Trump in Epstein files: 5 takeaways from latest release

WASHINGTON - The newest US document dump on Jeffrey Epstein is sprawling, uneven and heavily redacted – but tucked inside are moments that have sharpened scrutiny on President Donald Trump’s long-acknowledged past association with the notorious sex offender.

The files do not rewrite the public record on Mr Trump, although there is material that may prove embarrassing to the President.

Mr Trump has long denied any wrongdoing and the Justice Department says some claims in the files are flatly false.

However, the documents do illuminate how federal investigators documented his proximity to Epstein – what they flagged, what they questioned, and what they ultimately set aside.

The result is a collection of fragments rather than conclusions, ranging from flight records to internal e-mails, and an unsettling piece of correspondence involving another convicted abuser.

Here are five takeaways from the documents now in public view.

Trump’s travel on Epstein’s jet

The most concrete new detail is an internal e-mail dated Jan 7, 2020, in which a New York prosecutor said flight records showed Mr Trump took eight trips on Epstein’s private jet
between 1993 and 1996 – more than investigators were aware of at the time.

The e-mail – marking the most detailed account yet of Mr Trump’s travel alongside Epstein – says Ghislaine Maxwell was aboard at least four of those flights. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for offences including sex trafficking a minor.

It also describes one flight where the only passengers were Epstein, Mr Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old whose name is redacted, plus two other flights involving women described as possible Maxwell case witnesses.

Mar-a-Lago subpoena

The newly released documents show that prosecutors issued a November 2021 subpoena to Mr Trump’s south Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago, seeking records relevant to the government’s case against Maxwell.

Attached was a letter dated February 2015, on Mar-a-Lago letterhead, in which club officials indicated they did not have the employment records from 1999 to 2001 that federal agents were seeking.

The presence of a subpoena does not imply wrongdoing by its recipient, but it does show investigators formally sought information from Mr Trump’s property as they pursued Maxwell.

Photo with Trump and Maxwell

One newly disclosed e-mail says someone reviewing data obtained from close Trump ally Steve Bannon’s cellphone found an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell”. The Department of Justice (DOJ) released the reference while redacting the photo itself.

Claims the DOJ calls false

In an unusual move, the DOJ explicitly warned that certain claims against Mr Trump in documents submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election were “untrue and sensationalist”.

The batch of newly released files describes FBI “tips” collected about Mr Trump and Epstein-era parties in the early 2000s, with no clear indication in the documents of follow-up or corroboration.

A tip from October 2020 alleges that Epstein hosted a party in 2000 where someone named Ghislaine Villeneuve brought the tipster.

Someone at the party said Mr Trump “had invited them all to a party at Mar-a-Lago” and the tipster indicated that she wanted to go but was told “it wasn’t that kind of party – it was for prostitutes”.

The document does not confirm follow-up and remains unverified.

Letter to Larry Nassar

The DOJ said a disturbing handwritten letter among the newly released paperwork – purported to be from Epstein to disgraced former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar – was among the false claims and fake material.

The message appeared to have been sent in August 2019, the month Epstein died by suicide – although DOJ officials said the postmark, return address and omission of an inmate number suggest it may not be genuine.

They added that the handwriting did not appear to match Epstein’s.

The letter’s author writes that Mr Trump “shares our love of young, nubile girls”, a sentence that had no verified context but had captured media attention due to its graphic tone.

The letter started, “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home”. US media had taken the phrase to be a dark euphemism for Epstein’s suicide. AFP