An enormous trove of Justice Department files on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been released including the missing minute from surveillance footage of his prison cell amid ongoing controversy around the secrecy of the documents.
The House Oversight Committee has been reviewing 33,295 pages of files related to the late pedophile’s 2019 death in custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
These documents were subpoenaed by Chairman James Comer in early August as part of the committee’s commitment to searching for new methods to combat child trafficking and potential ethics violations among elected officials.
Now, they’ve been made public. Among the biggest revelations in the data dump is an additional two hours of footage from outside Epstein’s jail cell on the night he died.
It includes a minute of footage that was mysteriously excluded from the 11-hour video released in July, when the time stamp jumped forward just one minute before midnight.
It shows a security guard pacing near a desk downstairs for a while.
It now remains unclear why the minute of footage was removed from the footage released by the Department of Justice in July.
Among the biggest revelations in the data dump is an additional two hours of footage from outside Epstein’s jail cell on the night he died
It includes a minute of footage that was mysteriously excluded from the 11-hour video released in July
At the time, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the missing minute was a result of the Bureau of Prison’s system, claiming that ‘every night they redo that video… every night should have the same minute missing.’
She claimed the DOJ would look to release footage from other nights to prove the missing minute was a routine quirk of the prison’s surveillance system.
‘We’re looking for that video to release that as well, to show that a minute is missing every night,’ she said. ‘And that’s it on Epstein.’
Along with the newly-released video footage, authorities also released flight logs from between 2000 and 2014 detailing Epstein’s travels.
Video released by the Department of Justice in July showed the time code of 11:58:58pm before it suddenly skips one minute to midnight
The next frame of footage sees an entire minute having been skipped over – said to be a quirk of the video system at Metropolitan Correctional Center
The trove of information additionally included interview transcripts from Epstein’s accomplice and longtime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years for trafficking.
Other videos included in the documents appear to include a woman recounting her experience with Epstein.
Yet Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have expressed disappointment with the documents, maintaining that 97 percent of the information contained in the 33,000 pages was already public.
After conducting an ‘initial review’, Democrat lawmakers issued a statement claiming just three percent of the information contained in the drop was new.
‘House Republicans are trying to make a spectacle of releasing already-public documents,’ Robert Garcia of California said.
‘To the American people – don’t let this fool you. There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims.’
A protester carries a placard outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., 2 September 2025
According to Rep. Summer Lee, D–Penn., the new information is contained in fewer than 1,000 pages and relates solely to these flight logs.
Much of the other documents were previously released, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s August interviews with Maxwell, videos of Epstein’s West Palm Beach home and local police audio regarding their investigation into the financier, NBC News reports.
The Daily Mail also reviewed an internal Bureau of Prisons report on how Epstein was able to commit suicide, citing an ‘excessive’ amount of linens found in the cell.
The BOP report ultimately agreed with the FBI‘s conclusion that Epstein died of suicide, and the contents of the file have been previously reported.
But critics have noted many of the videos fail to include descriptions or information to add context to the footage that is available.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie filed a discharge petition to force the House of Representatives to vote on releasing files on Jeffrey Epstein
These documents were subpoenaed by Chairman James Comer (pictured speaking alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson) in early August as part of the committee’s commitment to searching for new methods to combat child trafficking and potential ethics violations among elected officials
The publication of the highly sought-after documents comes the same day Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a discharge petition to force a House vote on the publication of more Justice Department Epstein files.
Using a discharge petition – a legislative vehicle to force a vote – Republican Massie and Democrat Khanna may be able to circumvent party leadership and force a vote on the politically-charged documents.
Should this petition receive 218 signatures – half of the members of the House of Representatives – Massie and Khanna’s bill forcing the DOJ to release its Epstein documents would get a formal vote on the floor.
Both lawmakers have said the Epstein files given to the committee from the DOJ are not enough.
‘My staff has done a quick look at it, and it looks like a bunch of redacted documents and nothing new, so it’s not going to suffice,’ Massie told Axios of the Tuesday release.
Epstein committed suicide while in federal custody awaiting a trial for sex trafficking, according to authorities. Many have speculated that files relating to Epstein’s crimes may shine light on the mysterious financier’s personal life
There is bipartisan support for the publication of the DOJ’s Epstein files
But GOP leadership may already be trying to crush the impending Epstein vote with the timing of this document drop.
A schedule of this week’s legislative business, published on Tuesday, shows that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team have a plan to vote on a separate Epstein-related measure.
The vote would simply instruct the House Oversight Committee, which is separately investigating Epstein, his network and potential government connections, to ‘continue its ongoing investigation.’
The committee, however, does not need a vote to continue investigating the late financier. Johnson’s bill would prompt the committee to release its findings publicly, though it already has declared its intention to publish them.
The vote on Johnson’s Epstein-related package could provide political cover for some members to say, at the very least, that they are working on releasing the Epstein files.
‘@SpeakerJohnson just scheduled this meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files,’ Massie wrote about the vote.
Johnson, who has been put in a tricky position between defending the executive branch’s own Epstein-related investigations, has been pressured by his constituents to bring up a vote on the Epstein saga.
‘I would describe virtually everything Thomas Massie says as related to this issue as meaningless,’ he told reporters on Tuesday afternoon after the Kentuckian filed his discharge petition.
But Massie told reporters the same day that ‘eventually people are not going to be satisfied with what’s happening in the Oversight Committee.’
‘It’s not going to bring the closure they’re looking for,’ he added.
California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna has teamed up with Massie to force the discharge petition
September will be a busy month on Capitol Hill when it comes to Epstein.
Survivors of the sex offenders’ crimes are meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol this afternoon.
The survivors will also meet with House Oversight Committee investigators, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail this week.
On Wednesday, the survivors will hold a press conference with Massie and Khanna where they are expected to take questions.
In addition to the survivors, several top former government officials are expected to speak with the committee about Epstein.
In mid-September, former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who struck a deal with Epstein’s legal team during his 2007 Florida case, will interview with the committee.
Alex Acosta, then a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, helped Epstein secure a plea deal that kept the financier from federal charges after months of negotiating in 2007. He will speak with congressional investigators on September 17
Acosta, then a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, helped Epstein secure a plea deal that kept the financier from federal charges after months of negotiating.
The victims, who reportedly ranged in number up to three dozen, were not notified until after the deal was struck.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who oversaw the agency during Epstein’s prostitution case in 2007, was also subpoenaed by the committee.
However, the former special counsel who investigated Trump’s connections to Russia cannot testify due to health issues.
Mueller’s family announced this weekend that the longtime FBI boss has Parkinson’s disease.
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, have been subpoenaed to sit for interviews with the panel in October, the committee has announced.
Further, Comer sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday requesting documents related to the late sex offender.
He asked the Trump administration to hand over any Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) it may have regarding Epstein.
SARs are created by financial institutions and sent to the Treasury to flag potentially dubious transactions that may indicate criminal activity, like fraud, money laundering or terrorist financing.
The Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is tasked with investigating SARs and potential crimes, and Comer says he wants to investigate potential mismanagement.
‘The Committee requests that the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) produce certain Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) relevant to the Committee’s investigation,’ Comer’s letter says.
The committee gave the Treasury a deadline of September 15 to hand over the SARs.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .