Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America
The Justice Department released a new batch of files Tuesday related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein which contain hundreds of references to President Trump.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection to Epstein though he had a well-documented friendship with the disgraced financier in the 1980s, ’90s, and 2000s. This latest tranche gives more details on Trump’s relationship with Epstein, including documentation of Trump flying on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s. Epstein’s relationship with powerful politicians and businessmen – and in particular, to what degree Trump may have been aware of Epstein’s crimes – has been a central question as the DOJ has continued to release the files.
Congress required the Justice Department to make all files available by last Friday. The department has taken a piecemeal approach to releasing the files, which are expected to contain hundreds of thousands of pages.
In a Tuesday-morning social media post, the department said that the latest batch contains nearly 30,000 pages, adding that it includes “untrue or sensationalist claims” about Trump. When asked for comment on the newest files, the White House referred NPR to the Justice Department statement.
The latest set of files includes a 2020 email from an unidentified federal prosecutor saying that “Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).”
The prosecutor said Trump was listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including four on which Ghislaine Maxwell – Epstein’s co-conspirator and herself a convicted sex offender – was also a passenger. The prosecutor also wrote that one flight included only Trump, Epstein, and a 20-year-old whose name was redacted.
Flight logs included in the latest files show that Trump’s flights were primarily domestic, between New Jersey, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C.
President Trump has yet to respond directly to the latest document dump, but on Monday told reporters that he thinks the Epstein files are a distraction, and that they unfairly implicate innocent people.
“What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” Trump said. “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.”
The files also include a 2019 letter supposedly sent by Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar — the former U.S. gymnastics team doctor.
The letter, which says Epstein sent it from a correctional facility in Manhattan, says that “our president shares our love of young, nubile girls.” A stamp on the letter says it was returned to sender.
The DOJ document release also includes an FBI document requesting that a laboratory perform a handwriting analysis to determine whether the letter was written by Epstein. It’s unclear whether the FBI came to a conclusion in this case.
Another document included is a 2021 subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club for employment records during the investigation into Maxwell.
NPR’s Luke Garrett contributed reporting.
