Trump figures sparingly in newly released Epstein files (Image: File)
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump is mentioned only sparingly in the batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Justice Department on Friday, according to a preliminary scan by The New York Times of thousands of documents and hundreds of photographs.
The limited references have drawn attention given Trump’s past social ties with Epstein, a relationship previously documented by the newspaper, and earlier speculation triggered by Trump’s initial reluctance to make federal Epstein-related records public. Trump’s allies have earlier acknowledged that his name does appear in the files.
Most of the documents reviewed were heavily redacted. The visible material included scattered references to Trump, largely in records that had already entered the public domain. These comprised photographs of Trump and Melania Trump with Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as mentions in Epstein’s address book, flight logs and message books noting missed calls. Trump’s name also appeared in interview tran-scripts of Maxwell that had been released earlier and were reissued on Friday.
In a 2016 deposition, Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein’s former criminal defence lawyers, said he had seen Trump at Epstein’s home, though he offered no further details. Trump has consistently downplayed his association with Epstein, stating that he severed ties in the early 2000s after Epstein recruited an employee from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The relatively few mentions of Trump stand in sharp contrast to references to former President Bill Clinton, with the Justice Department releasing dozens of photographs of Clinton in various settings, including one showing him in a hot tub.
Todd Blanche, a senior Justice Department official, said the administration would continue releasing large volumes of Epstein-related material in the coming weeks, once reviews are completed to redact information that could identify possible victims of Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
