Trump’s name barely appears in new Epstein files released by Justice Department
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's name was largely absent and only rarely mentioned in a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice on Friday, December 19, according to a preliminary review by The New York Times of several documents and photographs.
The materials, which were made public following congressional pressure, included heavily redacted records and images tied to the late financier’s social and professional network. Based on the initial scan, references to Trump were limited and scattered across documents that had, in many cases, already circulated publicly.
Trump and Epstein were known to have socialized in the past, a fact that has been acknowledged by Trump’s allies. Those allies have previously said Trump’s name appeared in earlier Epstein-related materials, though they maintained there was no evidence tying him to Epstein’s crimes.
Epstein files show scattered references to Trump
The Epstein files initially reviewed by The New York Times contained few mentions or images of Donald Trump. The majority of the photographs included in the release were already public, including images showing Trump and Melania Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Written references to Trump appeared in Epstein’s address book, flight logs, and a message book used by Epstein’s assistants to note missed phone calls. Different versions of those records had been released in prior document dumps, and no new substantive details were revealed in this batch.
The newly released files featured several images of former President Bill Clinton, whose past association with Epstein has long drawn scrutiny. Trump has repeatedly criticized Clinton over those ties and previously directed his Justice Department to examine Clinton and other prominent Democrats in connection with Epstein.
According to the latest release, undated images showed Bill Clinton posing with women and swimming with Ghislaine Maxwell. Another photograph depicted Clinton sitting in a hot tub with an unidentified individual whose face was redacted.
Additional images showed Mick Jagger dining with Epstein and Clinton, while another photograph included Clinton alongside the late Michael Jackson.
Trump had resisted the release of the Epstein files for months, at one point dismissing the controversy as a “hoax” and claiming Democrats had “created the Epstein files.” His position shifted after it became clear that Congress had enough bipartisan support to compel the Justice Department to disclose the records.
In November, the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The legislation required the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related materials in its possession while protecting the identities of victims.
Earlier document reviews showed extensive mentions of Trump
A November 2025 report by CBC News stated that Donald Trump’s name appeared at least 1,500 times in Epstein-related documents released by Republicans in the US Congress earlier that month.
Those records were part of a 20,000-page document trove obtained from the Epstein estate and released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. CBC News analyzed the files using Google’s Pinpoint tool, which converts scanned images into searchable text, and found Trump’s name appeared more frequently than that of any other political figure.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee separately released three emails from the same document cache, arguing that they raised serious questions about Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s conduct. One email, dated January 2019 and sent to author Michael Wolff, quoted Epstein as claiming Trump “knew about the girls,” without offering further detail.
At the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the selective release of those emails as an attempt to “create a fake narrative to smear” the president.
