Supreme court refuses to allow Trump's national guard deployment in Chicago area
The supreme court has refused to allow Donald Trump to deploy national guard troops to the Chicago area, in a rare departure from recent cases where the court’s conservative majority has largely sided with the president.
While the justices’ order is preliminary, it marks an important reining-in of Trump’s efforts to expand the use of the military for domestic purposes in historic moves against a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions.
The nation’s highest court denied the US justice department’s request to lift a judge’s order in October that has blocked the deployment of hundreds of national guard personnel in a legal challenge brought by Illinois state officials and local leaders, who had opposed any federalization of those troops to offer back up to immigration enforcement.
The department had asked to allow the deployment while the litigation plays out. There have been sustained protests outside an ICE facility in Broadview, on the outskirts of Chicago, with aggressive tactics used against the resistance by the authorities.
The justices decided on a 6-3 vote on Tuesday to back a lower court and rule that the Trump administration had not met the legal burden needed to show that it was not able to execute the laws of the land without federal military intervention.
The three justices leaning furthest to the right on the bench, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, dissented.
'Not justice or accountability': Maria Farmer says DOJ still 'evading truth' on Epstein
Maria Farmer, who reported the abuse of her sister Annie Farmer by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to law enforcement in 1996, has released this statement today, following congressman Robert Garcia’s request to the Office of the Inspector General to conduct an independent investigation into the failure of the FBI to properly investigate her reports of child pornography and abuse:
The release of the Epstein files has been many things - initial victory and optimism for a long-fought push for truth, crushing disappointment and frustration at the Department of Justice’s continued evasion of the truth with the heavily yet irresponsibly redacted release of the files, and the surrealism of finally being vindicated after the truth was revealed.
We now all know that the FBI ignored my 1996 reports of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell’s sexual abuse of minors and possession of CSAM which I made - not for myself - but for vulnerable girls like my younger sisters and Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Since then, they have engaged in a systematic cover-up to protect him and his circle of powerful abusers.
This revelation brings some validation - but not justice or accountability. It must lead to real answers about who knew what and when, and why our government’s justice system failed so badly. I am grateful to Congressman Garcia’s leadership in continuing to demand answers and join him in insisting that the Office of the Inspector General stop protecting institutions and start providing the truth that survivors and the public have been denied for far too long.
Updated
The day so far
Much of the day so far has been dominated by the latest trove of Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice.
The documents were released overnight and include a claim that Donald Trump was on a flight with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman in the 1990s. There is no indication that the woman was a victim of any crime and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.
The flight records further indicate that Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996, including at least four in which Ghislaine Maxwell was also present.
Another file released is a letter referencing Trump that appears to have been sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young gymnasts, while he was in jail. The DOJ later said it was “looking into the validity of the letter and would follow up as soon as possible.
The files also include a series of emails between Maxwell and someone who signs himself as “A” and uses the alias “The Invisible Man”, who is widely believed to be Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. In August 2001, “A” wrote to Maxwell: “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family”. He goes on to ask Maxwell if she had “found me some new inappropriate friends”. She replied: “So sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends.”
Emails show Maxwell discussing arranging “girls” and “two-legged sight seeing” for “The Invisible Man”. In a February 2002 email exchange about a proposed trip to Peru, Maxwell forwards messages from Juan Estoban Ganoza outlining possible activities, including visiting the Nazca Lines.
It was also revealed that the FBI sought to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender, Peter Nygard.
The former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and the ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers were appointed as executors of Epstein’s estate, according to a newly released tranche of documents linked to the now-deceased child sex offender.
The batch of files also included a now-deleted fake video that appeared to depict Epstein attempting to end his life.
There are also photos of the fake Austrian passport uncovered from a safe during a 2019 FBI raid of Epstein’s home in Manhattan.
Also released was a 2021 subpoena to the Mar-a-Lago Club relating to the federal investigation into Maxwell, demanding “any and all employment records relating to” a person whose name is redacted.
The DOJ a rare statement defending the president as it released nearly 30,000 of additional pages of documents related to Epstein. The department said some of the material includes “untrue and sensationalist claims” submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 US election, including allegations made against Trump. The department said the claims are “unfounded and false”.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called on the justice department to release details on “at least ten potential Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators” it was looking at and why they did not prosecute.
In other news:
The US economy surged over the summer, with GDP rising at a far higher rate than expected and its fastest rate in two years. But consumer sentiment fell in December for the fifth month in a row, the longest consecutive fall since 2008.
The Trump administration announced it will delay the imposition of tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports until June 2027, in another move to cool down tensions and maintain a detente with Beijing after a heated trade war earlier this year.
Former Republican senator Ben Sasse shared that he has terminal stage-four pancreatic cancer, calling it a “death sentence”. In 2021, he was among seven Republicans to vote for impeaching Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot.
Updated
US economy grew strongly in third quarter, GDP report says
The US economy surged over the summer, the commerce department announced today in one of the final snapshots of the nation’s finances to be released in 2025.
GDP rose at an annualized rate of 4.3% over the third quarter, far higher than expected and its fastest rate in two years. The surprisingly strong growth “reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment”, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Economists had been expecting the growth rate to slow to 3.2% from an annualized rate of 3.8% in the second quarter.
But the summer surge was offset by more bad news on consumer confidence. The Conference Board’s closely watched gauge of consumer sentiment fell in December for the fifth month in a row, the longest consecutive fall since 2008.
The US economy has demonstrated resilience in a year of extraordinary challenges. Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April on the US’s major trading partners and while he has watered down or rolled back many of the levies, the uncertainty they have caused has rattled businesses and consumers.
The GDP figures will further complicate the decision-making of the Federal Reserve. The Fed announced its third interest rate cut of the year earlier this month amid signs of a weakening jobs market but is divided about how it should proceed.
Its dual mandate is to maintain price stability while maximising employment. Inflation remains stubbornly above its 2% yearly target – supporting the argument that rates should stay high to bring down prices – but the cracks in the job market suggest lower rates might help keep unemployment from rising.
The Fed’s decisions is also clouded by a lack of data. As has been the case with other key economic reports, the latest GDP figures had been held back by the government shutdown, which lasted from 1 October to 12 November and furloughed government workers, including those responsible for collecting economic data.
Trump administration delays announcement of China chip tariffs until 2027
Earlier today, the Trump administration announced it will delay the imposition of tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports until June 2027, in another move to cool down tensions and maintain a truce with Beijing after a heated trade war earlier this year.
“China’s targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts US commerce and thus is actionable,” the Office of the United States Trade Representative said in a filing, adding that this was the conclusion of a year-long probe that began under the Biden administration.
Reuters notes that the move to delay tariffs for at least 18 months preserves Trump’s ability to impose the duties whilst seeking again to dial down tensions with Beijing in the face of Chinese export curbs on the rare earth metals that global tech companies rely on and which China controls.
As the New York Times also reports: “Republicans and Democrats have grown concerned in recent years that the United States’ growing dependence on these products could pose a national security threat. China has invested heavily in the production of older kinds of semiconductors, making it difficult for US factories making similar products to stay in business.”
Updated
As we’ve been reporting, documents to Jeffrey Epstein contain emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and an individual signing off as ‘A’ and ‘The Invisible Man’.
My colleague Ben Quinn examines the evidence released in the latest trove of files that suggest a link between Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Maxwell, from burnt toast to the trip to Peru.
Mountbatten-Windsor was approached for comment. In October, he said of claims about his links with Epstein: “I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
DOJ 'looking into validity' of letter purportedly from Epstein to Larry Nassar that includes reference to Trump
Earlier we reported on a letter that appeared to have been sent by Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young gymnasts, while he was in jail.
Moments ago, the Department of Justice said it is looking into the validity of the letter and would follow up as soon as possible. In a post on X, the DOJ added:
In the meantime, three facts stand out:
-The postmark on the envelope is Virginia, not New York, where Jeffrey Epstein was jailed at the time.
-The return address listed the wrong jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail.
-The envelope was processed three days AFTER Epstein’s death.
Updated
Elsewhere in US politics, former Republican senator Ben Sasse announced that he has terminal stage-four pancreatic cancer in a post on X, calling it a “death sentence”.
Friends - This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.
Sasse, 53, represented Nebraska in the US Senate from 2015 to 2023. In 2021, he was among seven Republicans to vote for impeaching Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot. The Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict.
Donald Trump also said today in a post on Truth Social that he wanted the next chair of the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates if financial markets are doing well. He added:
Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!
Updated
Some Epstein file redactions are being undone with hacks
People examining documents released by the Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein case discovered that some of the file redaction can be undone with Photoshop techniques, or by simply highlighting text to paste into a word processing file.
Un-redacted text from these documents began circulating through social media on Monday evening.
Here’s the full report:
In other news, the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Donald Trump, will be broadcast tonight at 8pm ET. Trump promoted the broadcast of the event, which was recorded earlier this month, earlier today on Truth Social. He wrote:
THE TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER HONORS will be broadcast tonight, on CBS, and Stream on Paramount+. Tune in at 8 P.M. EST! At the request of the Board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event. Tell me what you think of my “Master of Ceremony” abilities. If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make “hosting” a full time job? We will be honoring true GREATS in the History of Entertainment: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, KISS, George Strait, and Gloria Gaynor.
What we know so far from newly released Epstein files
If you’re just joining us, the day in US politics has been dominated by the latest trove of Jeffrey Epstein documents. Some key things to know include:
The documents were released overnight on Tuesday and include a claim that Donald Trump was on a flight with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman in the 1990s. There is no indication that the woman was a victim of any crime and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.
The files also include a series of emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and someone who signs himself as “A” and uses the alias “The Invisible Man”. In August 2001, “A” wrote to Maxwell: “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family”.
Emails show Maxwell discussing arranging “girls” and “two-legged sight seeing” for a man identified in the correspondence as “The Invisible Man”, who is widely believed to be Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. In a February 2002 email exchange about a proposed trip to Peru, Maxwell forwards messages from Juan Estoban Ganoza outlining possible activities, including visiting the Nazca Lines.
The former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and the ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers were appointed as executors of Epstein’s estate, according to a newly released tranche of documents linked to the now-deceased child sex offender.
Included in the batch of files was a now-deleted fake video that appeared to depict Epstein attempting to end his life. Also in the trove are photos of the fake Austrian passport uncovered from a safe during a 2019 FBI raid of Epstein’s home in Manhattan. There is also a 2021 subpoena to the Mar-a-Lago Club relating to the federal investigation into Maxwell. Also revealed was that the FBI sought to question Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender, Peter Nygard.
The US Department of Justice a rare statement defending the president as it released nearly 30,000 of additional pages of documents related to Epstein. The department said some of the material includes “untrue and sensationalist claims” submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 US election, including allegations made against Trump. The department said the claims are “unfounded and false”.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called on the justice department to release details on “at least ten potential Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators” it was looking at and why they did not prosecute.
Updated
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a House Republican who is resigning in January after breaking with Donald Trump and many in her party, called the latest Epstein files “horrifying.”
“Trump called me a traitor for fighting him to release the Epstein files and standing with women,” she wrote on X. “Only evil people would hide this and protect those who participated. I pray for these women.”
The House Democrats on the oversight committee accused the White House of a “cover-up” in a post on X:
The new DOJ documents raise serious questions about the relationship between Epstein and Donald Trump. And why are Epstein’s co-conspirators being protected? What else is the DOJ hiding?
This is a White House cover-up and we are going to end it.
Updated
In another post on X, Chuck Schumer responded to a the letter that appears to have been written by Jeffrey Epstein and sent to Larry Nassar, calling it “disgusting and abhorrent - and just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Everything must be brought to light,” the Democrat wrote.
Schumer demands DoJ release details on 'at least ten Epstein co-conspirators'
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called on the justice department to release details on “at least ten potential Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators” it was looking at and why they did not prosecute.
Schumer said in a statement:
Buried in the Epstein files is an email disclosing the Department of Justice was looking into at least ten potential Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators. The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute. Protecting possible co-conspirators is not the transparency the American people and Congress are demanding.
Updated
Newly released Epstein files show that the FBI sought to question Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender, Peter Nygard.
In a request for mutual legal assistance sent to UK authorities in April 2020, US officials asked British police to help obtain answers from Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, about visits to Nygard’s Bahamas estate, known as Nygard Cay, and whether he had seen any girls under the age of 18 there.
The documents state that investigators believed he may have information relevant to an inquiry into Nygard’s alleged involvement in an international sex trafficking operation.
Nygard was sentenced last year to 11 years in prison in Canada for sexual assaults committed between the 1980s and early 2000s, with further proceedings ongoing in the US and Canada.
The same request shows US prosecutors were also seeking to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, including any sexual or romantic relationships with women met through them and any financial dealings between the parties.
There is no suggestion that the request indicated criminal wrongdoing.
Jes Staley and Larry Summers made executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, files reveal
The former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and the ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers were appointed as executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, according to a newly released tranche of documents linked to the now-deceased child sex offender.
Filings published today by the DOJ included various versions of Epstein’s last will and testament, which showed the financier intended to hand responsibility of managing his affairs to associates including the two high-profile men in the event of his death.
Staley’s name initially appears in a 2012 version of Epstein’s will, but as a “successor executor”, meaning he would be required to handle Epstein’s affairs only if others were unable to carry out their duties. However, he appears as a full executor in later versions, dated 2013 and 2014. Summers is also named in the 2014 will as a successor executor, the filings show.
Neither Summers nor Staley are in what appears to be the final version of Epstein’s will in 2019. The well-connected financier died in prison in August 2019, while awaiting trial over child sex trafficking charges.
The newly released filings will raise further questions about the depth of the two men’s relationships with Epstein, with Staley having already been banned from the UK banking sector for playing down his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.
Summers, an economist and former US Treasury secretary, stepped down from a teaching role at Harvard in November after a previous tranche of documents suggested he stayed in contact with Epstein well into 2019, and ceased shortly before Epstein was arrested in July of that year.
More on this story here:
Updated
New trove includes 2021 Mar-a-Lago subpoena related to Maxwell investigation
Included in the new batch of files is a 2021 subpoena to the Mar-a-Lago Club relating to the federal investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell.
Dated 5 October 2021, the subpoena demands “any and all employment records relating to” a person whose name is redacted. Maxwell went on to be convicted on sex trafficking charges in December that year and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
With the documents released without context and explanation, there is no indication whether Mar-a-Lago complied with the demand and what, if anything, was released.
Donald Trump has said that he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein and expelled him from the private club after he “stole people that worked for me”, later elaborating that they were “people who worked in the spa”. Asked by a reporter if one of the people was Virginia Giuffre, Trump said: “I think that was one of the people, yeah.”
One of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, accused Maxwell of recruiting her from the Mar-a-Lago spa, where she worked when she was 16. It is unclear if the records requested in the subpoena are those of Giuffre.
In another released email exchange from November 2001, Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be organizing an instructor for Epstein who “has to be female youngish and attractive otherwise he will lose interest rapidly”.
Maxwell emails someone called “Gibby”, saying: “JE is looking for an exercise instructor to work out with. He is looking for someone who can tone, flex and stretch.” “I am counting on you,” she adds.
Further down in the exchange, Maxwell adds:
He likes, well you know what he likes.
Also in the trove of files are photos of the fake Austrian passport uncovered from a safe during a 2019 FBI raid of Epstein’s home in Manhattan after his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
The fraudulent passport bears Epstein’s photo along with the name Marius Robert Fortelni. Issued on 21 May 1982, it lists his place of residence as Saudi Arabia and his profession as “manager”. It contains numerous stamps showing travel to Paris and Nice in France; Malaga in Spain; London, UK; and Saudi Arabia, mostly throughout 1982, and several also in 1983.
Another released document is an email exchange between a person from the FBI/NYPD child exploitation human trafficking taskforce and the assistant US attorney for the southern district of [presumably New York], both of whose names are redacted.
In the emails, they appear to have identified the real Marius Fortelni, who they found is Austrian, had lived in Saudi Arabia for a time, and was then living in Southampton, New York at the time. In an extract from the AUSA for SDNY’s email, they discuss trying to find out if the birthday in the passport matches the real Fortelni’s birthday, and goes on:
And then try to contact him and ask if he has any reason to know why a passport from his native country with his name on it could have Jeffrey Epstein’s photograph on it and be in a safe in Epstein’s mansion??
The passport, which has been previously reported on, became a key element of the government’s argument against bail for Epstein, with prosecutors arguing it demonstrated that he posed a serious flight risk and knew how to obtain false travel documents or assume other identities.
Fortelni did not immediately respond to a Guardian request for comment.
Updated
Included in the batch of files released overnight by the US Department of Justice was a now-deleted fake video that appeared to depict Jeffrey Epstein attempting to end his life.
The 12-second clip, which was released without context, was time-stamped 4.29am on 10 August 2019 and appeared to show Epstein in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. A reminder that Epstein was found dead in his cell at 6.30am that day, his death was later ruled as suicide.
But it was revealed in another released document that the clip was indeed a years-old fake video that circulated on internet message board 4chan and was flagged by investigators by a Florida conspiracy theorist. The door of the prison cell in the clip, for example, doesn’t match the one in Epstein’s cell.
A Trump administration official confirmed to The New York Post that the video was fake and has been on YouTube for years. It was eventually taken down from the DOJ’s site.
As the DOJ continues to release files without context or explanation, it serves as a reminder that we cannot vouch for the veracity of everything that is released.
Letter apparently sent from Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar mentions Trump
Another file released on Tuesday is a letter that appears to have been sent by Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young gymnasts, while he was in jail.
In the letter, postmarked 13 August 2019 and sent from jail, the letter reads:
Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the “short route” home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to “grab snatch,” whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.
Epstein was found dead in his cell on 10 August 2019. The death was ruled a suicide. Donald Trump, who was president at the time of the letter being written, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In a post on X earlier, the US justice department said that some of the documents it has released “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made 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 had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
The letter is also mentioned in another file, an FBI Laboratory Examination request, where it states that on 25 September 2019, an FBI agent received a phone call from Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Section Lieutenant regarding a letter that was received by the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
It says that the letter was a “return to sender” and “the following was written at the top left corner of the letter: J. Epstein Manhattan Correctional NYC NY 10007 The letter was postmarked NOVA 220 13 August 2019 and was addressed to Larry Nassar”.
The file states that it was sent to another Federal Bureau of Prisons facility and that the reason for the “return to sender” was that the addressee was “no longer at this address”.
The FBI document, which is dated July 31 2020, states that FBI New York is requesting the lab to “perform a handwriting analysis comparing the letter” to the “handwriting of Jeffrey Epstein to conclude if the individual who wrote the letter was Epstein or another unknown person.”
Updated
Some Epstein documents include ‘untrue and sensationalist claims’ against Trump, says DoJ
The US Department of Justice has released nearly 30,000 of additional pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Unlike the last batches, this tranche features many more references to Donald Trump.
In a statement accompanying the release, the department said some of the material includes “untrue and sensationalist claims” submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 US election, including allegations made against Trump.
The department said the claims are “unfounded and false”.
The statement on X continued:
To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.
Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.
Updated
Emails show Maxwell acting as go-between in plans for Peru trip
Freshly released emails from the Epstein files show Ghislaine Maxwell discussing arranging “girls” and “two-legged sight seeing” for a man identified in the correspondence as “The Invisible Man”, who is widely believed to be Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
In a February 2002 email exchange about a proposed trip to Peru, Maxwell forwards messages from Juan Estoban Ganoza outlining possible activities, including visiting the Nazca Lines.
In a February 2002 exchange relayed by Maxwell, Ganoza asks: “About the girls… how old is he?” The Invisible Man later responds in an email to Maxwell: “As for girls well I leave that entirely to you and Juan Estoban!”
A further message sent in March 2002 by Maxwell her contact in Peru expands on the arrangements.
She writes:
Some sight seeing some 2 legged sight seeing (read intelligent pretty fun and from good families) and he will be very happy. I know I can rely on you to show him a wonderful time and that you will only introduce him to friends that you can trust and rely on to be friendly and discreet and fun.
She warns the potential tour guide:
He does not want to read about any trip in the papers whom or what he saw.
Mountbatten-Windsor visited Peru in March 2002 on an official visit and was pictured posing with firefighters in Lima.
There is no suggestion that the emails indicate wrongdoing.
Mountbatten-Windsor and Buckingham Palace have been approached for comment.
Updated
Trump flew alone on jet with Epstein and unnamed 20-year-old, files suggest
A newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files includes many references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.
There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.
The dump of files by the justice department follows a similar release last week of a section of the documents detailing its investigations into the billionaire sex offender.
There are numerous references to Trump, including an email that suggests he travelled on board Epstein’s private jet with women who would have been possible witnesses to the case against Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The email – sent by the US attorney for the southern district of New York on 7 January 2020 – has the subject “Epstein flight records”.
It reads:
For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.
In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present. He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric.
On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old REDACTED.
On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a [Ghislaine] Maxwell case.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Trump says Epstein files damaging people who ‘innocently met’ him and shows sympathy for Bill Clinton
Donald Trump has broken his silence on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, complaining that people who “innocently met” the convicted sex offender could have their reputations destroyed.
In his first comments since the justice department began releasing the materials on Friday, the US president on Monday expressed sympathy for prominent Democrats who have come under renewed scrutiny over their associations with Epstein.
“I like Bill Clinton,” Trump said of the former president, who featured prominently in the first batch of photos. “I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton; I’ve been nice to him, he’s been nice to me … I hate to see photos come out of him but this is what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans – are asking for, so they’re giving their photos of me too.”
Trump, who had a long association with Epstein and for much of this year resisted the release of the files, was speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “Everybody was friendly with this guy,” he claimed. “But no, I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown – I think it’s a terrible thing.
“I think Bill Clinton’s a big boy, he can handle it, but you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago and they’re highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.”
Trump added that a “lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody.”
Read the full story here:
Updated
Emails to Maxwell from 'Balmoral Summer Camp'
The files also include a series of emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and someone who signs himself as “A” and uses the alias “The Invisible Man”.
In August 2001, “A” wrote to Maxwell: “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family” before adding:
How’s LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall.
Maxwell replies: “So sorry to dissappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends.”
“A” responds: “Distraught!” before adding that he has lost his valet and has left the “RN”.
The email continues:
…now my whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me. He was a real rock and almost a part of the family ... If you have any good ideas as to how to get my mind back on track I’d be grateful for advice. See you real soon… I hope if you are coming over. A xxx
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, left the Royal Navy in 2001. There is no suggestion that the emails indicate criminal wrongdoing.
Major batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released
A major new batch of thousands more files relating to Jeffrey Epstein has been released by the US Justice Department, featuring many more references to Donald Trump than earlier batches contained.
The documents were released overnight on Tuesday and include a claim that Trump was on a flight with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman in the 1990s. There is no indication that the woman was a victim of any crime and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.
The US Department of Justice was legally required to publish the documents by the end of last week. The first cache of ‘Epstein Files’ were released on Friday evening after months of delay and stalling from the Trump administration.
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche told Fox News that he expected the department to release several hundred thousand more files in the coming weeks.
We’ll bring you further updates as we go through the latest tranche.
Updated
