The US Justice Department’s release of millions of pages related to Jeffrey Epstein is facing renewed scrutiny after documents revealed references to classified material and extensive gaps in records, raising questions about the government’s transparency and whether the public has received a complete account of the investigation.
Attorney General Todd Blanche has maintained that no documents were withheld or redacted on national security grounds under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but records reviewed by CBS News indicate that classified material was handled by his office in March 2025.
An FBI timeline shows that 16 Epstein-related items were delivered to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General on March 25, including materials labeled “Epstein Transparency Project - Classified Material” and “CDs with classified materials (x2).”
An email sent the same day by the FBI’s National Security Classification Operations Unit referred to three documents that “remain classified,” including an FBI document described as classified when viewed through a transparency process.
The records do not establish what the classified material contained or whether it was among the documents subsequently withheld from public release.
Meanwhile, an analysis of document numbering has identified extensive gaps in financial records, emails and other materials, suggesting that pages present in earlier collections may have been removed before publication.
The gaps include missing images from a series of approximately 4,500 checks associated with Epstein’s accounts, with 66 check images apparently absent.
Former US Attorney Barbara McQuade told CBS News that “Financial records were not a permissible category for removal.”
A separate analysis of preliminary document-processing numbers identified gaps across a section containing emails involving Epstein, his associates, assistant Lesley Groff and Ghislaine Maxwell. The scale of those gaps does not, by itself, establish how many pages were deliberately withheld, as duplicate removal and processing errors may explain some omissions.
The Justice Department says it collected approximately 6 million pages and released more than 3 million after reviewing materials for duplication, privilege and relevance.
However, journalist Katie Phang is suing the department for additional disclosures and explanations of its redactions, while a federal judge has issued rulings in her favor that the DOJ is appealing.
The department has also acknowledged mistakes in its handling of the files, including temporarily removing and later restoring a photograph of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick visiting Epstein’s island in 2012.