The “Epstein files” are words that have been on many lips over the past year – and after a series of delays, 19 December is the deadline for release of the major tranche of documents.
The files – thousands of pages of documents related to criminal investigations into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – have become an obsession across the Atlantic, sparking conspiracy theories and posing one of the major threats to Donald Trump’s grip on his Maga base.
What is in them, who is named, and in what context, has been the subject of debate since Epstein’s death in custody in 2019, but the discourse has reached fever pitch this year, with even some of Trump’s most loyal supporters railing against his administration’s seeming reluctance to release the files.
After months of will-they-won’t-they, Congress passed a bill last month that compelled the release of essentially everything the US Department of Justice has collected over multiple federal investigations into Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, within 30 days.
Those records total around 100,000 pages, according to a federal judge who has reviewed the case.
Judges ensured that the full scope of the documents could be released. Last week, one ruled that all material related to the 2019 sex trafficking investigation should be made availble, after judges had made similar rulings on documents related to Maxwell and a 2006 investigation into Epstein.
Annie Farmer, who accused Epstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 16, told The i Paper last month: “It means so much to me, to my sister [who was also allegedly abused], and to so many survivors that have been asking questions and not getting answers for many, many years.”
The Trump and Epstein friendship
Epstein, who founded several financial firms, moved in privileged circles during his heyday in the late 90s and 2000s. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
One particularly notable name among his wealthy friends was Donald Trump. The pair were photographed at numerous social events together throughout the 1990s, with Trump hosting Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, Trump described Epstein as a “terrific guy”.
“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump added. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Previously released files show that Trump’s details were in Epstein’s “black book” of contacts. Flight logs also show he flew on the financier’s private plane on multiple occasions.
Donald Trump claims he and Jeffrey Epstein fell out around 2004 (Photo: Democrats on House Oversight Committee on X)However, by the mid-2000s, the relationship had frayed. Trump later claimed he was “not a fan” of Epstein and had banned him from Mar-a-Lago. Reports diverge on the reason for this. Trump said it was because Epstein had “done something inappropriate”. Others blamed a bitter business deal where both men put a bid on the same Palm Beach property.
In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was one of around 50 celebrities and business executives who had contributed to a 50th birthday album for Epstein. A redacted version of the album, from 2003, released by the Epstein estate, contained a sketch of a nude woman with a greeting inside apparently signed by Trump: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The White House issued a statement at the time saying Trump “did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it”.
Epstein, Maxwell and Mountbatten-Windsor
The origin of the “Epstein files” was a 2005-2008 investigation into the financier, in which he was accused of abusing dozens of minors. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to two state charges in Florida: soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Epstein managed to avoid federal charges by securing a non-prosecution agreement, in which he served 13 months in a county jail, where he was allowed to work at his office in the day and return to prison at night.
Over the following years, he settled multiple civil suits with his alleged victims, including one identified as Jane Doe 102 – later revealed to be Virginia Giuffre, who in 2011 sold her story and the now-infamous photograph of her with Mountbatten-Windsor to The Mail on Sunday.
Giuffre, who became a campaigner against Epstein and others, took her own life earlier this year.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell in the latter’s London home in 2001 (Photo: US Southern District of New York Court/AFP)In 2019, federal prosecutors in New York reopened the case, and Epstein was charged with sex-trafficking minors. The charges alleged that some of his victims were 14. A month later, he was found dead in his cell – his death officially ruled a suicide – leaving behind an unfinished prosecution and a trove of sealed evidence.
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on federal charges relating to the grooming and recruitment of minors. She was jailed for 20 years for sex-trafficking underage girls.
The same year, Giuffre launched a lawsuit against Mountbatten-Windsor, alleging that she was made to have sex with him in the early 2000s, when she was 17. It was settled out of court and Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but it embroiled him in a scandal that culminated in him being stripped of his royal titles.
The ‘client list’ and splits in Trump’s base
The secrecy surrounding Epstein’s original plea deal, his high-profile circles, and death in a jail cell caused conspiracy theories to grow and spread.
For years, activists and commentators alleged that Epstein kept a formal “client list” naming wealthy people who engaged in abuse or were involved in a blackmail network. The “Epstein files” became a rhetorical weapon; shorthand for elite corruption.
Online forums, news broadcasters and social media influencers began circulating claims of a hidden “client list”, elite protection networks and government cover-ups. Trump, running for re-election in 2024, suggested he would release the Epstein files, but once in office he backtracked, claiming they were a “Democratic hoax”.
The issue quickly snowballed, exposing fractures within Trump’s Republican Party, with Maga lawmakers and allies such as Marjorie Taylor Greene adding their voices to a growing clamour to release “the list”.
Greene said on X that the way Trump was acting “really makes you wonder what is in those files”.
Marjorie Taylor Greene broke with the Maga coalition at a rally in support of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein outside the US Capitol in September (Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP)Amid mounting anger within his base, Trump performed a U-turn and urged Republicans to back a bill that would force the Department of Justice to release all unclassified material relating to Epstein.
“This fight showcased the outer limits of Trump’s power to command the other branches of government, even if he has tried after the fact to play it like he was fine with this outcome all along,” Adam Quinn, an expert in US politics at the University of Birmingham, told The i Paper.
Law passed to release of Epstein files
In November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the US House of Representatives by 427 votes to one, and was adopted unanimously in the Senate. Shortly afterwards, Trump signed the bill, which ordered the DOJ to release all its documents from the criminal investigations that took place.
Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer for the Epstein survivors, said the vote was an “important step toward long overdue accountability and transparency”.
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What is in the files?
The files are expected to include flight logs, material relating to Epstein’s death in custody, and documents relating to people and companies with connections to him, as well as photos and videos taken from his residences.
The US Department of Justice released thousands of documents on Friday night, but there is expected to be hundreds of thousands more pages of evidence to be made public in the coming weeks.
Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Michael Jackson, and Peter Mandelson are amongst those pictured in the newly released files.
There is no implication of wrongdoing by virtue of being pictured alongside Epstein, but there nonetheless will be questions raised of the high-profile figures’ association with Epstein.
The justice department has further faced criticism for heavily redacting some of the material.
Thomas Massie, a Republican who co-sponsored the transparency law, said on social media that the release “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law”.
Meanwhile, in recent months, the White House has brushed aside thousands of files released by the US House of Representatives, which include numerous emails in which Epstein referenced Trump.
Democrats also released images from Epstein’s island home, as well as photos from his estate, including one that showed Trump flanked by several women whose faces have been blacked out.
The pictures do not imply any wrongdoing by Trump, but kept up the pressure as the deadline to release the bulk of the files neared.
That deadline is now here, and whether the files incriminate Trump or others will soon be known.
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