The US Department of Justice on Friday began releasing a long-awaited cache of records from its investigations into the politically explosive case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — although much of the material remained heavily redacted.
Among the trove are numerous photographs depicting former US president Bill Clinton and other luminaries, including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, in Epstein’s social circle.
The sweeping blackouts across many of the documents — combined with tight control over the release by officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration — stoked skepticism over whether this disclosure would silence conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.
Photo: REUTERS
In one example, seven pages listing 254 masseuses have every name buried beneath thick black bars alongside the note: “redacted to protect potential victim information.”
Even so, the files shed some light on the disgraced financier’s intimate ties to the rich, famous and powerful — Trump among them.
At least one file contains dozens of censored images of naked or scantily clad figures. Others show Epstein and companions, their faces obscured, posing with firearms.
Previously unseen photographs include Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, with disgraced former British prince Andrew, pictured lying across the legs of five people.
Another photo shows a youthful-looking Clinton lounging in a hot tub, part of the image blacked out. In another, Clinton swims alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Maxwell.
Democrats voiced frustration that the release fell far short of what was mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The new federal law required the government’s entire case file be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.
“This set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence,” US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Simply releasing a mountain of blacked-out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law. For example, all 119 pages of one document were completely blacked out.”
Other Democrats in the US Congress said the government had withheld a draft indictment prepared after the financier’s 2019 arrest, which they say would implicate “other rich and powerful men who were on Epstein’s rape island.”
Trump, who once counted his Palm Beach, Florida, neighbor as a close friend, spent months trying to block the disclosure of the files. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The Republican president ultimately bowed to mounting pressure from the Congress — including members of his own party — and last month signed the law compelling publication of the materials by Friday.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said several hundred thousand documents would be published on deadline day, with more to follow in coming weeks.
Prosecutors retain discretion to withhold material tied to active investigations, and Blanche said files had also been redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s hundreds of victims.
Trump once moved in the same Palm Beach and New York party scene as Epstein, appearing with him at events throughout the 1990s. He severed ties years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing in the case.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to release all the files. Yet after returning to office, he dismissed the transparency push as a “Democrat hoax.”
Trump’s justice department ignited a political firestorm in July with a memo declaring there would be no further disclosures from the Epstein probe and his fabled “client list” did not exist before the president bowed to pressure.
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former teacher and banker, whose death was ruled a suicide.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS