US Epstein files full of famous names, but not Trump’s

The thousands of documents released by the US Department of Justice regarding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are filled with the names of some of the world’s most famous people, but there was one notable exception: President Donald Trump.

The department released only a partial portion of the Epstein-related documents it had on Friday; Much of the information in these documents has been redacted, citing the extensive effort required to review the materials and the need to protect Epstein’s victims.

The Trump administration was trying to comply with legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November that mandated the disclosure of all the Epstein files, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed.

The absence of a reference to Trump in Epstein’s previous publications was notable, given that Trump-related photos and documents have been leaked for years.

Trump’s name appeared, for example, on flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein’s private plane, which were part of the first batch of Epstein materials the Justice Department released in February.

The statement included other important matters, including a complaint filed with the FBI in 1996 that accused Epstein of participating in “child pornography” and was filed with the FBI in 1996, long before law enforcement began investigating Epstein’s misconduct.

Celebrities featured in photos presented as part of Friday’s broadcast include newsreader Walter Cronkite, singers Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and “Diana Ross”, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and former Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.

Many of the photos were undated and presented without context, and none of these figures have been charged with any crimes linked to Epstein.

Andrew ‍Mountbatten-Windsor also appears in a photograph lying on the lap of several women.

The former Duke of York, who was stripped of his royal title over his ties to Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing.

The scandal surrounding Epstein has become a political sore spot for Trump, who has been pitching conspiracy theories about Epstein to his supporters for years.

It wasn’t immediately clear how significant the new material was, given that many documents related to Epstein had previously been made public since his death in prison in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.

Many of the files have been heavily redacted (a few documents containing 100 or more pages have been completely blacked out), and the Justice Department has acknowledged that it is still reviewing hundreds of thousands of additional pages for possible release.

The material included evidence from various investigations into Epstein, as well as photographs of former US president Clinton, long despised by Republicans.

But despite Trump and Epstein’s well-publicized friendship in the 1990s and early 2000s, there appeared to be very few photos of Trump or documents mentioning him before they fell out.

Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

It was revealed that a file containing Trump’s photo was removed from the dataset announced by the Department of Justice on Saturday. His absence was noted online by Democrats in the House of Representatives, who demanded an explanation from the administration.

Last month, House Democrats released thousands of emails obtained from Epstein’s estate; One of them was that Epstein wrote that Trump “knew girls” but did not explain what this meant. In response, Trump accused Democrats of promoting the “Epstein Hoax” as a distraction.

The Justice Department tried to draw attention to Clinton by sharing images on social media that two agency spokesmen said showed her with Epstein’s victims.

Angel Urena, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement that the White House was trying to “shield themselves from scrutiny” by focusing on the former president.

“They can post grainy 20+ year old photos all they want, but this is not about Bill Clinton,” he wrote.

Many Trump voters had accused his administration of covering up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and concealing details about his death in a Manhattan jail where he was awaiting trial on charges of molesting and trafficking underage girls.