What Is—and Isn’t—in the Newly Released Epstein Files
The DOJ's latest release of the files features hundreds of mentions of Trump and records related to Epstein's death.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released thousands of new documents connected with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday, including a number of references to President Donald Trump and records related to Epstein’s death in jail.
The Trump Administration has faced widespread backlash for releasing incomplete and heavily redacted documents that revealed little new information about the case despite a new law requiring the government to make all materials in the case publicly available by last Friday. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that day, on which the Administration made its initial release of thousands of files, that more documents would be made public in the coming weeks. Additional files were released on Saturday, and Tuesday’s release marked the third batch of documents made public by the DOJ.
Read more: Fake Video Purporting to Show Epstein’s Suicide Released by DOJ Then Taken Down
While the initial documents that were released by the department included few mentions of Trump, the newly released files contained hundreds, including an email that said Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported.”
Read More: Trump Named in New Epstein Files Published by Justice Department
The files released by the department so far also include photographs of a number of prominent people and confirmation that an Epstein survivor contacted law enforcement about the financier almost a decade before he was first arrested, among many other documents.
Here’s what to know about what’s in the files the DOJ has released, and what isn’t.
Mentions of Trump
Numerous outlets noted that Trump was rarely mentioned in the heavily redacted documents initially released by the DOJ. The lack of references to the President was noticeable, as his name and images had appeared in multiple previous releases of material connected with Epstein. For instance, flight manifests from Epstein’s private plane, included in a February batch of DOJ documents, listed Trump as a passenger. His relative absence in the Justice Department’s initial release also marked a notable contrast with former President Bill Clinton, who appeared repeatedly.
A photo from the newly released files that did appear to show Trump was among at least 15 files that apparently disappeared from the DOJ’s webpage for the releases after previously being made publicly available, raising further outcry from congressional Democrats. The photo showed a desk with multiple framed photographs and a drawer that contained more images. One of the images visible in the photo appeared to depict Trump with Epstein, Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and Melania Trump.
“And if they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide…” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a post on X on Saturday. “This could be one of the biggest cover ups in American history.”
The DOJ has since restored the photo. The department said the image was “temporarily removed” from the public release after it had been flagged “for potential further action to protect victims.” “After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction,” the DOJ said in a post on X on Sunday.
The third batch of documents released on Tuesday, in a significant contrast with the earlier drops, contained hundreds more references to Trump. One such reference is in an email sent in January 2020 from a Manhattan federal prosecutor, whose name was redacted, to a recipient whose name was also redacted. The prosecutor said in the email that flight logs indicated that Trump had been a passenger on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).” The prosecutor added that Trump flew on the jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996. That includes four flights on which Maxwell was also a passenger, and two flights on which two potential witnesses in the criminal investigation into Maxwell were apparently on board, according to the email. On one flight in 1993, Trump and Epstein were the only passengers listed as being on board the plane, the prosecutor said.
The files released Tuesday additionally feature an FBI file dated October 2020 that includes an allegaton of rape against Trump. The report describes a call made to the FBI National Threat Operations Center by an unnamed individual who alleged that a woman he spoke with told him that “Donald J. Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Also made public was a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York in January 2020 by an unnamed woman alleging that she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell. The document describes a time when Epstein allegedly took the woman to Mar-a-Lago and introduced her to Trump in 1994, when she was 14. It alleges that Epstein asked Trump, “This is a good one, right?”, to which Trump allegedly smiled and nodded in agreement.
In announcing the release of the third batch of documents on Tuesday, the DOJ acknowledged the new references to the President in a post on X by saying, “Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”
“To be clear,” the DOJ continued, “the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already. Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”
Trump has confronted mounting controversy this year over his years-long relationship with Epstein and his handling of the so-called Epstein files, whose release he long pushed back against before he reversed his stance and urged Republicans last month to support the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the DOJ to make files related to Epstein, Maxwell, and other figures connected to their cases public. He has drawn widespread backlash on the issue, even among members of his own party, with just 44% of Republicans approving of his approach to the Epstein files, according to a November Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing on his part in connection with Epstein or having any prior knowledge of the disgraced financier’s crimes.
The President has not yet publicly commented on the newly released files.
The release also includes a letter seemingly sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who is serving an effective life sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing numerous girls and young women. The letter, postmarked Aug. 13, 2019, reads: “Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.”
But the DOJ said in a post on X on Tuesday afternoon that the FBI “has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE. The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time.” The DOJ said the FBI rejected the letter’s validity for a number of reasons, including that the handwriting “does not appear to match” Epstein’s. The FBI also came to the conclusion, the DOJ said, because the letter was postmarked three days after Epstein died and was postmarked out of Northern Virginia, when Epstein was being held in New York at the time. The DOJ added that the return address on the letter didn’t include his inmate number, which it said “is required for outgoing mail.”
“This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual,” the DOJ said. “Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law.”
Justice Department—Anadolu/Getty Images
The report made to the FBI about Epstein in 1996
In September 1996, nearly a decade before Epstein was first arrested, a professional artist made a criminal complaint to the FBI that accused the financier of being involved in “child pornography.”
Epstein survivor Maria Farmer has insisted in the years since, as the late sex offender has faced accusations of abusing hundreds of underage girls and young women, that she contacted law enforcement about Epstein in 1996, but officials failed to take steps to address her report.
While the DOJ’s initial—and incomplete—release of government files related to Epstein offered no major new revelations about his crimes or others involved in them, it did confirm that law enforcement received that early warning from Farmer, making public for the first time a description of the September 1996 complaint. Though the name of the complainant is redacted in the document, Farmer’s lawyer has confirmed it was made by her.
Read More: How the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein Beat Washington at Its Own Game
The handwritten description of Farmer’s complaint, dated Sept. 3, 1996, included in the documents released Friday, states that a professional artist told the FBI that Epstein stole photos she had taken of her 16- and 12-year old sisters for her personal artwork and, she believed, sold them to “potential buyers.” It also alleges that Epstein requested that she “take pictures of young girls at swimming pools” at one time, and that he was now threatening “that if she tells anyone about the photos, he will burn her house down.”
At the top of the page, the “character of the case” is described as “child pornography.” Farmer stated in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that nude and partially nude images were among the photos of her younger sisters she said Epstein stole.
Farmer alleged in the lawsuit that in late July or August 1996, Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted her and that she later discovered they had taken the photos of her sisters during their visit. She said she reported Epstein and Maxwell to law enforcement weeks later, first contacting the New York Police Department and then the FBI, telling the agency that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused her, were together running a child trafficking ring, and that they possessed and were producing child pornography.
But despite Farmer’s report that Epstein had stolen and transported nude images of her sisters across state lines; despite her mention of a “modeling book” including child pornography kept in a safe at the financier’s New York mansion; and despite her sharing that she believed Epstein and Maxwell’s were continuing to abuse children, she said, the FBI agent on the line hung up on her mid-sentence and never followed up.
“Had the government done their job, and properly investigated Maria’s report, over 1000 victims could have been spared and 30 years of trauma avoided,” Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer for Farmer, wrote in an email to The Guardian. “After several years of asking for her records, the gov[ernment] finally released at least some of them today.”
The partial release drew outcry from a number of Epstein’s victims and the congressional lawmakers that pushed for the full files to be made public. But Farmer, now in her fifties, feels “redeemed,” she said in a statement through her attorneys on Friday.
“This is one of the best days of my life,” Farmer said. “I’m crying for two reasons. I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed.”
A 2020 internal investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein case made no reference to Farmer’s 1996 complaint. In an interview with the New York Times, Farmer discussed her mixed emotions surrounding it surfacing now. “I’ve waited 30 years,” she said. “I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore.”
While vindicated, however, she expressed her frustration with the FBI's apparent failure to respond to the report. She said she did not hear from the FBI for a decade after she made the complaint, until a broader investigation led to Epstein’s 2008 plea deal in Florida, and that she had lived in fear after trying to report him.
“They should be ashamed,” Farmer said, adding, “They harmed all of these little girls. That part devastates me.”
According to Farmer, the complaint only captured part of her concerns, and she also urged investigators to examine Epstein’s connections, including to Maxwell and figures such as Clinton and Trump. The document included in the released files on Friday and Saturday does not mention Maxwell or other powerful people tied to Epstein.
Farmer told the Times that once in 1995, while she was working for Epstein, she saw Trump at the late sex offender’s offices in Manhattan. She said she was wearing running shorts when Trump entered the office and hovered over her, staring at her legs, which scared her. Epstein then entered and told him, “No, no. She’s not here for you,” she remembered.
After they left the room, Farmer said she heard Trump comment that he thought she was 16. The White House denied her account in July this year, contesting that the President was “never in his office.”
Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images
New photographs showing high-profile figures
The Justice Department’s initial drops also included photographs of Clinton; musicians Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross; actor Kevin Spacey; comedian Chris Tucker; and journalist Walter Cronkite, adding on to other previously released files connected to the case that have shown a number of well-known figures with ties to Epstein. The images do not appear to show any illegal activity, and none of the individuals have been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The photos in the release also feature Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. ambassador to the United States.
The former Prince’s titles were stripped away, and he was booted out of his royal residence this fall as his ties to Epstein drew renewed attention following the posthumous publication of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, in which she alleged Andrew forced her into sexual encounters as a teen, claims he has repeatedly denied.
Mandelson, meanwhile, was fired as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States in September of this year after emails surfaced that showed Mandelson continuing communication with Epstein after the financier was convicted in 2008 in Florida. Following his removal from office, in a letter to embassy staff, he called the post the “privilege” of his life and said he felt “utterly awful” about his association with the convicted sex offender.
The Justice Department appeared to try to highlight Clinton in the initial release, with two agency spokespeople posting images that they said showed the former President posing with victims on social media.
In the images released Friday, Clinton appears in a swimming pool with Maxwell and a person whose face is blacked out, and in a hot tub with another individual who is partially redacted. Clinton has said he regretted socializing with Epstein and was unaware of any criminal activity.
Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Ureña, said in a statement following the initial release that the Administration was attempting to “shield themselves” from scrutiny. “They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton,” Urena wrote on X on Friday.
Last month, Trump said he would direct the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton, as well as other figures and institutions, an action critics said was intended to shift focus away from his own connections to the financier.
In a separate statement posted to X on Monday, prior to the latest release on Tuesday, Ureña called for the full release of the files, saying Clinton does not require “protection” from the records being made public.
“What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what, or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection,” Ureña wrote. “Accordingly, we call on President Trump to direct Attorney General Bondi to immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton.”
Trump called the publication of photos of Clinton and other prominent people in the Epstein releases a “terrible thing” during a Monday press conference. “I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown,” the President said.
The President also said,“There are photos of me, too. Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly, but they were, you know, he was around. He was all over Palm Beach and other places.”
“What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” he continued.
Heavy redactions
Of the thousands of documents released by the DOJ on Friday, at least 550 pages were fully redacted, CBS News reported.
One set of three consecutive documents, totaling 255 pages, is fully redacted, with each page blacked out. A separate 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury–NY” is also entirely redacted. At least 180 additional pages appear in files that are mostly but not entirely redacted, with cover pages, folder photos, or other unredacted material followed by pages fully obscured by black boxes.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a letter to Congress on Friday that attorneys had been instructed to remove material that included "personal identifiable information" about victims, "child sexual abuse materials," classified information relating to national defense or foreign policy, or "images of death, physical abuse, or injury," along with anything that would "jeopardize an active investigation or prosecution."
The redactions were pointed to by several lawmakers who criticized the DOJ for withholding materials with its initial release. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California—who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act—said on Friday: “Our law requires them to explain redactions. There is not a single explanation.”
Records related to Epstein’s death in jail
Also included in the third batch of documents released on Tuesday is an email exchange between prison staff members regarding Epstein’s suicide attempt in July 2019. In the newly released emails, officials said Epstein had a “makeshift noose around his neck” when they discovered him after his first attempt. A facility psychologist, though, said, “We don’t know if it was a ploy, if someone else did it, or he just gave himself a ‘rug burn’ with the sheet to call attention to his situation.”
Epstein was placed on suicide watch in late July 2019 before being taken off it less than two weeks before his death. The late sex offender’s death behind bars—as well as other aspects of his case—has been the subject of conspiracy theories in the years since, but the DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a memo this past summer, concluding that his death was a suicide.
Another newly released file included a chain of custody log, which mentioned that officers saw a “homemade noose” in Epstein’s cell on Aug. 10, 2019, which is the day that he was found dead. Fifteen pages of an 18-page “after action review” following the sex offender’s death were also included. The document, which includes information about Epstein’s time in jail in the weeks prior to his death as well as the day he was found dead, concluded that “there was a significant breakdown in basic correctional practices and communication within the institution.”
A fake 12-second video appearing to show Epstein’s suicide was also briefly made public by the DOJ before the department took it down. A Trump Administration official told the New York Post that the video had been available on YouTube for years, but that it was fake.