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The U.S. Department of Justice released only a subset of the documents it has at its disposal in the Jeffrey Epstein case — and the most prominent person featured in this initial tranche is former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
The vast majority of the files released Friday are photos, most of them featuring scantily clad women, sex toys and Epstein with co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell at exotic destinations around the world.
The included police reports and grand jury-related files are heavily redacted, with hundreds of pages blacked out entirely, obscuring much of what law enforcement gathered on the late sex offender and his accomplices over the years.
Still, some of the legible documents back up what victims have long said about Epstein: that he regularly engaged in sexual acts with underage girls at his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion and elsewhere. The folio includes what appears to be high school pictures of some victims — and one police report includes a witness statement that Epstein liked his sexual partners “the younger the better.”
While U.S. President Donald Trump had a close relationship with the late disgraced financier, there are few references to him in the trove of documents. According to Trump’s account, the two had a falling-out in the mid-2000s.
The president’s first book, The Art of the Deal, is seen on a bookshelf in one photo distributed by the Justice Department; three copies of Michael Wolff’s book about Trump’s chaotic first term, Fire and Fury, appear in another.
There’s also a photo of Trump among a collection of other images stashed in a drawer of what appears to be Epstein’s desk.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of other photos disclosed feature dozens of Clinton, including one of the former president partially clothed, floating in a hot tub with what appears to be a woman, though the face of the person with him is redacted.
DOJ ordered to conceal details of victims
Under the law that prompted the release of these files, the department was ordered to conceal any details that could identify Epstein’s many alleged victims.
Another photo shows a woman seated closely with Clinton on what appears to be a private jet. There are at least two photos of him, casually dressed, with his arm wrapped around an unidentified woman.
The White House sought to draw attention to the plethora of Clinton photos that the Trump-controlled Justice Department released in this batch.
“Here is Bill Clinton in a hot tub next to someone whose identity has been redacted,” Trump spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a social media post after the documents were released.
“Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors. Time for the media to start asking real questions.”
Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing by survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and he has denied knowledge of the late financier’s sex offences.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for the former Democratic president said the Epstein investigation “isn’t about Bill Clinton.”
“They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” Angel Ureña said in a statement.
“There are two types of people here,” he said. “The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships after that. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.
“Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.”
Others pictured include Michael Jackson
There are also candid photos of Clinton speaking with Epstein and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
In another image, Clinton is pictured with singer Diana Ross and the late pop star Michael Jackson, who before his death was acquitted of child molestation charges.
There are photos of Clinton with Epstein in Brunei, Thailand, Morocco and elsewhere in the “far east,” according to records contained in this release.
It’s difficult to ascertain what exactly the two were doing on these various trips — there is little context around these photos.
One batch of photos appears to depict Clinton on a trip to Africa with Epstein.
Other prominent people pictured on that trip include actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey. The latter has previously faced allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. He has been found not guilty or acquitted of several charges, though he is facing three more allegations in a London court.
Clinton also flew on Epstein’s private plane in February 2002, from Miami to Westchester County, N.Y., and in March 2002, from New York City to London, according to flight manifests released by the Justice Department.
Clinton is one of the relatively few people whose faces officials did not redact, along with Epstein himself and Maxwell, who is accused of being his accomplice in recruiting young women for sexual exploitation.
The photos depict a web of unsavoury relationships and associations that complicate both Democratic efforts to keep the focus on Trump and the incumbent president’s desire to move on from the issue entirely.
Naomi Campbell also referenced
British supermodel Naomi Campbell is referenced in what appears to be handwritten notes from an interview that police conducted with one of Epstein’s alleged victims.
Campbell had previously appeared on Epstein’s flight logs. She has said she is “sickened” by the sex crimes the disgraced financier committed.
According to the note, Campbell went to Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands with “Jean Luc” and “older people.”
That’s likely a reference to Jean-Luc Brunel, a modelling scout who was close to Epstein and appears to be in a number of the images disseminated Friday.
Brunel was found dead in a French prison cell in 2022. He was being investigated for allegedly raping minors and trafficking them for exploitation.
Other celebrities in the files include British business magnate Richard Branson, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly prince Andrew, and legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite.
Documents include 1996 FBI complaint
The documents also vindicate an early Epstein complainant, Maria Farmer, who for years said she told the FBI about the disgraced businessman’s interest in child pornography back in 1996 — long before authorities eventually launched an investigation into allegations that Epstein was sexually abusing underage girls.
While Farmer has been accused of lying in some circles, this tranche includes Farmer’s original FBI complaint form — her name is withheld but her lawyer confirmed to multiple U.S. news outlets that the document in question is related to her case.
It shows that Farmer told police that photos and negatives she had taken of her 12-year-old and 16-year-old sisters for a personal art project had been stolen by Epstein.
Farmer also reported Epstein asked her to take photos of young girls at a swimming pool, telling her not to talk about what she’d done for him or “he will burn her house down.” The FBI did not act on her complaint.
“I’ve waited 30 years,” Farmer told the New York Times. “I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore.”
Disappointment over lack of disclosure
While this release validated Farmer, other survivors of Epstein’s abuse were left disappointed by how little was disclosed.
The DOJ published only some of the files it has in the Epstein case, despite legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump that dictates all documents were to be publicly released by Dec. 19.
The rest of files are being held back because further redactions are required, officials said. They will be distributed sometime in the new year, according to Trump’s former lawyer Todd Blanche, who now serves as the deputy attorney general.
That has prompted claims by Democrats and others that the Trump administration is orchestrating a coverup.
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