Justice department says Epstein files include ‘untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump’
In a June 2024 interview with three hosts from the Fox morning show Fox & Friends – including Pete Hegseth, who is now the US defense secretary and Rachel Campos-Duffy, whose husband is now transportation secretary – Donald Trump was asked if he would commit to “declassify the Epstein files” from the federal investigations into the late sex offender he socialized with for more than a decade.
“Yeah, yeah, I would,” Trump answered.
But the version of the interview first broadcast on the show left out what Trump added immediately after that: “I guess I would. I think that less so because you don’t know – you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phoney stuff in there, cause there’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole … world.”
On Friday, as Trump’s justice department moved to comply, at least in part, with the law by releasing millions of files from the federal investigations into Epstein, it has released at least some unverified allegations against him from those files.
One of the documents getting the most attention online is an email from 2020 that includes uncorroborated tips about Trump’s own alleged involvement with Epstein’s victims that were made to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center.
The document, which was briefly inaccessible after it was posted, has been described as “incriminating Trump” by some critics, but the justice department provided a statement to the Guardian calling these uncorroborated tips “fake”.
Here is the justice department statement to the Guardian:
This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act. 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.
It is impossible to verify, from the partially redacted document, if one element of the justice department statement is true. The document is a series of emails with what appear to be screenshots from another document, rounding up what someone in the FBI refers to as “Trump accusers”. Those emails were sent in August 2020, three months before that year’s election that Trump went on to lose. But the names of the accusers, and any information about when the tips were called in to the FBI, is not included in what was made public, so we have no way of knowing when the accusations were made.
Previous reporting has shown that at least one Epstein victim reported the sexual abuse of her 16-year-old sister by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the FBI in 1996.
Key events
Obama ethics lawyer says Trump’s justice department is illegally withholding files
Norm Eisen, a lawyer who served as special assistant to Barack Obama for ethics and government reform from 2009-2010, has released a statement on behalf of his non-partisan Democracy Defenders Fund on what he calls the Trump justice department’s “failure to fully release all eligible files relating to the Epstein investigation, as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act”, through its new, partial release of documents.
Eisen says:
These documents were due more than a month ago. Speaking at the Justice Department today, Todd Blanche announced that the Department had likely made its final release of documents. But while Blanche said the Department reviewed roughly six million records, it only plans to release about three million. Worse, he conceded the Department has been redacting records beyond what the law allows.
“They are trying to sell this as full compliance and the ‘complete’ Epstein record. But everything about their rollout signals the same old playbook: heavy redactions, selective disclosure, and a public-facing archive that does not reliably reflect what the government actually has.
“Again, the Department says: trust us. Again, we will not take up their insincere offer. In the hours and days ahead, we will scrutinize every page. We have litigation pending, and we are prepared to use every available legal remedy to compel full compliance and complete production, while taking every step to protect the privacy and dignity of the victims.”
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Geraldine McKelvie on what the newly released files reveal about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein during a visit to New York City in 2010 – after the financier’s conviction on child sexual abuse charges in Florida:
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attended an intimate party with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months after he was released from prison, files suggest.
The US justice department released another cache of documents relating to the disgraced financier on Friday.
They include emails from the Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal to several high-profile figures in relation to a “last-minute casual dinner” for Mountbatten-Windsor, who was in New York on an “unofficial private visit” in December 2010.
The gathering appears to have taken place at Epstein’s New York home, where Mountbatten-Windsor was staying.
Mountbatten-Windsor previously said the purpose of his trip was to sever ties with Epstein, who was jailed for child sexual abuse offences in July 2009. During the visit, Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein were pictured walking together in Central Park.
The former prince said in his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019 that he chose to meet Epstein in person to end the friendship as he felt breaking the news “over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it”.
Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 as he faced fresh child sexual abuse charges. Mountbatten-Windsor has withdrawn from royal life and been stripped of his titles over his links to Epstein.
In 2022, he paid a reported £12m settlement to Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre, who killed herself last April, claimed she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor after being trafficked to him by Epstein. He has always strenuously denied these allegations and made the payment without admitting liability.
Documents show Epstein transferred money to husband of former UK ambassador to Washington
The newly released justice department documents reveal more about Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Peter Mandelson, who was London’s ambassador to the United States until his sacking last year, after the extent of his ties to the disgraced financier became public.
Here’s more, from the Guardian’s Emine Sinmaz:
Jeffrey Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, according to emails published by the US Department of Justice on Friday.
The latest documents raise fresh questions about Epstein’s relationship with Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details of his support for the disgraced financier emerged in September.
The latest data set published on Friday shows that Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, emailed Epstein on 7 September 2009, about two months after Epstein was released from prison. Epstein had served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender. Mandelson was business secretary at the time and in a relationship with da Silva. The pair married in 2023 after 27 years together.
Da Silva asked Epstein to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses, saying: “I sent you a couple of emails last week regarding my osteo course expenses, incl fee, anatomical models, laptop if you can help me with this. I hope you received them.
“I just managed to speak to the fees office at the osteo school and confirmed that my annual fee is of £3,225 … They accept bank transfer and the details are as follows.”
Epstein responded later that day and said: “I will wire your loan amount immediated’y [sic].”
Peter Mandelson said on Friday: “I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.
“I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else I learned the actual truth about him after his death.
“But his victims did know what he was doing, their voices were not heard and I am sorry I was among those who believed him over them.”
Photos show inside of Epstein’s cell following death
Several photos released today by the justice department show Jeffrey Epstein’s cell in New York City’s Metropolitan correctional center following his death in 2019. The financier’s death was ruled a suicide:
Also released was a shot of its exterior, following his death:
Emails show tentative guest list for 2010 dinner Epstein hosted with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
The newly released files reveal the proposed guest list for a dinner Jeffrey Epstein convened in 2010 when the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was staying at his house in New York City.
“George: do not think less of me but I am putting together a very last minute casual dinner for Prince Andrew, who is in New York on an unofficial private visit,” publicist Peggy Siegal wrote to George Stephanopoulos on 1 December 2010 in an email with the subject line “Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew”. Stephanopoulos is a former White House communications director to Bill Clinton turned broadcast journalist.
Siegal continued:
The list for far…and we arc keeping this private and small… Prince Andrew, Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, Katie Couric….leffrey Epstein, where Andrew is staying. Jeffrey’s house is one the largest single dwellings in New York…it’s beautiful. So come to for a very interesting, fast. fun dinner
Stephanopoulos replied that he could make it, but would have to leave early, prompting Siegal to reply:
Totally fine. That’s why we are starting at 8:00pm. So come on time and you will have private time with Andrew because he is staying at the house….
Stephanopoulos later bowed out, the emails show, saying his daughters were sick.
Among the new photos released in the latest batch of Epstein files is one showing his cell following his 2019 death, which investigators determined to be a suicide.
The photo shows strips of orange cloth over a railing and in a corner of a cell in the Metropolitan correctional center in New York City, where Epstein was detained while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Also included in the release is an 89-page report from New York City’s chief medical examiner into his death.
Ro Khanna, the Democratic congressman who was a key force in getting the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law, was similarly skeptical of deputy attorney general Todd Blanche’s claim that the justice department had released all the files the act required them to.
“The DOJ said it identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review and redactions. This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld,” Khanna said in a statement.
He continued:
I will be reviewing closely to see if they release what I’ve been pushing for: the FBI 302 victim interview statements, a draft indictment and prosecution memorandum prepared during the 2007 Florida investigation, and hundreds of thousands of emails and files from Epstein’s computers. Failing to release these files only shields the powerful individuals who were involved and hurts the public’s trust in our institutions.
Top Democrat says attorney general ‘in violation of the law’ if more Epstein files are not released
Robert Garcia, the Democratic ranking member on the House oversight committee which has taken a lead role in investigating the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecutions, accused attorney general Pam Bondi of breaking the law after her deputy Todd Blanche indicated the department would release no further files related to the disgraced financier.
“Donald Trump and his Department Justice have now made it clear that they intend to withhold roughly 50% of the Epstein files, while claiming to have fully complied with the law. This is outrageous and incredibly concerning,” Garcia said in a statement.
“The Oversight Committee subpoena directs Pam Bondi to release all the files to the committee, while protecting survivors. They are in violation of the law.”
The Republican-controlled oversight committee’s investigation has resulted in the release of several documents that have shed light on Epstein’s relationship with powerful figures including Donald Trump:
Also in this trove of files is Ghislaine Maxwell’s US naturalization certificate, which lists her home address at Little St James Island, one of Epstein’s two private islands in the US Virgin Islands.
Epstein’s victims have gone through ‘unspeakable pain’, says Blanche
Asked at the press conference earlier about survivors that have “expressed frustration” at the DoJ’s process for releasing the files, Blanche responded: “Same here.”
If there’s frustration with quote, the entire process, same here.
“The victims of Epstein have gone through unspeakable pain,” he added. He said that he hopes that the release of the files has been able to “bring closure” to the victims.
Here’s a look back, from the Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis, on the unique federal law that mandates release of the Epstein files, and how the justice department has been criticized for not releasing them quickly enough:
The law was clear: Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein by 19 December 2025, with rare exceptions.
One month after this deadline mandated by Congress’s Epstein Files Transparency Act, however, Trump’s justice department has not complied with this law, prompting questions about when – and whether – authorities will ever release investigative documents about the late sex offender.
Justice department attorneys said in a 5 January Manhattan court filing that they had posted approximately 12,285 to DoJ’s website, equating to some 125,575 pages, under this legislation’s requirements. They said in this same letter that justice department staff had identified “more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review”.
That these DoJ disclosures apparently comprise a drop in the bucket – and have done little to shed light on how Epstein operated with apparent impunity for years – has roiled survivors’ advocates and lawmakers. They include attorney Spencer Kuvin, who has represented dozens of Epstein’s survivors.
“Congress did not create a discretionary timeline – it created a legal obligation. Every day these records remain withheld sends a message to victims that transparency is optional when powerful interests are involved,” Kuvin said. “For survivors of Epstein’s abuse, this delay is not procedural – it is personal.
The justice department’s Epstein Library now includes an age verification, asking users if they’re over 18.
Blanche earlier told reporters that some of the content being released includes pornography, with redactions.
