Epstein files land on Capitol Hill
www.politico.com

... Congress has officially received the first batch of Jeffrey Epstein files.

The Justice Department turned over a tranche of materials related to the case against the late, convicted sex offender Friday afternoon.

These documents -- transmitted in compliance with a subpoena issued earlier this month by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee -- represent only a portion of what DOJ has in its possession and it's not immediately clear what sort of information lawmakers currently have available to them.

The documents are expected to have heavy redactions.

The Oversight Committee now plans to review the materials, with both Democrats and Republicans having access. While under a typical arrangement, the majority " in this case Republicans " would control its disclosure, either party could release the materials unilaterally. ...

Durbin: FBI agents were told to flag' Epstein records that mentioned Trump (July 18, 2025)
thehill.com

... Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he has received information that Attorney General Pam Bondi "pressured" about 1,000 FBI personnel to comb through tens of thousands of pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and flag any mention of President Trump.

Durbin made the explosive allegation in letters he sent Friday to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino seeking more information about the administration's handling of files related to Epstein and asking why senior officials were allegedly focused on looking for documents connecting Trump to Epstein.

Citing "information my office received," Durbin said Bondi "pressured the FBI to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division" on 24-hour shifts to review about 100,000 Epstein-related records as part of a broader effort to release documents publicly by what Durbin called "an arbitrarily short deadline."

Durbin says his office was told FBI personnel were "instructed to flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned."

He went on to note in the letters that Trump in 2002 said he had known Epstein for 15 years and called him a "terrific guy" and "a lot of fun to be with." ...