A new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released Tuesday contains numerous references to President Donald Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on his then friend's private jet, and other mentions his Justice Department described as "untrue and sensationalist."
The latest release contains previously unseen material from the investigation into Epstein, a wealthy US financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.
A first batch of heavily redacted files made public last Friday sparked criticism that the Justice Department was deliberately slow-walking the publication and excluding references to Trump.
Trump figures prominently, however, in the thousands of documents published on Tuesday, even if many references are simply from press reports.
The Justice Department swiftly issued a statement defending the 79-year-old Republican.
"Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election," it said on X, without specifying which allegations were false.
Trump, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein, already a convicted sex offender when the more serious trafficking case began.
A rebellion inside Trump's Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents.
The extraordinary move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump's own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up to protect rich and powerful men in Epstein's orbit.
- Private jet trips -
Trump said Monday he did not approve of the file dumps, expressing concern that people who "innocently met" Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.
"Everybody was friendly with this guy," he said.
He did not immediately react to Tuesday's release, posting on Truth Social about the economy and other subjects.
Trump was friends for years with Epstein and has given different accounts of how he ended their relationship.
He has said they fell out when Epstein "stole" young women working in the spa at his Florida golf club and also that he threw him out of the club for being "a creep."
But the latest documents add to evidence that Trump was close to Epstein, despite his claims to the contrary.
The documents include a January 2020 note from New York federal prosecutors who were investigating Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, detailing Trump's repeated travel on the financier's private jet.
"Records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware)," it says.
One flight reportedly had just three passengers: Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old.
- Delays -
Some references to Trump are difficult to verify.
One is in a handwritten letter purportedly written by Epstein, while in jail, to Larry Nassar, the former US gymnastics doctor who was imprisoned over rampant abuse of female athletes.
Epstein is shown complaining to Nassar that they are incarcerated while the "president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to 'grab snatch.'"
The Justice Department said it was looking at the "validity" of the letter and noted that the postmark was Virginia while Epstein was jailed in New York.
At least two emails in the cache mention 10 unidentified "co-conspirators" of Epstein, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Justice Department to look into potential Epstein accomplices.
"The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute," the senator said.
The co-sponsors of the bill forcing release of the files -- Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie -- threatened over the weekend to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to release all of the material by last Friday's deadline.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has blamed the slow release on the need to redact the identities of Epstein's more than 1,000 victims from the records.
Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes.
sms-cl/mlm
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