WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday released a new cache of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a partial disclosure that rekindled political scrutiny and drew immediate complaints over heavy redactions and missing materials.
The long-awaited “Epstein files” have been a persistent political flashpoint for President Donald Trump, whose supporters and Republican allies pressed for full transparency. Yet the initial tranche — hundreds of thousands of pages, according to the department — contained scant references to Trump and, instead, featured multiple mentions and images of former President Bill Clinton.
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The department said additional documents will be released over the next two weeks. An initial examination by Reuters found few photos of Trump or references to him in the materials made public Friday. Trump’s name had previously appeared in flight manifests from Epstein’s private plane released in February, and he and several family members were listed in an Epstein contact book made public during the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate convicted of child sex trafficking.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has said he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes when they socialized in Florida in the 1990s and early 2000s. He has also said the two had a falling out in the mid-2000s, before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
By contrast, the latest document dump included a number of images and mentions of Clinton. Among them were photos of the former Democratic president in a swimming pool with Maxwell and another unidentified person, in a hot tub, and seated with a young woman whose face was redacted as she draped an arm around his shoulders. Another image showed a painting of Clinton in a blue dress hanging in Epstein’s New York home.
The Clinton materials could complicate Justice Department policy not to release information tied to ongoing investigations. Clinton has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when they socialized and traveled together and has said he wishes he had never met Epstein. Angel Urena, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, dismissed the images on X as “grainy, 20-plus-year-old photos,” adding that “this isn’t about Bill Clinton.”
In a letter to Congress, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department identified more than 1,200 Epstein victims and relatives during what he called an exhaustive review. One document — a masseuse list — included 254 names, all redacted. Blanche said Friday’s release included FBI files from its 2006 and 2018 investigations of Epstein and from its probe into his 2019 death, among other materials.
But the release was marked by sweeping redactions. A 119-page document that appeared to contain grand jury testimony was fully blacked out, as were three other documents of about 100 pages each. The edited disclosures quickly drew bipartisan frustration on Capitol Hill.
Democrats criticized the department for failing to release all Epstein files by the deadline set in a law Congress passed in November and that Trump signed. Sen. Adam Schiff called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify before Congress and explain why the files were not fully published. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that the documents released “are just a fraction of the whole body of evidence.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican who helped lead the Epstein documents measure, said on X that the partial release “fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
With Trump barely mentioned in the first batch and Clinton featured prominently, the political storm around Epstein shows no sign of abating. The pressure on the Justice Department — and on Trump — is likely to intensify as Congress and the public await the promised disclosures in the coming days.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
