THE U.S. Justice Department has released thousands of documents linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the newly disclosed material making extensive reference to Democratic former president Bill Clinton while containing little mention of President Donald Trump.
Reuters reported on Saturday that the limited references to Trump stood out, given that photographs and documents involving him have surfaced periodically in previous Epstein disclosures.
Trump’s name, for example, appeared in flight manifests from Epstein’s private jet that were included in an initial batch of records released by the Justice Department in February.
Friday’s release was intended to comply with legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November, which required the disclosure of all Epstein-related files despite months of resistance from the Republican president to keep them sealed. The Epstein scandal has become a politically damaging issue for Trump, who for years promoted conspiracy theories about Epstein to his supporters.
It remained unclear how much new information the documents contained, as many Epstein-related records have already entered the public domain since his death in a Manhattan jail in 2019, which was ruled a suicide. Numerous files were heavily redacted, with some documents of more than 100 pages entirely blacked out. The Justice Department said it is still reviewing hundreds of thousands of additional pages for potential release.
The batch included evidence from several investigations into Epstein, along with photographs of Clinton, a longtime target of Republican criticism. However, the materials appeared to include few, if any, images of Trump or documents naming him, despite his well-publicised friendship with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before the two fell out ahead of Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has denied having knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.
The disclosure law also required the Justice Department to provide information on how it handled the Epstein investigation, including internal reports and emails. None of those materials appeared to be included in Friday’s release.
Trump last month ordered the Justice Department to investigate Clinton’s ties to Epstein, a move critics described as an attempt to divert attention from Trump’s own past association with the financier.
Among the newly released images, Clinton is seen in a swimming pool with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and another individual whose face is blacked out, as well as in a hot tub with another unidentified person. Clinton, who did not respond to a request for comment, has previously said he regretted socialising with Epstein and was unaware of any criminal conduct.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a letter to Congress that the names of more than 1,200 victims or their relatives had to be redacted from the files.
In a statement, the White House said the release showed its commitment to transparency and justice for Epstein’s victims, while criticising previous Democratic administrations for failing to act similarly. The statement did not acknowledge that the disclosures were compelled by Congress after Trump administration officials earlier declared that no further Epstein files would be made public.
Lawmakers from both parties swiftly criticised the administration. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “This set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence.”
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a key sponsor of the disclosure law, wrote on X that Friday’s release “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
Under the legislation, the Justice Department is permitted to withhold personal information about Epstein’s victims and any material that could compromise an active investigation.
Frustration has also grown among Trump’s supporters, many of whom have accused his administration of covering up Epstein’s connections to powerful figures and obscuring details surrounding his death while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 44 per cent of Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the Epstein issue, compared with his overall approval rating of 82 per cent among the group. The controversy has weighed on Trump’s political standing ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when control of Congress will be contested.
Last month, House Democrats released thousands of emails obtained from Epstein’s estate, including one in which Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” without explaining what he meant. Trump dismissed the allegation, accusing Democrats of pushing what he called the “Epstein Hoax.”
House Republicans released additional emails the same day, including one claiming Trump visited Epstein’s residence many times but “never got a massage.”
Earlier disclosures have shown that even after his 2008 conviction, Epstein continued corresponding with prominent figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Britain’s former Prince Andrew, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who lost his royal titles over his association with Epstein.
Representatives for Bannon, Thiel and Mountbatten-Windsor did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2023, JPMorgan Chase paid US$290 million to settle claims by some of Epstein’s victims, who alleged the bank had failed to act on warning signs while retaining Epstein as a client for five years after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. - December 20, 2025
