For a moment, Jeffrey Epstein rose like a phoenix from his ashes in his unmarked tomb at the IJ Morris Star of David mausoleum in Palm Beach, Florida, last year. Donald Trump was unnerved. Democrats and critics got fresh ammo. Tabloids had more juice.
However, before the embers could turn into flames big enough to gut the president, Pam Bondi, with her unflinching loyalty and fealty to Trump, smothered them on January 30—at least, till 2028.
The Epstein Files Transparency (November 18, 2025) required the US attorney general (AG) to make public “in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice (DoJ), including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and United States Attorneys’ Offices, that relate to Jeffrey Epstein, including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters” within 30 days.
Moreover, the DoJ was required to provide an unredacted “list of all government officials and politically exposed persons” to the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate.
However, only 3,951 photos, videos, handwritten notes and investigative documents were released in
four volumes on December 19. Subsequently, more than
30,000 documents were released on December 22.
On January 30, the DoJ released 3 million-plus additional pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files, uploaded on the
DoJ website, can be accessed in
Data Set 9,
Data Set 10,
Data Set 11 and
Data Set 12.
The tens of thousands of pages contain photos, videos, court records, FBI and DoJ documents, news clippings and emails. The records mention prominent people like Trump, former President Bill Clinton, several other politicians (former Israeli PM Ehud Barak), billionaires (Elon Musk), scientists (Stephen Hawking), academics (Noam Chomsky) and celebs (Michael Jackson).
With each release, it was evident that the DoJ was desperately trying to shield Trump, despite no charges of wrongdoing or investigation against him, and other powerful men by withholding information and deleting or redacting files.
The latest release smacks of a bigger DoJ cover-up for several reasons.
No Release of Remaining Epstein Files
The total number of files released under the Act so far, per the DoJ, is around 3.5 million pages, which are heavily redacted. However, the DoJ had acknowledged that the Epstein files contained around 6 million pages—if that claim is true at all with the figure much bigger.
This means that Bondi has withheld more than 2 million pages.
What happens to them?
The remaining Epstein documents will not be released.
The January 30 release was the final one, per Bondi’s deputy, Todd Blanche.
The
DoJ will withhold documents, Blanche told reporters, that are duplicates, unrelated materials, depict violence or involve attorney-client privilege.
According to a
DoJ press release, the department “erred on the side of over-collecting materials”.
The press release repeated Blanche’s claims.
The remaining documents have been withheld because they are:
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Duplicates between the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the Southern District of Florida
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Would breach the attorney-client privilege
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Depict violence and
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Part of the case file for Epstein or [Ghislaine] Maxwell and were completely unrelated to these cases.
Democratic representative Ro Khanna, who spearheaded the Act alongside his Republican colleague Thomas Massie, said, “The DoJ said it identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review and redactions.”
The DoJ has been using one excuse for the heavy redaction of the released files since last July.
A July 7 joint DoJ-FBI
memo stated that more than “300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence” were found after the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives and network drives and “physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets and other areas where responsive material may have been stored”.
Per the memo, the files contained “a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography”.
Regarding the release of Epstein files, the memo said that as much information as possible was released to the public “while simultaneously protecting victims”.
The DoJ’s January 30 press release made the same excuse. Reviewers of the file were clearly instructed that “the redactions were to be limited to the protection of victims and their families”.
“Some pornographic images, whether commercial or not, were redacted, given that the Department treated all women in those images as victims”.
FBI director Kash Patel, another Trump crony, had testified before Congress that pornographic material discovered was part of the reason for not disclosing all records, files and documents.
The DoJ’s admission that the material included videos and photos of child sex abuse and other pornography could also mean that the sexual exploitation of Epstein’s victims by other men was secretly recorded and photographed.
According to Florida attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented three of Epstein’s victims, videotapes taken from multiple surveillance cameras inside Epstein’s homes were never released.
“There are thousands of hours of videotapes taken from inside the homes of Jeffrey Epstein that have, I have no doubt,
video of people on them. People that have never been named before. Never identified before. Let’s see the tapes.”
The DoJ memo also contended that there “was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions”.
However, Epstein
blackmailed several of his clients and friends, it has been widely alleged, after ‘video-recording’ their sexcapades and also threatening to leak their affairs, including that of Microsoft cofounder
Bill Gates.
The DoJ’s most illogical conclusion in the memo was self-damaging and indicated a cover-up—a joint DoJ-FBI review of the Epstein files “revealed no incriminating ‘client list’”.
In other words, the DoJ believed there’s an Epstein “client list” that’s not incriminating. It could also mean that the men who exploited the girls were not listed as clients because Epstein undoubtedly had a list of men to whom he trafficked the girls to get favours.
So, if the “client list” isn’t “incriminating”, why didn’t the DoJ release it?
Trump Rape Allegations & DoJ Cover-up
A few days before the 2016 presidential election, a woman mentioned as “Katie Johnson” and “Jane Doe” in court filings dropped her third suit
accusing Trump of raping her during an orgy at Epstein’s Manhattan home in 1994 when she was 13. She also cancelled a press conference at the last minute with her attorney, Lisa Bloom, saying that “Johnson” received death threats.
One of the exhibits unsealed on January 8, 2024, contains explosive emails Epstein’s victim Sarah Ransome sent to then-New York Post journalist Maureen Callahan in October 2016. Ransome alleged that Trump had sex with “many girls”, including her friend, at Epstein’s mansion. Strangely, Ransome wrote to Callahan in her final email that she wanted to “retract everything I have said to you and walk away from this”.
The latest DoJ release also mentions a 13-14-year-old’s
sexual abuse allegations against Trump. An FBI email chain sent last August by agents and linked to a probe into the Alexander brothers—Tal, Oren and Alon—wealthy Florida residents, accused of sex trafficking, contains uncorroborated tips made to the bureau and details of its limited follow-up.
According to one allegation: “(Redacted) reported an unidentified female friend who was forced to perform oral sex on President Trump approximately 35 years ago in NJ. The friend told Alexis that she was approximately 13-14 years old when this occurred, and the friend allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex. The friend was allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting president Trump. The friend said she was also abused by Epstein.”
Another allegation mentions an “online complainant reported she was a victim and witness to a sex trafficking ring at the Trump Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA between 1995-1996” for which Maxwell was the resident “madam and broker for sex parties”.
The complainant was “threatened by Trump’s then-head of security that, if she ever talked of what went on there or who she saw, he would end up as fertiliser for the back nine holes like the other c—ts”.
However, the FBI responded: “Complainant was spoken to and deemed not credible.”
Per another shocking allegation, Epstein brought “children in and Trump would auction them off” at his “calendar girls” parties at Mar-a-Lago resort. The girl alleged that the guest at the Mar-a-Lago auctions included Elon Musk. Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and famous attorneys Allan Dershowitz and Bob Shapiro.
“We were taken into rooms. Forced to give oral sex to Donald J Trump. Forced to allow them to penetrate us. I was 13 years old when Donald J Trump raped me. Ghislaine Maxwell was also present,” according to the allegations.
There are other allegations of rape against Trump.
The tranche of Epstein files released on December 22 contained an FBI case file document dated October 27, 2020, which contained an allegation of
rape against Trump—unsurprisingly, all names and other identifying details were redacted.
A limousine driver driving Trump to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 1995 claims to have overheard him talking to “Jeffrey” and mentioning “abusing some girl”.
In 1999, the driver mentioned the incident to a woman who went “stone cold”. “He [Trump] raped me,” she said adding that “Donald J. Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein.”
When the driver asked the woman to report the “rape” to the police, she replied, “I can’t. They will kill me.”
However, on Christmas in 1999, she contacted the driver informing him that she had contacted the police. He never heard from her again. On January 10, 2000, someone called the driver informing him that the woman was “found with her head ‘blown off’ in Kiefer, Oklahoma. Officers on the scene and [redacted] stated there was no way it was a suicide. Corner stated it was a suicide”.
The woman’s death, if the FBI case document is to be believed, like Epstein’s at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, NYC, on August 10, 2019, was suspicious.
The FBI email chain in the latest release also mentions the limousine driver’s account.
The latest release of the Epstein files also contains a list of sexual assault allegations against Trump from unverified tips received through the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center and compiled by the bureau last August.
The list is mentioned in an FBI memo called the 302 report, used by the bureau to summarise an investigative interview that could be used as testimony.
An Epstein victim (name redacted) told the FBI in September 2021 that Maxwell “presented” her to Trump and his party friends at a New York City party, the memo states.
“MAXWELL presented (redacted) to TRUMP and they had a conversation for approximately 20 minutes. (Redacted) was invited to MAR-A-LAGO where she was given a tour by TRUMP with EPSTEIN and MAXWELL present,” the memo said.
The DoJ, which has been covering up for Trump after accidentally releasing files mentioning him, immediately jumped to his defence after the latest release.
The FBI spreadsheet, EFTA01660651.pdf, featuring the new allegations against Trump unsurprisingly disappeared from the DoJ’s website soon after it was uploaded.
However, users who had already taken
screenshots of the FBI email chain posted them on social media.
Facing public backlash, the DoJ reuploaded them. “This document was down due to overload and is back online,” the department said.
However, on February 2, the
DoJ again removed the FBI spreadsheet with users trying to access the PDF file getting the message: “Page not found”. As of now, the file is again visible.
As a safeguard against Trump, the DoJ press release stated that the files “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”.
To bolster its claim that Trump wasn’t involved in Epstein’s sex racket and the sensational claims were meant to harm his 2020 election prospects, the DoJ said that 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 weaponised against President Trump already.”
Similarly, the 302 report mentioning the Epstein victim introduced by Maxwell to Trump and his pals had the names of the other men redacted.
The redaction belies the DoJ’s claim in the press release that “notable individuals and politicians were not redacted in the release of any files”.
Blanche made a pathetic excuse when asked whether the names of men who abused minor girls and were part of Epstein’s sex racket.
“If we learn about information and evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will.”
Blanche inadvertently confirmed that the heavy redactions were a cover-up to protect the wealthy and powerful. “I don’t think the public is going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abused women, unfortunately.”
This wasn’t the first time the DoJ was exposed in shielding Trump.
The first and second releases of the Epstein files, on December 19 and 22, respectively, under the Act, exposed the cover-ups.
On December 20, the DoJ quietly removed 16 files, including a photo of Epstein’s desk showing a picture of Trump inside a drawer with several women with one in a bathing suit.
The next day, Blanche told NBC News that the DoJ is “not redacting information around President Trump”.
Initially, he claimed to NBC News that the photo was removed because “there are photographs of women. … It has nothing to do with President Trump”. However, when asked whether the women in the Trump photo were Epstein’s victims, a defensive Blanche said, “No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
On the other hand, Clinton’s hot tub picture with a woman whose face was redacted wasn’t removed with the DoJ saying that she is “a victim” of Epstein.
The second tranche contained the image of a handwritten letter signed by “J. Epstein” sent from jail to Larry Nassar, a former doctor for the USA gymnastics team serving a 60-year sentence on child pornography charges, in August 2019.
“Our president [Trump] also shares our love of young, nubile girls,” the letter reads, hinting that Trump also abused minors.
Notably, the letter, postmarked three days after Epstein mysteriously died, alludes to Epstein’s plans to commit suicide. “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good luck!”
The letter was found returned to sender in the MCC’s mail room on September 29.
Prison authorities read and inspect outgoing mail. Strangely, the letter was allowed to be sent.
In 2020, the FBI, as per a DoJ
document, requested a handwriting analysis of the letter.
Initially, the DoJ posted that it was checking the letter’s validity. Later, the DoJ, without providing any documentation, posted that the FBI confirmed that the letter was fake.
“The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein,” the department said without referring to the handwriting analysis—whether it was analysed or what the conclusion was—and removed it.
Why would the DoJ release a fake letter and later remove it? If the letter was fake, was it deliberately released to assert that Epstein committed suicide?
Remaining Epstein Files Buried Like his Ashes
The DoJ has used the law to unlawfully withhold the remaining Epstein files.
The Act’s two biggest loopholes have allowed the DoJ to redact the files and not release the remaining ones.
First, the Act allows the release of only unclassified records and documents. Classified information related to “national defence or foreign policy” should be kept secret.
Second, any information about victims’ names, medical files and identifying information; child sex abuse material; and images of death, abuse or injury can be withheld or redacted.
It belies logic that Congress introduced the first condition in the Act. Why would a serial paedophile predator be involved in classified national defence or foreign policy matters?
Epstein was
indirectly involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and cooperated with Barak in providing surveillance technology to Côte d’Ivoire in 2014 and helped Israel sign a security cooperation agreement with Mongolia in 2017.
Clearly, Epstein had the blessing of successive administrations to engage with Israel like a diplomat.
Epstein’s crimes span the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Trump (the first two years of his first term).
Shockingly, Data set 9 contains a [EFTA00147661.pdf]PDF file containing an email correspondence in which a purported Epstein victim complained to the NYPD Detective Bureau Child Exploitation/Human Trafficking Task Force NY FBI Squad C20 that “he [an Epstein male victim] was also raped by George Bush 1”.
The emails don’t clarify whether it was Bush Sr or his son.
One email read: “Thanks M, I didn’t realize Bush raped him too. Ok.”
Why was Epstein untouchable?
In May 2008, an assistant US submitted a draft indictment mentioning 60 criminal counts against Epstein and a memo summarising the evidence collected against him.
Strangely, Alex Acosta, the top prosecutor at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and later Trump’s labour secretary in his first term, and Epstein’s attorneys reached the “deal of the century”.
Acosta offered to end the probe if Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges, agreed to a jail term, register as a sexual offender and pay monetary damages to his victims.
Moreover, under a
non-prosecution agreement (NPA), Epstein, four co-conspirators and any potential co-conspirators were granted immunity.
Acosta was pressured to strike the sweetheart deal with Epstein, and the FBI misled Epstein’s victims by keeping the NPA a secret from them.
The most suspicious aspect of the DoJ cover-up is that its counter-intelligence officials (NSD), who inherited the redaction work from the FBI, were involved in reviewing the files.
The NSD’s
mission is to protect the US from threats to national security by coordinating between prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, intelligence attorneys and the intelligence community.
NSD lawyers don’t handle sex crime documents. Neither did the department investigate Epstein.
The Act’s second condition is understandable considering the grave crimes and the sensitivity regarding the victims’ identities.
Moreover, redacting the names of men mentioned in the files is unlawful when the Act specifically barred it.
Congress has the power to ask for the victims’ identities—even if they aren’t made public—the redacted names of the men and the remaining files to know the details of the serious crimes committed by Epstein’s friends.
However, the bipartisan unity in the House and the Senate in passing the Bill, which Trump had no option but to sign into law, was rare.
With the Midterms this year, the chances of Republican lawmakers uniting with their Democratic colleagues against Trump are rare. Even if Democrats wrest control of the House and the Senate, they will need the support of their GOP colleagues.
Will Epstein’s Victims Ever Get Justice?
As long as Bondi is America’s chief law enforcement officer, the remaining Epstein files will not see the light of day. Even if Trump appoints another AG, he will be immune for the next three years.
She has decided which files are classified and can harm national interest, are duplicates or unnecessary, depict violence, breach attorney-client privilege—accordingly, she has withheld or redacted them heavily.
So, will Epstein’s victims ever get justice and the men who committed the horrific crimes against them brought to book if a Democrat wins the 2028 election?
The chances are again rare.
The names of several Democrats appear in emails exchanged with Epstein.
Clinton’s ties with Epstein were always known during and post-presidency.
Epstein visited the White House 17 times between 1993 and 1995. Clinton flew on his infamous jet, the Lolita Express, where Maxwell arranged sex parties involving minors, multiple times between 2002 and 2003, for trips related to his Foundation.
However, the latest Epstein files contain allegations that Clinton, along with Trump, participated in orgies organised by Epstein.
According to the FBI email chain, “At age 16, while modelling, caller attended 8 parties at Epstein’s New York residence. On one occasion, caller reported she was sexually assaulted by Epstein. … Caller named other individuals involved in ‘big orgy parties’ with her, other young girls, and older Victoria’s Secret models, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.”
The email chain mentions a victim who “reportedly knew about criminal activity that occurred in multiple states and on airplanes, and told complainant there were films of prominent men such as Epstein, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump, and that Ghislaine Maxwell is in the videos as well”.
There are two reasons why Clinton’s involvement with Epstein was beyond mere friendship.
First, in a
2016 deposition as part of Epstein’s most prominent accuser, Virginia Giuffre’s defamation suit against Maxwell, the rapist invoked the Fifth Amendment (against self-incrimination) when asked, “When Bill Clinton came to your island, he was accompanied by two young women who were approximately 18 years old, true?” He again responded, “Fifth” when asked whether he was Clinton’s close friend and he flew on his private jet.
Second, the Clintons refused to comply with subpoenas (legal orders to testify) demanding congressional testimony about their relationship with Epstein issued by the House Oversight Committee last year.
Last month, the committee voted to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to comply with the subpoenas. The House was set to vote on the resolution. “No one is above the law, and justice must be applied equally regardless of position, pedigree or prestige,” committee chairman James Comer said.
Fearing serious legal consequences, the former president has decided to depose on February 27 and the former secretary on February 26.
Besides Clinton, his treasury secretary and prominent Democrat, Larry Summers, was mentioned in the 20,000 Epstein documents released by the House Oversight Committee last November.
The same documents also mention LinkedIn co-founder and major Democrat donor Reid Hoffman.
Both Summers, a former Harvard University president, and Hoffman exchanged emails with Epstein.
More Suspicion About Epstein’s Suicide
Coincidentally, Epstein apparently committed suicide during Trump’s first term.
His brother, Mark, has repeatedly alleged that he was murdered because he had “dirt” on Trump and even the Clintons.
Per the DoJ memo, the FBI concluded that Epstein “committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City on August 10, 2019”.
In an interview with journalist Declan Hill on the Crime Waves podcast in December 2023, Mark seriously doubted the suicide angle.
Why would Epstein commit suicide if his appeal against the bail rejection was to be heard a few days later? He spent most of August 9 (Friday) with his legal team.
“Jeff was looking forward to defending himself against the charges,” Mark said. In fact, during the last meeting with his lawyers on Friday, Epstein was in “
great spirits”, a source told the New York Post.
The latest Epstein files
trigger more suspicion about the reason for Epstein’s death.
Less than two weeks before his death, Epstein’s lawyers discussed his potential cooperation with Manhattan federal prosecutors, according to an FBI document
titled “Epstein Investigation Summary & Timeline”.
“On July 29, 2019, FBI and (prosecutors) met with Epstein’s attorneys, who, in very general terms, discussed the possibility of a resolution of the case, and the possibility of the defendant’s cooperation.”
Another document titled “Jeffrey Epstein Significant Case Notification” and not attributed to any investigative agency almost resembled the FBI document.
The second document
stated: “It was suggested that Defence Counsel contact SDNY if Epstein was prepared to accept responsibility for his conduct and/or they had a specific proposal for a resolution of this case.”
Mark hired famous forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who was present during the four-hour autopsy. He saw something unusual. “There were fractures of the left, the right thyroid cartilage and the left hyoid bone. I have never seen three fractures like this in a suicidal hanging,” he told CBS News 60 Minutes.
According to Mark, the fractures resembled injuries caused by a karate chop. “I found out from Special Forces people that it is how they kill people. In this particular case, as if someone gave him a karate chop and garrotted him.”
(The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. He tweets as @FightTheBigots. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)
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