A fresh cache of Epstein files references to US President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, tech billionaire Elon Musk, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and King Charles III's brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The emails were part of a cache of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, released on Friday local time, which includes more than three million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said at a press conference that Friday's massive batch of files marked the end of the Trump administration's planned releases.
Donald Trump
The files included an FBI-compiled list of sexual assault allegations related to Trump — many of them involving anonymous callers and unverified tips.
The allegations — some secondhand — were sent to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center which receives information by phone and electronically.
The document suggests that investigators followed up on a number of the tips. Some were deemed to lack credibility.
Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
In a statement accompanying Friday's file dump, the Justice Department said: "Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false."
Elon Musk
The files contain numerous mail exchanges between Epstein and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, including an invitation from Epstein to visit his Caribbean island, Little Saint James.
"The invitation is much appreciated, but a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I'm looking for," Musk wrote Epstein on Christmas Day in 2012.
Musk said he had been "working to the edge of sanity" and asked Epstein if he had "any parties planned".
Epstein replied that he understood Musk turning down the invitation, adding that "the ratio on my island" might make Musk's female companion uncomfortable, without elaborating further.
A few days later, Musk invited Epstein to join him and others for drinks in "St. Bart's," presumably the Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy, but it is unclear if the two met there.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a post on X last year after his name was included in an earlier release of files, he wrote, "Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED".
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
The disgraced former prince invited Epstein to visit him at Buckingham Palace in September 2010 while the financier was making a trip to London.
An email exchange shows Epstein contacting Andrew to ask: "What time would you like me... we will also need... private time."
Andrew replied: "we could have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy."
Howard Lutnick
Emails show Epstein and the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick made plans to meet for lunch on 23 December, 2012, on Epstein's island.
That morning, Lutnick's wife wrote to Epstein's secretary, "We are heading towards you from St. Thomas" and asked where to anchor.
A day later, Epstein's assistant sent Lutnick a follow-up note from Epstein that read in part, "Nice seeing you".
In November 2015, Epstein's assistant forwarded him an invitation from Lutnick to a fundraiser at his financial firm for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The emails appeared to contradict Lutnick's comments on a podcast last year. Lutnick said Epstein, his next-door neighbor at the time, invited him and his wife around 2005 to tour Epstein's townhome, where the financier made a sexually suggestive comment about a massage table he had set up. Lutnick said he vowed to "never be in a room" with Epstein again.
A commerce department spokesperson said in a statement that Lutnick had "limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing".
Bill Gates
In a draft email among the documents, Epstein alleged Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs.
In the mail, Epstein wrote that his relationship with Gates had ranged from "helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women".
'We did not protect President Trump'
Blanche — who previously served at Trump's personal lawyer — dismissed suggestions that potentially embarrassing material about the president had been redacted from the latest files.
"We did not protect President Trump," he said. "We didn't protect or not protect anybody."
"There's this built-in assumption that somehow there's this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about, that we're covering up, or that we're not we're choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case."
Blanche said all images of girls and women were being redacted aside from those of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of trafficking underage girls for Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Blanche said the department has also withheld some files based on legal privilege, including work product and attorney-client privilege.
Some lawmakers have said those withholdings appear to run counter to the law, which required the department to produce internal communications related to decisions on whether to charge or investigate Epstein or any associates.
Epstein, a New York financier with ties to high-profile political and business figures, was found hanged in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
While his death was ruled a suicide, it has engendered years of conspiracy theories, some of which Trump himself boosted to his own supporters during his 2024 presidential campaign.
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