Trump's FBI spent $1M on 'special redaction project' ahead of Epstein files release
President Donald Trump may have signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, but his FBI has reportedly been hard at work keeping certain parts secret ahead of their release.
That's according to a recent Bloomberg article, which reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly allocated nearly $1 million in overtime pay to agents in an operation known as the "Epstein Transparency Project," with some reportedly maligning the effort as the "Special Redaction Project." The initiative involved an estimated 1,000 FBI agents working out of a facility in Winchester, Virginia (Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark, previously said a "pretty good source" told him the DOJ was redacting the Epstein files in Virginia).
Bloomberg reported that between March 17 and March 22 of this year, the bureau spent $851,344 alone. Agents also clocked 4,737 hours of overtime pay between January and July of this year, poring through the DOJ's remaining evidence pertaining to the deceased sex trafficker.
Agents specifically spent their time on “search warrant execution photos,” “street surveillance video" and aerial footage, as well as documents relating to the investigation into Epstein’s death in prison in 2019. The administration is currently working on a 30-day deadline to release the files under the legislation Trump signed into law earlier this month.
The New York Times reported in July that the DOJ's remaining Epstein documents number roughly 100,000 pages, and that FBI agents combed through them on four separate occasions earlier this year. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly instructed the FBI to flag any mentions of Trump in the files.
According to a July report from ABC News, there is still a significant amount of Epstein-related evidence that has yet to see the light of day. The FBI's index of the evidence includes "40 computers and electronic devices, 26 storage drives, more than 70 CDs and six recording devices," with those devices collectively containing "more than 300 gigabytes of data."
"The evidence also includes approximately 60 pieces of physical evidence, including photographs, travel logs, employee lists, more than $17,000 in cash, five massage tables, blueprints of Epstein's island and Manhattan home, four busts of female body parts, a pair of women's cowboy boots and one stuffed dog," the report continued.
The FBI is also in possession of a logbook of visitors to Epstein's "Little Saint James" Island, which housed his private compound, as well as a list simply described as a "document with names." It remains unclear whether that document is the rumored "Epstein client list" that Bondi has said does not exist.
Click here to read Bloomberg's full report (subscription required).
