This handout photograph launched by the U.S. Justice Division exhibits a view of drawers and framed pictures, together with of Donald Trump, in Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan house is seen on this picture launched by the Division of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S., Dec. 19, as a part of a brand new trove of paperwork from its investigations into the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Reuters-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump flew on convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s non-public jet “many extra instances than beforehand has been reported,” in line with an e mail from a New York prosecutor that varieties a part of a brand new batch of paperwork about Epstein launched Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Division.
In an e mail dated January 7, 2020, the unidentified prosecutor wrote that flight information confirmed Trump had flown on Epstein’s non-public jet eight instances through the Nineties. Amongst these have been a minimum of 4 flights on which Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell was additionally aboard. Maxwell is serving a 20-year jail sentence for serving to late financier Epstein sexually abuse underage women.
In a social media publish in 2024, Trump mentioned he “was by no means on Epstein’s Aircraft, or at his ‘silly’ Island.” There was no allegation within the prosecutor’s e mail that Trump had dedicated any crime. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the e-mail.
On one flight described within the newly launched information, the one three passengers have been Epstein, Trump and a 20-year-old girl whose title was redacted. “On two different flights, two of the passengers, respectively, have been ladies who can be doable witnesses in a Maxwell case,” the doc said.
Trump knew Epstein socially within the Nineties and early 2000s. Trump has mentioned their affiliation ended within the mid-2000s and that he was by no means conscious of the financier’s sexual abuse. Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of procuring an individual below the age of 18 for prostitution. The Justice Division charged him with intercourse trafficking in 2019.
The Division of Justice posted an announcement on X saying: “A few of these paperwork include unfaithful and sensationalist claims made towards President Trump that have been submitted to the FBI proper earlier than the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they’d a shred of credibility, they actually would have been weaponized towards President Trump already.
“However, out of our dedication to the regulation and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these paperwork with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” it mentioned.
The most recent launch of Epstein recordsdata consists of round 30,000 pages of paperwork, with many redactions, and dozens of video clips, together with a number of purporting to be shot inside a federal detention heart. Epstein was discovered lifeless in 2019 in a New York jail. His dying was dominated a suicide.
In one other e mail, an unidentified particular person wrote in 2021 that they’d just lately been wanting by knowledge the federal government obtained from former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s cellphone and located an “picture of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The federal government redacted elements of the message indicating who despatched and obtained it.
One other file within the authorities’s launch included a grainy photograph of Trump seated subsequent to Maxwell. It matches a picture of the 2 at a New York trend present in 2000.
The disclosures included a scattering of different information that reference Trump, although they offer little indication that the federal government thought-about them to be credible. Amongst them was an picture of a card purporting to be from Epstein to Larry Nassar, a former gymnastics physician who was convicted of sexually abusing women below his care. A handwritten message within the card referenced Trump with out utilizing his title.
The Justice Division later labeled the cardboard a “pretend” and mentioned it’s going to proceed to launch Epstein file paperwork as required by regulation.
The federal government additionally disclosed a number of stories of cellphone calls to an FBI tip line that reference Trump, although they didn’t establish the individuals who made the calls or give a sign of whether or not investigators adopted up on the calls or discovered them to be credible.
One caller claimed that he had pushed a limousine for Trump in 1995 and overheard him making a cellphone name within the again wherein he addressed somebody as “Jeffrey” and at one level talked about abusing a lady.
The federal government Tuesday additionally launched a video that purports to point out Epstein kneeling inside his jail cell, however a Reuters examination discovered it seems to be a computer-generated clip that first surfaced on social media in 2020, a yr after his dying. It was submitted to the Justice Division by an individual who mentioned it purported to point out Epstein’s dying, in line with an e mail additionally launched on Tuesday.
Ghislaine Maxwell, proper, and Donald Trump are proven on this picture launched by the Division of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S., Dec. 23, as a part of a brand new trove of paperwork from its investigations into the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Reuters-Yonhap
Transparency regulation
The Trump administration final week revealed a big cache of Epstein recordsdata in an try to adjust to a brand new regulation forcing disclosure on the politically fraught matter.
Nevertheless, the releases on Friday and Saturday contained intensive redactions, angering some Republicans and doing little to defuse a scandal threatening the occasion forward of 2026 midterm elections.
On Monday, Trump downplayed the significance of the Epstein recordsdata. Chatting with reporters, he mentioned the fabric was “simply used to deflect towards large success” by him and his fellow Republicans.
The brand new transparency regulation, overwhelmingly handed by Congress final month, mandated the disclosure of all Epstein recordsdata, regardless of Trump’s months-long effort to maintain them sealed.
Republican Consultant Thomas Massie, who helped spearhead the regulation requiring the recordsdata’ launch, responded late on Monday to Trump’s feedback expressing dislike for the discharge of Epstein paperwork. The Kentucky Republican wrote on X: “Trump is blaming me for a invoice he ultimately signed, whereas defending his banker mates, Invoice Clinton, and ‘harmless’ guests to rape island. In the meantime (Legal professional Common Pam) Bondi is working fervently to redact, omit, and delete Epstein recordsdata she is legally required to launch below our invoice.”
