making false accusations against four men while we were checking the facts,” Blanche wrote on X, commenting on the situation.
Lawmakers were given access to the unredacted files starting the Monday of the previous week, but it soon became known that the Justice Department was monitoring the history of their search in the unredacted document database.
