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Fill the blanks: What these files really say about the Epstein saga
By Michael Koziol
The story of today is really what is not in the files released by the US Department of Justice, rather than what is in them.
We haven’t got grand jury evidence and transcripts, we haven’t got internal FBI memos, we haven’t got names of alleged co-conspirators – something the politicians pushing for the release of these documents were expecting (or wanting) to see.
Or perhaps we have, and we just can’t see them. The level of redaction in these files is huge. I’ve just seen a 100-page document that is entirely blacked out – you can’t even tell what the document was supposed to contain.
A 100-page document in the release, which has been entirely redacted.Credit: US Justice Department
It’s far from the only one. Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, who led the push for the files’ release, said there was a 119-page document of New York grand jury testimony that was completely redacted. This release “fails to comply with the law”, Khanna said.
His Republican colleague Thomas Massie, who also led the push for transparency, agreed the document dump “fails to comply with both the spirit and of the law” that President Donald Trump signed 30 days ago.
Deputy attorney-general Todd Blanche has said there will be more documents released over the coming two weeks, so we await those to (hopefully) learn more.
Ro Khanna, left, and Thomas Massie pushed for more transparency on the Epstein files last month.Credit: AP
Pages from a totally redacted New York grand jury file into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.Credit: AP
Thousands of photos, but far fewer files than expected
The law signed by US Donald Trump last month ordering the release of the Epstein files set Friday (Saturday AEDT) as the deadline for the Justice Department to release most of its files.
Ahead of the release, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News he expected several hundred thousand files to be released on Friday, along with several hundred thousand more to come later.
But the number of files that actually landed on the Justice Department’s website at 8am today (AEDT) seemed to be a thin slice of the total number expected. Blanche acknowledged in a letter to Congress that the production of files was incomplete. The department said it expected to complete its production of Epstein documents by the end of the year.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in one of the photos released today.Credit: US Justice Department
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in one of the photographs released today.Credit: US Justice Department
Among the documents made public are about 4,000 files – mostly photographs – under a subset the Justice Department described as “DOJ Disclosures”.
The vast majority of the photographs were taken by the FBI during searches of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the US Virgin Islands.
Also included were images of envelopes, folders and boxes containing investigative materials from various probes related to Epstein. Many records are redacted and anything containing a victim’s personally identifiable information, including materials depicting sexual and physical abuse, isn’t authorised for release.
Various other files released by the Justice Department on Friday include court records, public records and disclosures to House committees. At least some of that material has already circulated in the public domain after years of court action and investigations.
AP
US government accepts possible ‘over-redaction’ of files
By Paul Dyer
The Justice Department has acknowledged its cautious approach to protecting Epstein victims could be seen as an “over-redaction” of the files.
US attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton told a federal court today that the department had chosen to “err on the side of redacting to protecting victims”.
“Victim privacy interests counsel in favour of redacting the faces of women in photographs with Epstein even where not all the women are known to be victims because it is not practicable for the Department to identify every person,” Clayton wrote in the filing.
Pages from a totally redacted New York grand jury file into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.Credit: AP
“This approach to photographs could be viewed by some as an over-redaction, but the Department believes it should, in the compressed time frame, err on the side of redacting to protecting victims.
“Any review and redaction process of this size and scope is vulnerable to machine error, instances of human error in review, insufficient information about a victim to apply redactions, and the possibility that the media or others in the public will piece together information that in isolation does not identify a victim but can be pieced together to identify a victim.”
Girl asked to show ID to to prove she was ‘under 18’
By Paul Dyer
Jeffrey Epstein asked to see a girl’s identification to make sure she was young enough, an unnamed witness told investigators, according to the newly released files.
A 52-page document from May 2019 included handwritten notes by an investigator – possibly from the FBI and based in New York – taken from an interview with the witness. The notes suggest that “JE” had paid someone and “told her (to) keep looking for girls”.
It was a “desperate time” and they were “running out of girls”, the notes say.
A framed photograph of Epstein with a female on his lap, documented during a search of his home on Little St James island in 2019.Credit: AP
The witness also told investigators that Epstein was concerned that some of the girls being brought around were too old and insisted on “young” girls.
“At one point, [redacted] witnessed him asking for ID to girl, wanted make sure under 18 but he wasn’t believing them b/c [redacted] messed up by bringing more older girls,” the notes said.
Epstein also did not want “Spanish or dark” girls, the notes say. The notes say he was unhappy about being brought a dark girl even though she was young.
A photograph of unknown females that forms part of the latest Epstein files release.Credit: US Justice Department
The document also described potential sexual abuse, including “a lot of touching” of “topless” girls during encounters with Epstein.
The document also contains images of women or girls in swimsuits with their faces redacted to protect their identities as they are likely victims of abuse.
Teenage girl’s encounter with Epstein included in files
By Ellen Connolly
WARNING: Graphic content
A newly surfaced interview from 2006, contained within the Epstein files, details the account of a 14-year-old girl who described an encounter with Jeffrey Epstein in blunt, childlike language.
The girl told police that she met Epstein, who was introduced as “Jeff” at his Palm Beach House. His assistant directed her to give “Jeff”, who was aged 45 at the time, a massage.
A newly released photograph of Jeffrey Epstein.Credit: AP
She told police that Epstein did not change his clothes in front of her but as he removed his towel before the massage, he exposed himself.
She recalled that Epstein was “very hairy, particularly on his chest”, and said his hairline extended down to his buttocks.
“She thought Epstein was on steroids because he was a really built guy and his wee wee was very tiny,” the document said, referring to his penis.
‘This isn’t about Bill Clinton’, spokesman says
By Ellen Connolly
Bill Clinton’s spokesman has issued a statement following the latest release of Epstein files, in which the former president is featured in a number of photos.
Angel Ureña defended Clinton and accused sitting US President Donald Trump of associating with a known sex offender.
“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever,” Ureña said in a post on social media platform X.
Clinton in a hot tub with an unidentified woman.Credit: US Department of Justice
“So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even [chief of staff] Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.”
Urena said the Epstein saga had always involved two groups of people – those who associated with the disgraced financier before he was convicted of sex offences, and those who continued to associate with him afterwards, and Clinton had always been in the first group.
The Department of Justice said that not all of the documents have yet been released, and additional material is expected to be unsealed in the coming weeks.
Release vindicates artist who made complaint to FBI in 1996
By Michael Koziol
One of the significant documents in the trove of files released today is an FBI log of a complaint made way back in 1996 by an artist, Maria Farmer, who used to work for Jeffrey Epstein.
Farmer has long said that she told the FBI she believed Epstein stole nude photographs she had taken of her younger sisters, aged 16 and 12, for artistic purposes – but that nothing was done at the time.
The FBI had never publicly acknowledged the complaint, which came nearly a decade before the investigation that would eventually lead to Epstein pleading guilty to child sex offences.
The FBI log of a complaint made by Maria Farmer.Credit: US Justice Department
The 1996 handwritten log shows Farmer (the name is redacted) did make the complaint.
“Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,” the notes of the complaint say. “Epstein at one time requested [Farmer] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools.
Annie Farmer (left) and her sister Maria Farmer. Maria went to the police about Jeffrey Epstein in 1996.Credit: Netflix
“Epstein is now threatening [Farmer] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.”
Following the files’ release – which finally confirms her account of the 1996 complaint – Farmer told The New York Times she felt vindicated.“I’ve waited 30 years,” she said. “I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar any more.”
Photos give insight into life Epstein led with rich and famous
By Catherine Naylor
Other photos released today feature Epstein with a host of well-known faces. Here are some of them.
An undated photo of Jeffrey Epstein with Sir Richard Branson.Credit: PA
Jeffrey Epstein with Michael Jackson.Credit: AP
Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton.Credit: AP
Michael Jackon, Bill Clinton and Diana Ross, with an unknown personCredit: US Justice Department
Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger and Jeffrey Epstein.Credit: US Justice Department
New photos of Epstein released in files
By Catherine Naylor
The files released today also include a series of photographs of Jeffrey Epstein at various locations. Here are some of them.
Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photograph.Credit: AP
Jeffrey Epstein appears to get a facial treatment in another photograph.Credit: AP
Jeffrey Epstein takes a seat at a piano.Credit: AP
Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photo.Credit: AP
Jeffrey Epstein takes a nap on a lounge bed.Credit: US Justice Department
Disturbing scrapbook pages mock young girls
By Catherine Naylor
Our staff are trawling through hundreds of files in data set three as well, which they say appears to feature mainly images of sex toys, and various places around the world, including a photo of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in St Tropez.
The set also includes redacted photographs of beach scenes featuring semi-naked females, and disturbing scrapbook pages that mock young girls.
A scrapbook page from the released Epstein files.Credit: US Justice Department
Another of the scrapbook pages.Credit: US Justice Department
Another page included in the Epstein release.Credit: US Justice Department
Unknown females pictured topless in the Epstein files latest release.Credit: US Justice Department
What is in ‘Data Set 4’
One batch of the newly released files – listed as Data Set 4 – contains hundreds of PDFs showing a mixed bag of documents and photographs. They include:
- Many heavily redacted documents, some fully blacked out, covering hundreds of pages.
- Legal documents including witness statements, tips-offs to authorities, subpoenas and FBI statements pertaining to evidence of underage prostitution and child pornography.
- Many documents are tax-related, or contain various flight and call logs.
- Dozens of scanned images of VHS tapes, CDs and dictaphone-style micro-cassettes. The files don’t appear to detail what was on them.
- Handwritten notes that appear to be phone messages left after people called, and also messages penned for unnamed people.
- Apparent transcripts of voice messages left after phone calls.
- Pictures of sex toys and adult “soap on a rope” items, along with receipts for them. There also receipts for books on sex and erotic subjects, as well as what appears be a complete scan of the book Massage For Dummies.
The files contain a full scan of the book “Massage for Dummies”.Credit: US Justice Department
Another file contained in the fourth data set.Credit: US Justice Department
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