The Epstein file
An FBI timeline in the Justice Department’s own Epstein release says two items labeled classified went to the Deputy Attorney General’s office on March 25, 2025. The Department later told Congress it withheld nothing as classified. CBS News found the FBI records. I put them next to the report to Congress and filed FOIA requests asking where the two items went. I’m asking what happened to them and leaving what’s on them alone. Every piece of paper I can post goes here.
Where it stands
As of November 12, 2026
- DOJ request, FOIA-2027-00390
- Filed October 28. Closed November 4 with a letter pointing me to the public Epstein Library.
- Appeal, A-2027-00425
- Filed November 4. Acknowledged November 5. By my count the 20-working-day deadline lands December 4.
- FBI request, FOIPA 1763684-000
- Acknowledged November 4. The fee waiver is under consideration. [Expedited-processing ruling: none yet, or the date and result]
- Phang v. Blanche
- A separate lawsuit over the same law. The D.C. Circuit denied DOJ’s request for a stay on October 28. I’m not a party.
How to read this page
Every claim below carries one of three tags. They mean different things, and I keep them apart.
It’s in a court filing, a government record, or a mainstream news report, and I say which.
It’s a claim in a lawsuit that nobody has proven. I say who makes it and who denies it.
A court or a government body reported a conclusion. I say which one. A finding isn’t a conviction.
No record I have shows what happened to Items 2 and 6. The Act orders release of unclassified records, so classified material may sit outside its count entirely. That’s my inference, and DOJ hasn’t said it.
A name in a released file is a name. Todd Blanche appears here because he ran the office the items were delivered to. No record I have says who received them, and the recipient’s name on the FBI email is blacked out.
Timeline
- March 25, 2025Documented
An eight-page FBI New York timeline, released by DOJ as EFTA00172473 and reported by CBS News, lists sixteen items delivered to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. Item 2 is labeled “Epstein Transparency Project - Classified Material.” Item 6 is “CDs with classified materials (x2).” The Deputy Attorney General that day was Todd Blanche, who is now Attorney General.
DocumentedThe same day, the unit chief of the FBI’s National Security Classification Operations Unit sends an email with an attachment titled “Epstein - Classified Document Memo.docx.” It says three documents were “identified that remain classified,” including one “FBI document which is classified when see-through.” The recipient’s name is redacted. The email is in the DOJ release at [EFTA number]. CBS reports it isn’t clear whether the email and the timeline refer to the same material.
- November 19, 2025Documented
The Epstein Files Transparency Act becomes law as Pub. L. 119-38. Section 2(c)(1)(E) lets DOJ withhold properly classified information. Section 2(c)(3) tells it to declassify as much as it can. Section 3 requires a report to Congress on what was released and withheld.
- February 14, 2026Documented
DOJ sends its Section 3 report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
- April 27, 2026Alleged
Journalist Katie Phang sues Todd Blanche in his official capacity in federal court in Washington, No. 1:26-cv-01417. Her complaint alleges DOJ is violating the Act. DOJ told the court it has complied with the law and that Phang has no right to sue under it. Her case is about redactions and review. Mine is about the classified items, and I’m not part of hers.
- August 27, 2026Documented
DOJ publishes the Section 3 report in the Federal Register as Doc. 2026-17533, 91 FR 55356. Its appendix says “no materials were redacted or withheld” under the classified-information exception in Section 2(c)(1)(E). The sentence is at 91 FR [page].
- October 1, 2026Documented
In a motion in the Phang case, DOJ tells Judge Emmet Sullivan that the information Phang wants is “already available pursuant to FOIA,” which it calls the statute she “ought to use.” That’s Document 51 on the docket.
- October 28, 2026Documented
CBS News reports the timeline and the email. The reporter is Daniel Ruetenik. CBS also counts the page numbers on the release and reports that 66 of about 4,500 check images from Epstein’s accounts are missing, along with about 1.2 million page numbers from an earlier numbering sequence. CBS quotes Blanche, from when the releases began last winter, saying DOJ was “not withholding anything based upon [national defense information].”
DocumentedThe D.C. Circuit denies DOJ’s motion for a stay pending appeal in the Phang case, Nos. 26-5299 and 26-5334. The panel is Judges Srinivasan, Pillard and Pan.
DocumentedI file a FOIA request with DOJ’s Office of Information Policy. It asks for records showing who received the sixteen items, where each was held, what became of Items 2 and 6, any declassification decision, how classified material was counted in the report to Congress, and the reviewer guidance on marking duplicates. It says on its face that it doesn’t seek the contents of any classified item. DOJ assigns it FOIA-2027-00390.
- November 4, 2026Documented
The Office of Information Policy closes my request. Its letter opens, “This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the Jeffrey Epstein and/or Ghislaine Maxwell files,” and sends me to the public Epstein Library. It doesn’t mention Items 2 or 6, describe a search, or rule on expedited processing or fees. The exemptions it lists are (b)(3), (b)(5), (b)(6), (b)(7)(A) and (b)(7)(C). Exemption (b)(1), the one for classified records, isn’t on the list.
DocumentedI appeal the same day through DOJ’s FOIA STAR portal. The appeal asks DOJ to search the offices named in the request and answer each item. My write-up goes out on Substack.
DocumentedThe FBI acknowledges my separate request as FOIPA Request No. 1763684-000. I filed it through the FBI’s eFOIPA portal on [filing date]. The letter puts me in the news-media fee category and says the fee waiver is under consideration. It says nothing about expedited processing.
- November 5, 2026Documented
DOJ acknowledges the appeal and assigns it A-2027-00425. The letter gives no decision date.
- November 10, 2026Found
The House Oversight Committee’s majority staff releases a report on the federal government’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell investigations. It faults DOJ for shortcomings in releasing the documents and for how it communicated about the releases. That’s the majority staff’s finding. The report doesn’t address Items 2 and 6.
- November 11, 2026Documented
Rep. Thomas Massie’s discharge petition for the Epstein Files Transparency Act II reaches 218 signatures, enough to force a House vote. CBS News and other outlets report it.
Documents
Source files, as filed or as produced. Anything with someone’s private information in it gets redacted before it goes up.
- CBS News, “Classified material missing from Epstein files, documents suggest”Read the report
- FBI New York timeline[Epstein Library URL]
- FBI classification-unit email[Epstein Library URL]
- DOJ’s Section 3 report to Congress[Federal Register URL]
- Epstein Files Transparency Act[congress.gov URL]
- FOIA request to DOJ’s Office of Information PolicyHeld for redaction
- DOJ’s final responseHeld for redaction
- Administrative appealHeld for redaction
- DOJ’s acknowledgment of the appealHeld for redaction
- FOIA request to the FBIHeld for redaction
- The FBI’s acknowledgmentHeld for redaction
- Phang v. Blanche, district court docket[Docket URL]
- Phang v. Blanche, appeals[Docket URL]
- House Oversight majority staff reportRead the release
- “DOJ Told Congress It Withheld Nothing as Classified.”[Substack URL]
- “I asked DOJ where two classified Epstein items went.”Read the piece
Write-ups
Everything I’ve published on this, newest first, pulled from my Substack.
- Where did the two classified Epstein CDs go?Read the piece
- The House Says DOJ Fell Short on the Epstein Files. My Appeal Asks Where Two Classified Items Went.Read the piece
- Twenty-Nine Cans Are Going Out. Want One?Read the piece
- I asked DOJ where two classified Epstein items went.Read the piece
Posts on this file, newest first. A crosspost is the same piece. Posts that only mention Epstein are listed under that, not mixed in.
- The House Oversight Epstein report says “classified” three times.Read the post
- An FBI log lists “classified material” delivered to the Deputy AG’s office.Read the post
- DOJ told Congress it withheld nothing as classified.Read the post
- CBS compared the Epstein files, came up a million pages short.Read the post
- Epstein’s missing files, a classified paper trail, and a FOIA.Read the post
Mentions
- Where the fuck have you people been all my life?Read the post
- 29 of you paid for records requests this month.Read the post
- Fifty-Two Pages and a Beer Can.Read the post
Corrections
[Confirm: none so far, or the date, what I wrote, and what’s right]
When I get something wrong, the fix goes here with the date.
Follow the file
New documents get posted here first. The write-ups go out by email and on Substack.
Need records pulled?
This is what REVOLT Training does for a living. I find the record that has to exist, ask for it in a way that’s hard to dodge, and read what comes back.
I’m Chaz Stevens, founder of REVOLT Training. I’m not a lawyer and nothing here is legal advice. A FOIA request asks an agency for records and accuses nobody. I haven’t asked for the contents of any classified item and I won’t guess at them here.
This work is reader-funded. Chip in for the next filing.