Almost immediately after the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, announced the justice department was releasing 3m additional pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, Fox News published an exclusive interview with him seeking to shape what Americans could expect to find in the files.
After reviewing years of Epstein’s correspondence, Blanche said, the justice department determined that there was nothing in them in which Epstein said anything criminally implicating Trump.
“In none of these communications, even when doing his best to disparage President Trump, did Epstein suggest President Trump had done anything criminal or had any inappropriate contact with any of his victims,” Blanche told Fox News. The story highlighted several emails in the release in which Epstein disparages Trump.
Blanche’s interview underscored the administration’s aggressive efforts to downplay Trump’s links to Epstein and get ahead of any potential negative exposure for the president.
A more detailed look at the documents offers a slightly more complicated picture. It is true that while the documents do not show any wrongdoing on Trump’s part, they do provide more insight into the relationship between Trump and Epstein, as well as a connection between Trump’s orbit and Epstein.
Trump’s name appears in unverified tips sent to the FBI, and in the handwritten notes taken during an interview with a victim. An Epstein employee also told investigators he recalled Trump visiting Epstein’s home. The documents released on Friday also show a woman named Melania exchanging friendly emails in 2002 and mentioning traveling to Palm Beach.
None of those mentions are particularly damning for Trump, which only raise more questions about why the Trump administration pushed so hard against releasing the files, even after Trump supported their disclosure as a candidate. Trump has also moved to push back on efforts to tie him to Epstein, suing the Wall Street Journal over a report that he submitted a lewd drawing to go along with a note in a 50th birthday book for Epstein. The House oversight committee subsequently obtained the full book, including the birthday letter.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Georgia congresswoman, said last year Trump told her that his friends would get hurt if the files were released.
Indeed, the files released on Friday do connect people close to Trump to Epstein for the first time.
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and longtime Trump friend, arranged to visit Epstein’s island in the Caribbean with his family, the files show. Even though the emails suggest the two did meet, Lutnick told the New York Times he never met Epstein before hanging up. No victims have accused Lutnick of wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Elon Musk, a Trump ally who served as a top White House adviser last year, revived interest in the Epstein files when he suggested Trump did not want them released because Trump’s name was in them. The emails released on Friday show Musk seeking to meet Epstein on Epstein’s island and asking to go to the “wildest” parties taking place. The visit does not appear to have materalized as Musk emailed Epstein that logistics would not work out.
Steve Bannon, a top Trump strategist, also corresponded extensively with Epstein, the files reveal, and conducted an extensive video interview with Epstein. Epstein and Bannon also mocked Trump in their exchanges, and Bannon also appears to have provided advice to Epstein on how to help rehabilitate his image.
The administration has signaled that Friday’s release will be the end of its efforts to investigate Epstein. “There’s a lot of correspondence, there’s a lot of emails, there’s a lot of photographs – there’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or people around him, but that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody,” Blanche said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
While Trump himself appears to have escaped unscathed for now, Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, has suggested there will be a push to get more documents released.
“The DoJ said it identified over 6m potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5m after review and redactions,” he said on Friday.
“This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld. I will be reviewing closely to see if they release what I’ve been pushing for: the FBI 302 victim interview statements, a draft indictment and prosecution memorandum prepared during the 2007 Florida investigation, and hundreds of thousands of emails and files from Epstein’s computers. Failing to release these files only shields the powerful individuals who were involved and hurts the public’s trust in our institutions.”
