After the Justice Department releases thousands of new Epstein files, Democrats ask, “What else is the Justice Department hiding?” This is a White House cover-up.
10 co-conspirators mentioned in new Epstein files
The latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein file by the Department of Justice names 10 co-conspirators.
WASHINGTON – Bill Clinton had a high-profile moment when the Epstein files were first made public. Tuesday was Donald Trump’s turn.
The sitting president’s name repeatedly appeared in a new section of thousands of documents in the Justice Department’s Epstein Library released on December 23.
President Trump has flown repeatedly (at least eight times in the 1990s) on Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express.” A federal subpoena has been sent to President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion. There are other references to Trump, some of which are unconfirmed.
Four days after Trump’s team promoted Clinton’s name in the first batch of documents, the Justice Department issued a preemptive statement declaring that the new documents contained “false and sensational” accusations against Trump made before the 2020 election. “Let us be clear: this allegation is baseless and false, and if it had any credibility whatsoever, it would undoubtedly have already been used as a weapon against President Trump,” the department said.
Trump is one of many celebrities whose names are included in the thousands of new Epstein files that are required by law to be made available to the public in searchable format. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding Mr. Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier who was charged with trafficking underage girls for illicit sex acts.
As with previous releases, the lack of good search capabilities, the large amount of material, and the wide compilation of names as well as Epstein’s victims and survivors made it difficult to find specific items.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Justice Department lawyers are reviewing the documents to ensure that no victims are named or identified, and that it could take weeks to compile the remaining hundreds of thousands of pages. Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and victim advocacy groups, have expressed concern that authorities have not released the bill despite a Dec. 19 deadline imposed by Congress.
But the release made more mentions of Trump. None of them implicate him directly in any wrongdoing. President Trump has repeatedly denied doing anything illegal or inappropriate.
But Democrats and victim advocates seized on the new revelations as evidence that the department is trying to protect the president from embarrassing revelations related to Epstein. The two were close friends in the 1990s and early 2000s, but had a falling out.
“Donald Trump believes our investigation is a hoax and should be over,” Robert Garcia, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, wrote on X. “Mr. President, we are just getting started.”
Only Epstein and Maxwell were indicted. She was convicted of colluding with Epstein to lure young girls on trips for illicit sex and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Authorities concluded that Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Here, USA TODAY reporters review five key takeaways from the Dec. 23 data dump as they review thousands of new Epstein documents.
Justice Department mentions Epstein’s ‘co-conspirators’
Just days after Epstein’s arrest in 2019, federal agents wrote to each other about searching for “10 co-conspirators” and discussed plans to issue subpoenas to them, according to newly released emails.
On July 9, an anonymous staff member mentioned that three of these individuals had been spotted in Florida, one in Boston, one in New York “last night,” and one in Connecticut. The identities of these co-conspirators are largely unknown, but other email threads mention interviews with Maxwell and Les Wexner, Epstein’s longtime business partner and the billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret.
Another thread mentions “Brunel,” possibly referring to Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model scout with ties to Epstein.
The third summary document mentions 10 subpoenas, two of which are pilots. Lawrence “Larry” Visoski is pictured elsewhere in the files and was Epstein’s longtime pilot, but none of the documents explicitly name him as a co-conspirator.
Trump flew on Epstein’s jet ‘more times than previously reported’
One email, dated Jan. 7, 2020, said an unidentified federal prosecutor said newly obtained flight records show Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet eight times between 1993 and 1996. During that time, Mr. Trump was a high-flying real estate developer who frequently interacted with Epstein after his 1992 divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump, and through his divorce from his second wife, Marla Maples. 1999.
An assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote that Trump flew on Epstein’s jet “more times than has been previously reported (or known to us), including during the expected period of prosecution in the Maxwell case.”
Maxwell was also on at least four of those flights with Trump.
Prosecutors said Trump “is listed as having traveled at various times with Marla Maples, her daughter Tiffany, and her son Eric.”
“On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein were the only two listed as passengers. On another flight, the only passengers were Epstein, Trump, and a “then-20-year-old,” whose name was redacted.
Regarding the other two planes, prosecutors wrote, “Two of the passengers were women who could serve as potential witnesses in the Maxwell case. We had just finished reviewing the complete records (very small scripts, over 100 pages), and we did not want any surprises like this to arise in the future.”
Federal authorities subpoena Epstein evidence from Mar-a-Lago
On October 5, 2021, federal prosecutors in New York subpoenaed President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, to provide testimony and evidence in the criminal case against Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
summons from after that U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss asked for “all employment records” of the people whose names were redacted.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, said Epstein “stole” female staffers at Mar-a-Lago to work for him.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most outspoken accusers and who died by suicide in April, said Maxwell recruited her to work for him when she was 16 and working as a locker room assistant at Mar-a-Lago.
Police report mentions possible intimidation of witnesses in Epstein case
One of the documents in the 2019 federal case against Epstein describes what police called potential witness intimidation during the 2006 Florida investigation.
A Palm Beach County police report said a woman whose name has been redacted and accused Epstein of abuse received phone calls lasting eight, 14 and 12 minutes within an hour on March 7, 2006. The name of the person who allegedly made the call was also redacted.
The report does not say what was said during the phone call. However, the officer who filled out the application said the call records were “consistent with what the victim described to me on the day of the threat.”
The same number also called “Epstein’s assistants” and New York businesses with ties to Epstein, according to police reports.
Epstein eventually pleaded guilty to pimping in 2008, but federal prosecutors agreed not to charge him at the time.
Hotline information alleging Trump-Epstein relationship and possible wrongdoing
One call to the FBI hotline from August 3, 2020, focuses on an anonymous person who said he received a call several weeks ago from a “detective from the NYPD FBI Sex Trafficking Task Force” who provided information about a 1984 sex trafficking scandal in Lake Michigan.
FBI interrogation forms say the caller described Trump as a witness in the incident.
In another call to the FBI in October 2020, Trump was described as having berated the limousine driver who picked him up and took him to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in 1995.
It could not be determined whether the caller was referring to himself or someone else. However, the caller said the limousine driver “reported that some of the things President Trump said on his cell phone during the ride were very concerning,” the report said.
The driver reported that “within seconds of pulling the limousine into the median, and within seconds of pulling him from the vehicle, I sustained injuries as a result of his comments.”
The driver also “noticed that President Trump kept mentioning the name ‘Jeffrey’ during the phone call and that he was abusing a girl,” the FBI report said.
