The thousands of documents released by the US Department of Justice relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are filled with the names of some of the world’s most famous people, including former President Bill Clinton, with one notable exception: the name of US President Donald Trump.
The department released only a portion of the documents related to Epstein on Friday, with most of the information redacted, citing the extensive effort required to review the documents and the need to protect Epstein’s victims.
The Trump administration says it has tried to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Congress in November that requires the release of all Epstein files, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them out of public view.
The numerous redactions and limited number of documents released have angered some Republicans and done little to defuse a scandal that threatens the party as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
The lack of references to Trump was notable, given that photos and documents relating to him had been released by Epstein for years. Trump’s name appeared on flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein’s private plane that were part of an initial batch of Epstein documents released by the Justice Department in February, for example.
Friday’s release also contains other important material, including a complaint accusing Epstein of involvement in “child pornography” filed with the FBI in 1996, long before law enforcement began investigating him.
Celebrities featured in photos made available as part of Friday’s show include the late news anchor Walter Cronkite, singers Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, British businessman Richard Branson and the former Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. Many of the photos show no date and were provided without context, and none of these figures have been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor also appears in a photo lying on the laps of several women. The former Duke of York, “who was stripped of his royal title over his links to Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing.
CENSORS AND LOST FILE
The documents released this week include evidence from multiple investigations into Epstein, as well as photos of Clinton, long despised by Republicans. But it appears the material contained few if any photos of Trump or documents mentioning him, despite the highly publicized friendship between Trump and Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s. The two men had severed ties before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and denies knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
A file containing a photo of Trump appears to have been removed from the dataset released by the Justice Department on Saturday. This absence was noticed by Democrats in the Chamber of Deputies, who demanded explanations from the government.
Later Saturday, that image was among 16 photos that had been removed from the Justice Department’s website, according to the New York Times, NPR and Associated Press.
The Justice Department and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about the deleted files.
The significance of the documents was not immediately clear, as many documents related to Epstein had already been made public since his death in prison in 2019, which was ruled by U.S. authorities as a suicide.
Many of the files were heavily redacted – several documents measuring 100 pages or more were completely blacked out – and the Justice Department acknowledged that it was still reviewing hundreds of thousands of additional pages for possible release.
One of Epstein’s victims, Marina Lacerda, reacted angrily on Saturday to the large number of deletions and undisclosed documents.
“We’re all furious about this. It’s another slap in the face. We expected a lot more,” Lacerda told MS NOW.
Last month, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives released thousands of emails from Epstein’s estate, including one in which Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” without clarifying what that meant. Trump, in response, accused Democrats of promoting the “Epstein hoax” as a diversion.
The Justice Department sought to focus attention on Clinton, with two agency spokespeople posting images on social media that they said showed him with Epstein’s victims.
Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said in a statement that the White House was trying to “protect itself” by focusing on the former president. “They can post as many grainy 20+ year old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” he wrote.
In a statement, the White House said the disclosure demonstrated its transparency and commitment to justice for Epstein’s victims. But those revelations only happened because Congress forced the government’s hand, after Trump officials said earlier this year that no more Epstein files would be made public.
The disclosure law requires the Justice Department to provide information about the Epstein investigation, including internal reports and emails. None of these documents appear to be included in the batch of documents released Friday by the Trump administration.
The law allows the Justice Department to withhold personal information about Epstein’s victims, as well as material that could compromise an active investigation.
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