Epstein victims and lawmakers criticise number of files released and redactions
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We get reaction to the Epstein files, which were released on Friday but were heavily redacted and represent only a fraction of the number held by the FBI. There is more information, but are Epstein survivors satisfied that enough is being done? We are joined by Lisa Bryant, director and executive producer of a Netflix documentary series titled Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
Also on today’s programme: President Zelensky says he is open to US proposals for direct talks with Russia, though there are conditions; will the prizefighter vs YouTuber bout change boxing? And a new lemon-shaped planet has been discovered -- and it’s really weird.
A sheet of redacted pages in connection with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is shown on a computer screen (19 December, 2025. U.S. Justice Department/Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. |
| 0:13.6 | I'm Rebecca Kesb. |
| 0:15.4 | In the end, only a fraction of the so-called Epstein files were released by the deadline on Friday and those have been |
| 0:22.0 | heavily redacted, swathes of text blacked out and photos partly obscured. But that's still |
| 0:28.8 | thousands of pages of evidence currently being combed through by journalists and lawmakers and |
| 0:34.4 | open to public scrutiny just as President Trump promised in his election campaign last year. |
| 0:40.5 | Some documents released approve what many of the survivors of Epstein have alleged for years, |
| 0:46.1 | including evidence of a police report dating back to 1996 when one survivor, Maria Farmer, first raised the alarm with police. |
| 0:55.6 | The political reaction has continued across the day with many Democrats saying the files have been excessively redacted. |
| 1:02.4 | Some Republican lawmakers also disappointed that more material wasn't released. |
| 1:07.7 | Marina Le Soder says she was abused by Epstein when she was just 14, and she's |
| 1:13.0 | been giving her reaction to the release of the files. We were just, you know, going over some of the |
| 1:18.2 | files, and it said that a Jane Doe actually was pressured into bringing IDs because |
| 1:24.5 | she was bringing girls of the age of 18, And I have to say, I know that somebody. |
| 1:30.6 | And that somebody had brought girls that, you know, her friends that were the age of 18 and Jeffrey |
| 1:35.7 | Epstein got very, very upset and used foul language and said that he did not want older girls |
| 1:42.3 | coming in and he wanted young girls and he made sure that |
| 1:45.9 | she and myself was starting to bring ID to his location in New York. So when I see this type of |
| 1:53.1 | things coming out in the files, it starts to make more sense to public that all these things |
| 1:57.5 | that we said is true and it is happening. But it really does suck that a lot of the things are being redacted. |
| 2:03.9 | It could help not only myself to understand what kind of people |
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