The US department of justice on Friday published a new and final cache of millions of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, under a law passed in November that required the release of all Epstein-related records.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said at a press conference that Friday’s massive batch of files marked the end of the Trump administration’s planned releases under the law.
The new cache includes more than three million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, he said. The files include “extensive” redactions, he said, given the law’s exceptions permitting certain documents to be blacked out, including identifying information of victims or materials related to active investigations.
Previous releases have been heavily redacted, drawing criticism from some members of Congress.
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The latest release of Epstein-related files shows that Howard Lutnick, currently serving as Trump’s US secretary of commerce, arranged to visit Epstein’s island in 2012.
Mr Lutnick told the New York Times he could not comment about the island visit because he had not seen the latest tranche of Epstein documents.
The files also suggest that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attended an intimate party with the convicted sex offender Epstein months after he was released from prison.
They include emails from the Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal to several high-profile figures in relation to a “last-minute casual dinner” for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was in New York on an “unofficial private visit” in December 2010.
[ Ghislaine Maxwell to appear before US Congress in Epstein investigationOpens in new window ]
The gathering appears to have taken place at Epstein’s New York home, where Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was staying.
Separate emails between Epstein and an account named “The Duke” on 11 and 12 August 2010 suggest the financier wanted to introduce “A” to a 26-year-old Russian woman, whom he suggested he “might enjoy having dinner with”.
Meanwhile, the files also show Elon Musk had more extensive – and more friendly – communications with Epstein than previously publicly known. Emails in the files appear to show the two cordially messaging each other on two separate occasions to make plans for Mr Musk to visit Epstein’s island.
The documents include Mr Musk and Epstein emailing in both 2012 and 2013 to determine when Mr Musk should make the trip to Little St James. Neither exchanges appear to have resulted in Mr Musk visiting the island, due to logistical issues.
It also emerged that Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva, according to the emails published by the US Department of Justice.
Mr da Silva emailed Epstein in September 2009, about two months after Epstein was released from prison, asking him to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses.
Mr Mandelson said on Friday: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else I learned the actual truth about him after his death.”
Mr da Silva has not yet commented.
Mr Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before they had a falling out years before Epstein’s first conviction, spent months resisting any release until both Democrats and Republicans in Congress forced his hand by advancing the law over his objections.
Mr Trump has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and he has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. But the scandal has dogged him for months, in part because he promised to release the files during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Mr Blanche said the department has also withheld some files based on legal privilege, including work product and attorney-client privilege. Some lawmakers have said those withholdings appear to run counter to the law, which required the department to produce internal communications related to decisions on whether to charge or investigate Epstein or any associates.
The justice department will provide Congress a report that includes a summary of all redactions and withheld documents, as required under the law, Mr Blanche said in a letter sent to Congress on Friday.
In a press release announcing Friday’s document production, the justice department wrote: “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
Epstein, a New York financier with ties to high-profile political and business figures, was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. While his death was ruled a suicide, it has engendered years of conspiracy theories, some of which Mr Trump himself mentioned to his own supporters during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Mr Blanche expressed frustration with accusations that the justice department had declined to pursue associates of Epstein who may have participated in illegal activity.
“There’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about, that we’re covering up, or that we’re not we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case,” he said.
The Epstein scandal has become a persistent political problem for Mr Trump, who is already facing sagging approval ratings on a range of issues, including his handling of the economy and his immigration crackdown.
Mr Blanche defended the slow pace of releases, saying that the voluminous files required hundreds of attorneys to work day and night for weeks to review and prepare them for public release. The law had set a deadline of December 19th, 2025, but officials said they needed more time to review the files. – Reuters
