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20 December 2025, 10:20,UK
Epstine Files Latest :
What we found inside – as critics accuse ‘ document dump ‘ of breaking law
After a political storm forced Donald Trump into a U-turn, thousands of files relating to criminal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein have been released. But critics say it doesn’t comply with the law, and there is more to come. Follow live as we find out what’s in the new release.
Inside the Epstein files
Catch up on images from files in one scroll – from Clinton dress painting to Epstein with Michael Jackson
Famous faces have been pictured alongside Jeffrey Epstein, with other images also showing handwritten notes and a scrapbook.
If you’re just joining – or want to catch up on the newly-released material – we’ve pulled some pictures together for you to go through in one scroll.
They range from a painting of Bill Clinton in a dress, to Epstein posing with famous names like Michael Jackson.
Before you check them out, it’s important to understand one thing: being pictured with Epstein or in these files doesn’t indicate any wrongdoing.
Analysis: Drip feed of Epstein files is an affront to victims – and looks like PR move to protect Trump
By James Matthews, US correspondent
Can it be a coincidence that US planes attacked Syria around the very time the Epstein files were released?
It would be cynical – then again, it would be how politics works.
It was PR strategy 101 – frontload the release of documents with the Democrat stuff and save the Trump content for a soft landing sometime between Christmas and New Year.
By that time, the public will have softened its focus on the story – it’s what the festive season does.
Epstein courted celebrity ‘innocents’
The presence of celebrity in the latest release might also feather Trump’s bed.
It’s clear that iconic superstars like Mick Jagger and Diana Ross were courted by Epstein as innocents, ignorant of his criminality.
To see them in the files cements a narrative of a monster who lured the unsuspecting into his orbit.
We support Jagger and Ross as treasured icons, so we remind ourselves that simply being included in the files doesn’t equate to wrongdoing or knowledge of it.
Mick Jagger with Ghislaine Maxwell
In turn, it shapes an empathy around the predicament that will extend to Trump and, perhaps, the benefit of any doubt.
Of course, not everyone will see it that way – the people who see a cynical exercise in delay and obfuscation, constituting a gross insult to the Epstein survivors at the heart of the story.
Note asks to give ‘bucket of flowers’ to female at high school
We can now bring you a new handwritten document from the Epstein files, which was released overnight.
It shows what appear to be two requests in numbered bullet points.
The second request asks for a “bucket of roses” to be dropped off for someone at a high school.
The name of the individual and the high school have been redacted.
More specific instructions then explain when to drop off the flowers – “8:30” – and where they should “give it to her”.
It’s not possible to know who wrote this or who it was for from this image.
The document was published by the US Department of Justice alongside more than 60 pages of other handwritten notes, contracts, receipts and lists.
We reported last night on another note released in the files that reads “for a good time call” with accompanying love heart drawings (see 21.50 post).
Analysis: Files suggest Epstein got ‘pretty good deal’ when he was convicted in 2008
Our data and forensics correspondent Tom Cheshire has been combing through the vast number of documents released in the Epstein files overnight.
He focuses on one particular document showing incident reports from 17 female victims in July 2006, which we covered earlier this morning (see 2.54 post).
“I think what that shows is, even from that very early stage, you had this knowledge to police that Jeffrey Epstein was a suspect,” he tells Mornings With Jones and Melbourne.
“What all this material ended up with, though, was two charges that Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in 2008. He was sentenced to 18 months. He only served 13 of them.
“So despite that huge amount of evidence, it looks like he got a pretty good deal out of that.”
Some of the victims are very happy with what they’ve seen so far, while others are unhappy with the redactions in the files, Cheshire says.
“When you’re going through this, you do see a lot of stuff blacked out. When you see faces, we don’t know why exactly those have been redacted, whether they are victims or not,” he adds.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work to protect victims’ identities, but that, again, will leave questions about whether we are getting the full story.”
Watch: Trump’s Christmas message – after ignoring release of files
Donald Trump spoke at a rally in North Carolina last night, as we reported earlier (see 4.47 post).
There wasn’t a single mention of the Epstein files in Trump’s speech, which focused on the economy and affordability.
The US president did offer a Christmas message to his supporters, though.
“Let me begin by wishing each and every one of you a very merry Christmas,” Trump said at the start of his speech.
“Remember they didn’t want to say merry Christmas when I first started,” he added, claiming he “brought back” Christmas against his opponents’ wishes when he first ran for office in 2016.
The speech also included typical Trump-style boasts about his first year back in the White House.
Apparent children’s clothing pictured on floor in image from files
Here is another photo included in the Epstein files overnight.
It shows three items of what appears to be children’s clothing laid out on the floor.
A pair of denim shorts can be seen inside of an open white cabinet.
Next to the shorts on the floor is a white T-shirt, with a colourful pattern and a smiling cartoon cat surrounded by insects visible on its front.
A pair of white trousers with a back waistband is laid out beside the T-shirt on the floor.
What we found inside thousands of new Epstein files – and why cries of cover up and conspiracy will rumble on
The celebrities, the victims, the redactions.
US correspondent Mark Stone has been wading through the thousands of new documents and images released last night – and has split his analysis into these three strands.
The celebrities
Stone says we already knew Jeffrey Epstein socialised widely, with a network spanning the arts, business, politics, royalty and high society – so, as we’ve been stressing throughout, association with him does not equate to wrongdoing.
But there are many recognisable names in this latest wave of information – from Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, to former US president Bill Clinton.
“He features a lot in this dump of images,” Stone says of Clinton. “His association with Epstein is well known. And he is on record expressing his regret at having ever known him.”
Mick Jagger and Kevin Spacey are among the other famous faces pictured – but Stone notes none of these images have been released with any context. They are merely all part of the Epstein estate – seized over the years, and sealed until now.
The former prince Andrew, and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, also feature in images from the files. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein. He settled out of court with the now deceased Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, who accused him of sexual assault.
Andrew lying across unidentified women at Sandringham, in a photo released from the files
Andrew lying across unidentified women at Sandringham, in a photo released from the files
The victims
The department of justice says it redacted more than 1,200 names or images of victims and their relatives.
One image from the new batch of files pictures two young women, perhaps girls, in Paris – their identities have been redacted.
There are also message pads with notes taken from phone calls. One says: “I have a girl for him.” But we don’t know who wrote the notes.
Then there’s a scrapbook, similar to the previously released birthday book given to Epstein. The birthday book was collated as a gift by his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Stone says of the scrapbook: “It’s heavily redcated and very disturbing, to be honest.”
One page features a caption saying: “Once upon a time, there was a clueless little girl.”
The redactions
A trove of images of girls is redacted in the new files.
Stone says the rationale for why some images and documents have been redacted is not clear.
“That is a really big issue,” he says – highlighting in particular a grand jury document which was redacted in full, and other inconsistencies.
“With every black line, someone will cry cover up – and the conspiracy rumbles on,” Stone says.
He points to a remarkable disclaimer on the US department of justice website, which says it might have inadvertently failed in places to redact information.
This hardly suggests confidence in a job well done, Stone concludes.
Cabinet of massage cream and lube pictured in latest release
We can bring you another photo released in the Epstein files overnight.
It shows one side of an ornate wooden cabinet that has a number of bottles, tubs and bowls arranged on its shelves.
Among these is one round white tub with the label “Massage Cream”.
Lower down the cabinet, the word “lube” can be seen written on the front of a clear plastic dispenser.
We reported last night on other photos released in the files that show a vibrator, an electric massage device and a massage chair in a room surrounded by masks on the wall (see 23.23 post).
Analysis: Coincidence or conspiracy? Questions asked about striking lack of Trump in document dump
Subsequent releases of files over the coming festive period may shed more light on Donald Trump’s prominence in the Epstein files.
That’s according to James Matthews, our US correspondent, who says we could scarcely learn any less about the president from this first tranche of hundreds of thousands of documents.
In fact, it is striking how little Trump appears in this batch, Matthews adds.
“The department of justice says it’s continuing to review additional documents. It anticipates they’ll be finished over the next two weeks. At that point, we may learn more about Donald Trump’s association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Matthews says.
Watch Matthews reporting…
His report comes as questions are raised about whether or not this batch of files was “frontloaded” with photos featuring other figures, like political rivals of Trump – such as former Democratic Party president, Bill Clinton, who denies any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes or wrongdoing, and says he regrets meeting him.
Matthews points out that when journalists try to search for Trump’s name in the hundreds of thousands of new files, nothing comes up.
Matthews also highlights the fact that US forces launched airstrikes in Syria overnight.
He asks: “Coincidence or conspiracy?”
It’s just one of many questions, he says, on a day which many had hoped would provide answers.
Remember – Donald Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has said they fell out years before his first arrest.
And his administration insists it’s being more transparent than any other.
Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
Described by New York Magazine in 2002 as a “moneyman of mystery”, Jeffrey Epstein catapulted himself to the height of the global elite by looking after billions of dollars of assets from a mostly secret client base.
His relationships with powerful men – such as Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – have been the source of endless speculation.
Neither Trump nor Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing, while Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.
First investigation
Police in Palm Beach, Florida, started investigating Epstein in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Then the FBI joined the investigation, but Epstein made a secret deal with the US attorney in Florida to dodge federal charges, which allowed him to plead guilty in 2008 to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge.
His time? 13 months in a jail work-release programme.
Charges and suicide
In 2019, during Trump’s first term in the White House, Manhattan federal prosecutors brought the case back to life.
They charged Epstein with sex trafficking, accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.
Epstein was specifically accused of using his private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express”, to shuttle girls as young as 14 between his lavish residences in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005.
It was alleged the girls were recruited under the guise of being paid to massage the money manager, but would be molested instead.
He had pleaded not guilty and faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
But a month after his arrest, he killed himself in jail.
In 2021, Epstein’s longtime confidante and ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan of sex trafficking for helping to recruit some of his underage victims.
She is serving a 20-year prison sentence, which was handed down in 2022.
White House putting focus on Clinton photos
Earlier, we reported on one image released last night showing Bill Clinton in a hot tub with an unidentifiable woman (see 21.25 post).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a surprised reaction to the image on social media, reposting it with the caption: “Oh my!”
Leavitt also separately reposted an image of Clinton in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell, after both images were released shortly after 9pm last night UK time.
The context around these photos is unknown.
Remember, Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein and says he regrets meeting him.
They are the only images in the latest tranche of released files Leavitt has made reference to on her X account, as she highlights the role of a former Democrat president in the files.
Instead, she has been posting and sharing much more frequently about topics like the US strikes in Syria and on Donald Trump’s rally in North Carolina (see 4.47 post), among other matters.
As our last post touched on, there have been questions about whether this latest release has deliberately “frontloaded” documents featuring the likes of Bill Clinton – political opponents of the current White House.
James Matthews, our US correspondent, says it’s striking how little Trump is mentioned in this tranche of documents.
The White House and deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, insist the administration is being transparent – unlike previous US governments.
Watch: ‘It’s clear Epstein had nexus of people in business world and celebrity world’
“A lot of the files we’re seeing for the first time,” a former prosecutor has told Sky News.
Paul Pelletier, a former federal prosecutor, said he believes the release of the files will answer some questions – but by no means all.
“It’s clear Epstein had a nexus of people in the business world and the celebrity world,” Pelletier said, when asked about the famous faces appearing in the files. Remember, it doesn’t suggest any wrongdoing on the part of those pictured or featured.
Many of the files should have been released months ago, Pelletier added.
Asked if the Republican Trump administration had “frontloaded” this release with images of former Democratic Party president, Bill Clinton, Pelletier said this wasn’t a surprise.
And speaking about whether or not this helps the Epstein victims, he added “any release” is helpful to them but there were bigger political questions and more information to come.
Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey photo features in files
We can now bring you another image from the Epstein files featuring two well-known faces.
The photo shows former US president Bill Clinton and the actor Kevin Spacey walking outside.
More details about when and where the picture was taken are not known. As with many of the images and messages, they have been released without context.
As a reminder – appearing in the files does not suggest wrongdoing.
US Department of Justice
What have Spacey and Clinton said about Epstein?
Earlier this year, Spacey called for the full release of the Epstein files. He has denied any significant relationship with the disgraced financier, or any wrongdoing in connection with his crimes.
A spokesperson for Clinton has previously acknowledged that he took four trips on Epstein’s private plane in 2002 and 2003, while US media outlets have reported he travelled up to 26 times, citing flight logs.
But Clinton has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson said he “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York”.
In his 2024 memoir, Citizen: My Life After The White House, Clinton wrote: “The bottom line is, even though it allowed me to visit the work of my foundation, travelling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward. I wish I had never met him.”
And, as we’ve been reporting since the release of the files last night, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff has published a statement, defending his former boss.
Angel Urena said the current White House had been “hiding” the files to “shield themselves”.
“This isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be,” he said.
“There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first.”
The statement was not released on behalf of Bill Clinton.
Donald Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has said they fell out years before his first arrest.
Trump avoids mentioning Epstein files at rally
Donald Trump hasn’t been hiding despite the political difficulties the Epstein files have caused him.
Overnight, he’s been speaking at a rally in North Carolina.
But, as the image below makes clear, his focus was on the economy – and hitting back at those who say he hasn’t delivered on affordability for his voters.
Getting out and about did not translate into actually addressing the biggest news story of the day, though.
The US president did not appear to mention Epstein during his speech.
That said, he did put on a show featuring all his usual rally tricks – including dance moves
‘Document dump’ accused of failing to ‘comply with law’ – leaving victims still waiting for answers
If you’re just joining us, you might be tempted to conclude the Epstein files have been released in full at last.
That is not what the members of Congress behind the law which forced the Trump administration to publish them say.
‘Document dump failed to comply with law’
Ro Khanna, a Democrat representative from California, has posted a video which he says explains what’s missing from the latest release of hundreds of thousands of documents.
He says survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and their lawyers, are still expecting to see a lot more.
“The DOJ’s document dump of hundreds of thousands of pages failed to comply with the law authored by @RepThomasMassie and me,” Khanna said.
In particular, he highlighted one document – 119 pages of Grand Jury testimony, which was completely redacted.
Thomas Massie, the Republican who teamed up with Khanna to get a bipartisan law passed triggering the release, supported him on social media.
He said: “Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago.
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