Name: CBS News combing through newly released Epstein files
Uploaded: 2025-12-19T23:28:53.820Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: The Justice Department has released a new batch of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has more.

The Justice Department has released a new batch of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has more.

Washington

CBS News is currently analyzing a large set of documents released by the Justice Department concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Among the files are communications involving former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, including friendly emails sent after Epstein's conviction in Florida.

The CBS News team is carefully vetting the information due to the sensitivity of the material and the volume of documents, which number in the hundreds of thousands of pages. Not all expected files were released, leaving some gaps in the available information as the review continues.

CBS News combing through newly released Epstein files

We are following that breaking news on the Justice Department's release of a new batch of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. These are those files. CBS News teams are pouring through those documents right now, the Friday before Christmas. Let's bring in CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman. Katrina, you're one of the folks that are going through these massive amounts of documents related to Epstein and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. We know you've only had about 30 minutes with these new documents, so tell us about your particular focus. Why is the relationship between Epstein and Larry Summers so notable? Well, you know, there are so many people that we're looking at right now. The relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers is one that has come to light recently, especially because there were some emails that came out between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein, and this was after Epstein had already pled guilty to prostitution charges in Florida. They were very friendly emails. They had a longstanding personal relationship. In an email, there's one where Summers is getting advice from Epstein on how to woo a woman, so it was very controversial. It's been a bit of a fall from grace for Larry Summers. There hasn't been any wrongdoing that's been found, and he has said that he is ashamed of it, but that is just one of many people that we are looking for as we pour through these files. There are hundreds of thousands of pages to go through, and we're also trying to be very careful about how we vet these before we report new information on air. Absolutely. You have to be so careful, Katrina. As you mentioned, there's an entire team of CBS News colleagues pouring over it. They are thousands upon thousands of documents here. I'm curious, what's the strategy? Do each one of you have your own particular focus, or are you taking it by chunks? How are you working through all these documents? We all have different focuses, certain people, sometimes keywords that we are honing in on as we search through these documents. We're ultimately putting newsworthy information that we find into a certain area and then carefully vetting all of that because this is such a sensitive topic, such a sensitive issue, and so important that we really get right what we end up telling the public here. There's finally so much information that's been put out, but at the same time, we were told earlier today, it is not all of the files, which is what we were supposed to get today. There is still going to be a void, even after we look through all of this. Katrina Kaufman, thank you so much. Good luck.

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