Most of the Epstein documents still haven’t been released. What’s going on?

More than a month has passed since the U.S. Justice Department was required by law to publicly release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The deadline was Dec. 19, and on that date thousands of documents saw the light of day, including many photos.

But that’s only a tiny portion of the total. The Justice Department says there are two million more Epstein documents.

The law ordering the release said identities of victims would have to be withheld, as well as images of child sexual assault, classified documents and anything needed in ongoing investigations.

So lawyers have had to examine every document individually before clearing them for release. The Justice Department says it has 400 lawyers working day and night to do that, which it says is the reason for the delay.

But lawmakers in Congress are getting impatient.

What’s been released so far

In November, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a law ordering the Justice Department to release everything related to Epstein within 30 days. The next day, U.S. President Donald Trump signed it into law, meaning the deadline to do it was Dec. 19.

That afternoon, thousands of documents were released (12,285 according to a court filing). They included emails between Epstein and other people, photos of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, graphic photos of women and redacted material believed to show child sexual abuse.

There were also many photos of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Although he isn’t accused of wrongdoing, Congress has ordered him and his wife Hillary Clinton to testify. They have refused and could now be held in contempt.

The release also included items the Justice Department says are fake, including a handwritten letter that appears to be from Epstein to convicted sexual predator Larry Nasser, and an AI-generated video of Epstein in prison.

What’s still outstanding

The Justice Department says there are two million more documents to be reviewed before releasing them. It said on Dec. 31 that it would take “a few more weeks” to go through them.

It’s not known what exactly is in the millions of documents. One thing that apparently is not there is the Epstein “client list.” It had been rumoured for years that a list of famous men who hired Epstein, presumably for sex trafficking purposes, existed. In February of last year, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed this in an interview, saying the list was on her desk for review.

But by the summer, Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel had dramatically changed their story. They said there was no client list.

WATCH | What we still don’t know about the Epstein files:

What’s been learned — and is still unknown — after release of some Epstein files

The U.S. Department of Justice released thousands of documents, photos and files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. But some Democrats are criticizing the partial release because the department had a deadline to release all of the files by end of Friday.

Is the Justice Department acting illegally?

Although the deadline passed more than a month ago, the Justice Department has said it needs more time to review the files because it was also required to protect identities of victims. But it has not given a firm timeline on when that work will be done.

Some in Congress don’t feel they can wait any longer. The two House members who drafted the law ordering the release now say it has been flagrantly violated by the Justice Department. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna last week asked a judge to appoint an independent monitor to make sure the documents get released immediately. “Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the congressmen said.

Earlier this week, a judge denied that request. The Justice Department said it expects to update the court “shortly” regarding its progress.