An email dated January 7, 2020, from the unidentified prosecutor indicated that flight records revealed Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet eight times in the 1990s. At least four of those flights included Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for facilitating the sexual abuse of minors by Epstein.
In a social media post from 2024, Trump stated he “was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island.” The prosecutor’s email did not allege that Trump had committed any crimes. The White House has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the email.
One flight had just the three passengers: Epstein, Trump, and a 20-year-old woman whose name was redacted. “On two other flights, two of the passengers were women who could potentially be witnesses in a Maxwell case,” the document noted.
The Department of Justice issued a statement on X, asserting: “Some of these documents contain false and sensational claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election. To clarify: the claims are unfounded and false; had they held any merit, they would have been used against President Trump already.
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“Nonetheless, in our commitment to law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents, ensuring legally mandated protections for Epstein’s victims,” the statement continued.
The recent release of Epstein documents contains approximately 30,000 pages, heavily redacted, along with dozens of video clips, including several claimed to have been recorded inside a federal detention center. Epstein was discovered dead in a New York jail in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide.
In another email from 2021, an unidentified sender mentioned they were reviewing data from former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s cellphone and discovered an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The government had redacted portions of the message that indicated who sent and received it.
One of the released files included a blurry photo of Trump seated next to Maxwell, matching an image from a New York fashion show in 2000.
Additionally, the government on December 23 published a video claiming to show Epstein kneeling in his jail cell, but a Reuters investigation found it appeared to be a computer-generated clip that initially emerged on social media in 2020, a year after his death. This was submitted to the Justice Department by someone who claimed it depicted Epstein’s suicide, as noted in an email released on December 23.
Transparency Law
Last week, the Trump administration released a substantial collection of Epstein documents in an effort to comply with a new law mandating disclosure on a politically sensitive issue.
However, the releases on Friday and Saturday included extensive redactions, frustrating some Republicans and failing to ease a scandal that poses a risk to the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
On Monday, Trump minimized the significance of the Epstein files. Speaking to reporters, he remarked that the documents were “just used to deflect against tremendous success” achieved by him and his fellow Republicans.
The new transparency law, which passed overwhelmingly in Congress last month, required the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite Trump’s prolonged attempts to keep them sealed.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who played a key role in initiating the law that necessitated the release of these files, responded on Monday to Trump’s criticisms regarding the release. The Kentucky Republican posted on X: “Trump is blaming me for a bill he ultimately signed while defending his banker friends, Bill Clinton, and ‘innocent’ visitors to rape island. Meanwhile, (Attorney General Pam) Bondi is diligently working to redact, omit, and delete Epstein files she is legally required to release under our bill.”
