Epstein survivors express disappointment over heavy redactions in document dump as more files still to be released
‘There's been a lot of effort, money & time put into redactions. Not to protect victims, but to protect people in power,’ one survivor said
Survivors of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse have expressed disappointment over a document dump that was heavily redacted and only partially released.
The Justice Department released thousands of documents Friday related to the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019 as he stood accused of sexually abusing and sex trafficking underage girls.
Despite Congress passing a bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law, compelling the government to release all of the documents by Friday, the Justice Department said it would take an additional “couple of weeks” to make everything public.
Included in the trove of documents was a 100-page file that was completely blacked out. Representative Ro Khanna — a California Democrat who, along with Republican congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, led the charge to release the Epstein files — said the documents were excessively redacted.
“The most important documents are missing, they’ve had excessive redactions,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, adding that the disgraced financier’s 60-count indictment before he reached a plea deal on sex crimes in 2008 and an 82-page memo backing up the charges have yet to be made public.
Epstein survivor Annie Farmer said, “I don't feel tremendously confident that everything will come out.”
“There's been a lot of effort, money & time put into redactions. Not to protect victims, but to protect people in power,” she said in a statement shared by CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane.
Haley Robson, another Epstein survivor who voted for Trump but has come to regret it, told The Independent, “I knew going into this and just how Trump likes to play his little tactics. I knew with all the obstacles we've already rendered and the administration's flip flop, I already knew that we were not going to see the files as we should be getting them.”
Robson wants to file a lawsuit since she said the Trump administration and the Justice Department had not complied with the Epstein files bill.
"I told my attorneys that there has to be consequences on every level. It can't just be consequences on the men who trafficked and abused us. It has to be consequences to the system, which the system is, what you're seeing now, and how they're basically pivoting and dragging their feet," Robson said.
Epstein survivor Jess Michaels, told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace, “Even with an act of Congress we are seeing the exact same delays, negligence, corruption, incompetence that we’ve seen consistently and been advocating about.”
Liz Stein, who has also accused Epstein of sexual abuse, told the network, “I think that the best way that the American public can support us is by continuing to put the pressure on and demanding accountability from our government to release all of this information.”
White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Independent, “The Trump Administration is the most transparent in history.
“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have.”
One document that did come to light was a 1996 FBI complaint made by Farmer’s sister, Maria Farmer, another Epstein survivor.
The report claimed the disgraced financier stole pictures of her then-12-year-old and 16-year-old sisters and sold them to “potential buyers.”
Farmers’ name was redacted and only describes her as a “professional artist.” It states she had taken pictures of her sisters for her personal art work. Farmer told The New York Times the photos included nude pictures. The case is classified as “child pornography” in the complaint.
The complaint also states Epstein requested Farmer to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools and he threatened to “burn her house down” if she told anyone about the photos.
In a statement aired on CNN, Maria said, “I’m crying for two reasons. I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed.”
Annie confirmed that the 16-year-old mentioned in the report was her when speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper. She began to tear up as she said, “Just to see it in writing and to know that they had this document this entire time, and how many people were harmed after that date…has been very emotional.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene — a Georgia Republican who recently had a public falling out with Trump, in part due to her support of the releasing of the Epstein files — wrote on X, “the heavily redacted Epstein files being released” and “failure to release them all by today’s lawful deadline” are “NOT MAGA.”
“Why are the survivors fighting to have the release of all of the files?” Gloria Allred, an attorney for Epstein survivors, asked in an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt. “The reason is because they want accountability. If there are rich, powerful, famous men who engaged in or assisted in or conspired to sex traffic underage girls, they want to know who those people are.”
There are some documents the Justice Department does not have to release, including anything that could reveal a victims’ identity, anything depicting the sexual abuse of children and anything that could jeopardize an active federal investigation.
Eric Garcia contributed to this reporting.
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