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EPSTEIN FILES: THE FBI’S ‘SPECIAL REDACTION PROJECT’  
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Jason Leopold
November 25, 2025
Bloomberg
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_ The communications released to FOIA Files provide a look behind the
scenes as agents and other FBI personnel started to work on the
Epstein files earlier this year. _

FBI Director Kash Patel during a news conference at the White House,
on Nov. 12, 2025 , Bonnie Cash/UPI

 

_Welcome to a special edition of FOIA Files. This morning, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation turned over dozens of __emails_
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to me that reveal some details about how FBI agents and personnel from
the Freedom of Information Act office reviewed and processed the
Epstein files earlier this year. Let’s dive in! If you’re not
already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, __sign up here_
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The legacy of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein continues to hang
over national politics. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump
signed legislation that required the Justice Department to release the
Epstein files. Soon, the public may finally get to see at least some
of what the government has in its voluminous cache, which comprises
more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence from its
criminal probe of the serial sex abuser. Getting to this point has
been quite a winding path that started just after Trump took
office—and that FOIA Files has been covering.

As I reported
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in March, after a botched rollout of what Attorney General Pam Bondi
described as “Phase 1” of the release of the Epstein files, FBI
Director Kash Patel ordered around 1,000 FBI special agents to team up
with the bureau’s FOIA personnel at an FBI facility in Winchester,
Virginia to prepare the Epstein files for public release.

The army of agents from the New York and Washington field offices,
along with FOIA officers, were instructed on how to review and apply
redactions to the documents.

Over the summer, I filed a wide-ranging FOIA request for those
directives, as well as communications between agency personnel
pertaining to their review of the files and the taxpayer dollars spent
on the marathon two-month process. I then sued the FBI to compel
release of the documents.

Just this morning I got the partially redacted records
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from the FBI. They mostly consist of emails that provide a look behind
the scenes as agents and other FBI personnel started to work on the
documents. The bureau withheld more than 161 pages citing ongoing law
enforcement proceedings and other FOIA exemptions.

The emails reveal the special training given to FBI personnel working
on what it called the “Epstein Transparency Project.” In some
instances they referred to it as the “Special Redaction Project.”
The training entailed PowerPoint slide presentations and video
instruction on how to review the files.

 

_Click here to view the documents (page 11)_
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The records I got also reveal the number of hours the FBI devoted to
the project, which required some agents to work nights and weekends.
The FBI paid personnel from various divisions, including
counterintelligence and international operations, $851,344 in overtime
for working on the Epstein files between March 17 and March 22,
according to the documents. FBI personnel clocked in a total of 4,737
hours of overtime between January and July. Of that, more than 70%
occurred during the month of March while personnel reviewed the
Epstein files, the documents show.

 

_Click here to view the documents (page 23)_
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‘BOXES’

In an email on March 10, FBI personnel from the Office of General
Counsel and the bureau’s Information Management Division discussed
pending FOIA requests for Epstein-related records and digitizing and
redacting “physical files” and the bureau’s “commitment to
transparency.”

 

_Click here to view the documents (page 12)_
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Another email describes categories of videos the FBI reviewed related
to certain Epstein files, which includes “search warrant execution
photos,” “street surveillance video” and “aerial footage from
FBI search warrant execution.”

A couple of weeks later, an email sent from the Information and
Management Division said the office “continues discussions with DOJ
and is awaiting clarification regarding additional criteria for the
next phase of this project.”

“We continue to scope and update workflow processes and training
material based on those discussions,” the March 22 email says.
“Updated training materials and workflow guidance is expected for
dissemination later tonight.”

The next day another email was sent to FBI personnel reviewing the
Epstein files advising them to “stand by.”

“We have identified more files requiring Phase l review. Please
continue to refresh as files will be populated momentarily,” the
email said.

The emails indicate FBI personnel were continuously checking out
Epstein files to review and redact.

On March 24, an email sent to FBI personnel said “Phase 1 redactions
are complete” and “Phase 2” was being prepared for “final
delivery to DOJ.”

“Phase 2 review of the new criteria provided by DOJ was
approximately 75.2% complete,” the email said. “Upon completion of
Phase 2,” the Information Management Division “will provide a copy
of all see-through redaction files for DOJ review.”

Bureau personnel also reviewed videos. According to an April 15 email,
one of the videos was from the New York City jail where Epstein was
found dead a month after his arrest in 2019 on sex trafficking
charges. (The DOJ publicly released 11 hours of the prison video in
July.)

 

_Click here to view the documents (page 18)_
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That same day, Parry sent an email to other FBI personnel that said
Patel “asked for status of all remaining Epstein-related reviews.”

 

_Click here to view the documents (pages 18 and 19)_
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On May 2, an FBI employee from the New York field office sent an email
and attached a document titled, “Epstein Overview FINAL” that
summarized their work. The FBI withheld a copy of the attachment.

 

_Click here to view the documents (page 20)_
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_Got a tip for a document you think I should request via FOIA? Send me
an email: [email protected]_ _or
[email protected]__. Or send me a secure message on
Signal: @JasonLeopold.666._

_Jason Leopold_
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Senior Investigative Reporter at Bloomberg._

_Bloomberg News_ [[link removed]]_ (originally Bloomberg
Business News) is an American news agency headquartered in New York
City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg
News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg
Television, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg
Markets, Bloomberg.com, and Bloomberg's mobile platforms.
(__Wikipedia_ [[link removed]]_.)_

 

* Jeffrey Epstein
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* FOIA
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* FBI
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* Kash Patel
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* Donald Trump
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