The Justice Department on Friday reopened a long-running window into the Jeffrey Epstein case, publishing a far broader tranche of investigative records that detail what federal authorities knew about the disgraced financier, his sexual abuse of underage girls and his ties to some of the most influential figures in politics, business and royalty.
The release, made under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, adds millions of pages to the public record after lawmakers and advocacy groups criticized an earlier disclosure in December as incomplete. Officials said the newly posted material reflects months of additional review prompted by the discovery of a much larger cache of documents.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department is making public more than 3 million pages of records, along with over 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images. The files, now available on the department’s website, represent a significant portion of materials that were previously held back to allow for victim protections and legal review.
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Among the documents are records tied to Epstein’s high-profile social circle. They include references to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew, and email exchanges involving Epstein and Elon Musk, alongside communications with political and business figures spanning party lines.
Congress mandated the disclosures after sustained public pressure, arguing that transparency was long overdue in a case that has fueled speculation about preferential treatment and institutional failures. Justice Department officials said earlier delays stemmed from the need to ensure that identifying or sensitive information about victims was not inadvertently released.
Friday’s publication marks the largest disclosure yet in a saga that has repeatedly intersected with national politics, including scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s past association with Epstein. For years, online investigators and conspiracy-minded commentators have pressed for a full accounting of the government’s handling of the case, a demand Blanche acknowledged may remain unmet even after this latest release.
“There’s a hunger, or a thirst, for information that I don’t think will be satisfied by the review of these documents,” he said at a news conference.
The department missed a Dec. 19 congressional deadline to release all remaining files, later explaining that hundreds of lawyers were assigned to comb through the records to determine what required redaction. Officials rejected claims that the review was designed to protect Trump, who has said he severed ties with Epstein years ago following an earlier friendship.
The newly released material includes extensive correspondence involving Epstein’s associates. Thousands of entries reference Trump, ranging from emails in which Epstein and others circulated news stories about him to commentary on his politics and personal life. The files also contain a spreadsheet compiled last August summarizing calls to the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center and a prosecutor-run hotline from individuals claiming, without corroboration, to have information about alleged wrongdoing by Trump.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name appears hundreds of times, sometimes in media clippings and sometimes in Epstein’s private emails or dinner guest lists. The records also reflect efforts by New York prosecutors to secure an interview with the former prince during their sex trafficking investigation.
The documents further show that Musk contacted Epstein on at least two occasions about potential visits to Epstein’s Caribbean island, where many abuse allegations are centered. In a 2012 exchange, Epstein asked how many people Musk would want flown by helicopter to the island.
“Probably just Talulah and me,” Musk replied, referring to his then-partner, actress Talulah Riley. “What day/night will be the wildest party on our island?”
Ahead of another Caribbean trip in 2013, Musk wrote to Epstein, “Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays. Is there a good time to visit?” Epstein suggested a visit after the New Year. The records do not indicate whether any trip occurred. Representatives for Tesla and X did not respond to requests for comment, the AP indicated in a report.
Musk has previously said he declined Epstein’s invitations.
“Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED,” he wrote on X in 2025 last year, after House Democrats released an Epstein calendar noting a possible Musk visit.
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Other files reveal friendly text exchanges between Epstein and Steve Bannon, the conservative activist who served as Trump’s White House strategist during the president’s first term. The messages show political banter, discussions about meeting for meals and a March 29, 2019 request from Bannon asking whether Epstein could send his plane to pick him up in Rome.
Epstein responded that his pilot and crew “are doing their best” to arrange the flight and added that if Bannon found a charter instead, “I’m happy to pay.” Later messages suggest Epstein was in France and invited Bannon to dinner, though the outcome of the exchange is not documented.
The records also reference interactions between Epstein and Howard Lutnick, now Trump’s commerce secretary. In December 2012, Epstein invited Lutnick to his private island for lunch, with Lutnick’s wife, Allison Lutnick, responding that they would arrive by yacht with their children. A separate schedule from 2011 indicates the two men met for drinks.
Lutnick has sought to distance himself from Epstein, saying in a 2025 interview that he cut ties decades ago. A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick had “limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”
Another name appearing in the documents is Kathy Ruemmler, former White House general counsel under President Barack Obama. In one email, Epstein advised Ruemmler that Democrats should stop portraying Trump as a Mafia-like figure, even as he referred to the president as a “maniac.”
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson said Ruemmler, now the firm’s general counsel and chief legal officer, “had a professional association with Jeffrey Epstein when she was a lawyer in private practice” and “regrets ever knowing him.”
The initial release last month comprised tens of thousands of pages, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs and court filings. Those records contained previously published flight logs showing Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, before the two fell out, as well as several photographs of former President Bill Clinton. No publicly identified Epstein victim has accused either man of wrongdoing, and both have said they were unaware of Epstein’s abuse of minors.
Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. A decade earlier, in 2008 and 2009, he served time in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under 18, following an agreement that spared him federal prosecution despite evidence of abuse at his Palm Beach home.
Included in Friday’s release is a draft indictment from that period showing prosecutors considered federal charges not only against Epstein but also against three personal assistants. Their names were redacted, but the draft alleged they participated in a conspiracy to recruit underage girls to perform lewd acts with Epstein.
In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate and former girlfriend, of sex trafficking for helping recruit underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
No other individuals have been criminally charged in connection with Epstein’s abuse. One victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleged in civil lawsuits that Epstein arranged sexual encounters for her at ages 17 and 18 with politicians, business leaders and other prominent figures, accusations they denied. Among those she named was Prince Andrew, who lost his royal titles amid the scandal. He denied the allegations and later settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
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Giuffre reportedly died by suicide last year at age 41.
