Takeaways from the release of the Epstein files
The U.S. Department of Justice has released a new document from its investigations into late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein files have become a major political issue for President Donald Trump; Many of his supporters and Republicans in Congress were demanding the release of these files. Time will tell whether this partial explanation will satisfy Trump’s critics on this issue.
Here are some initial takeaways from the documentation:
NOT TOO MUCH TRUMP
The big question before the document was released was: How prominent would Trump be in these documents? He and Epstein were friends and socialized frequently in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump says they had a falling out in the mid-2000s, before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
That’s why Friday’s document dump of hundreds of thousands of pages of government files was notable for its complete absence of any mention of Trump. The Justice Department said more documents would be released in the next two weeks.
An initial review of the cache by Reuters found very few photographs of Trump or mention of him in the documents. There was a single photo of Epstein holding a check with Trump’s name on it, and a separate photo taken at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, where a copy of Trump’s 1997 book ‘Trump: The Art of the Comeback’ was stored on a bookshelf.
Trump’s name appeared on flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein’s private plane included in the first batch of materials released by the Justice Department in February.
Trump and several of his family members also appeared in the Epstein contact book, which was made public during the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, his former associate who was convicted of child sex trafficking and other crimes related to Epstein’s crimes.
Trump has frequently denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein or any knowledge of his crimes when the two socialized in Florida.
The documents included a series of quotes and photographs by former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
There were a few photos of Clinton; one of them was in the swimming pool with Maxwell and was an unidentified person. Others showed Clinton in a jacuzzi, another with a young woman sitting on the armrest of her chair, her arm around her shoulders, her face corrected. The fourth was a photo of a painting of Clinton in a blue dress hanging in Epstein’s house in New York.
Releasing the Clinton photos could conflict with the Justice Department’s policy of not releasing materials related to ongoing investigations. Republican Trump orders Justice Department to investigate Clinton’s ties to Epstein; This was viewed by critics as an effort to distract from her own relationship with Epstein.
Clinton has always denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when the two socialized and traveled together, and has said she wishes she had never met Epstein.
There was no immediate response to the Clinton Foundation’s request for comment.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a letter to Congress that during a “comprehensive review” of the documents, the department identified more than 1,200 Epstein victims and their relatives.
One of the documents was Epstein’s list of masseuses, which included 254 names. All names corrected.
Blanche said the documents released Friday include files from the FBI’s 2018 and 2006 investigations into Epstein and his investigations into his 2019 death, among other materials.
