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The Justice Department has launched a new batch of documents associated to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein – paperwork that embrace many extra mentions of President Donald Trump than final week’s dump.
DOJ launched the initial batch on Friday — the deadline for it to make them public after Congress handed a brand new regulation final month — and continues to regularly launch further paperwork.
Below are some takeaways from the latest launch.
We’re persevering with to study doubtlessly vital issues about the authorities’s dealing with of the Epstein investigations.
The new batch of paperwork, for instance, consists of proof that prosecutors sought to research and doubtlessly cost extra folks.
A collection of obvious FBI emails from July 2019 cite “10 co-conspirators.”
“When you get a chance can you give me an update on the status of the 10 CO conspirators?” reads one July 7, 2019, e-mail from a sender with “FBI New York” of their signature.
Another e-mail from two days later requests “an update on the 10 co-conspirators by COB today.”
A 3rd cites efforts to find and serve these folks with subpoenas. It signifies some had been certainly contacted. One who wasn’t is described as “a wealthy business man in Ohio.”
The paperwork additionally cite – however don’t seem to truly embrace – memos after Epstein’s August 2019 demise outlining co-conspirators that could possibly be charged.
To date, solely Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend, have been charged.
We don’t even have these memos or the names of the alleged “co-conspirators,” so we don’t know whom these could possibly be in reference to. It’s not clear what sorts of crimes might need been at problem. And whereas many have been on the hunt for a so-called “client list” that the FBI says doesn’t exist, it’s not clear whether or not these paperwork really implicate others in alleged crimes.
We don’t know what occurred with these potential prosecutions. The incontrovertible fact that the instances had been by no means charged may recommend that the investigations didn’t substantiate such costs. But the use of “co-conspirators” means that, a minimum of at one level, investigators felt others had been concerned in Epstein’s crimes.
And these are the sorts of paperwork that a lot of folks have been anticipating for a really very long time – paperwork that may recommend who else is likely to be held accountable for Epstein’s crimes.
You can wager there will probably be a lot of stress on the Trump administration to verify they get produced.
Friday’s preliminary batch included lots of Bill Clinton but not much Trump. This batch encompasses a a lot heavier dose of the present president.
And maybe most notably, the paperwork present how Trump’s identify got here up in the context of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s investigations and prosecutions. (Trump has by no means been accused by regulation enforcement of wrongdoing associated to Epstein’s crimes, and he has denied any wrongdoing.)
There is a 2021 subpoena from the Maxwell case to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in search of “any and all employment records relating to” a redacted particular person. (While it’s not clear who the particular person is, we’ve identified that one among Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, previously labored at Mar-a-Lago.)
There is a 2020 email from an assistant US lawyer for the Southern District of New York noting Trump flew on Epstein’s aircraft eight instances (one thing that’s since develop into public data by way of the launch of flight information). The assistant US lawyer additionally says two of the flights included “women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.” At least 4 of the flights included Maxwell, in line with the flight information.
There are additionally tricks to the FBI involving Trump and his relationship with Epstein, with little or no indication about whether or not these ideas had been adopted up on or corroborated.
Aside from these references, the new doc dump options an intriguing obvious reference to Trump.
Included is a letter — which the Justice Department now says is “FAKE” — signed by “J. Epstein” and addressed to a different notorious convicted intercourse offender, disgraced ex-USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar.
“We shared one thing … our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential,” the letter says. “Our President also shares our love of young, nubile girls.”
The letter then consists of one other lewd obvious reference to Trump. (It doesn’t use the phrase Trump, however it’s from 2019, when Trump was serving as president.)
It then means that, in contrast to Trump, “we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair.”
Notably, the letter is postmarked three days after Epstein’s demise in jail, which has been dominated a suicide. The writer alludes to having “taken the ‘short route’ home,” and desires Nassar, “Good luck!” The letter was marked as “return to sender.”
What to make of this? There are so many questions which can be unanswered right here.
DOJ stated Tuesday afternoon the FBI had decided the letter was “FAKE,” partly as a result of the writing didn’t seem to match Epstein’s. (An FBI doc from 2020 signifies a handwriting evaluation had been requested, however the paperwork launched Tuesday don’t embrace the outcomes.)
The DOJ assertion additionally famous the letter was postmarked in Virginia, whereas Epstein had been held in New York; the return deal with listed the flawed jail; and it was processed three days after Epstein died.
Even if this letter had been certainly from Epstein, it might simply be a declare.
Earlier Tuesday, the DOJ didn’t invoke this letter particularly however broadly recommended the allegations raised in opposition to Trump – doubtless together with the FBI ideas talked about above – weren’t true.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the DOJ stated. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
NCS has reached out to the White House about the latest batch of paperwork, together with that letter.
But there are simply too many unanswered questions on this letter to attract definitive conclusions.
At the very least, the new disclosures are the sorts of issues Trump as soon as indicated he apprehensive would unnecessarily tarnish folks.
Trump in a 2024 Fox News interview cautioned about “phony stuff” in the Epstein files that had the potential to “affect people’s lives.” He echoed that Monday night, warning that merely being in an image with Epstein might destroy somebody’s status.
The launch of those supplies beforehand has been marred by DOJ mishandling, and that’s persevering with.
First, DOJ’s preliminary Tuesday assertion is extraordinary. It reads as if it’s from Trump’s private lawyer – i.e. its reference to how this data, if credible, “certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump” – fairly than a impartial handler of this data.
That’s an enormous distinction to how the DOJ dealt with Clinton’s look in the files launched Friday. Back then, a DOJ spokesperson pointed to a picture of Clinton showing in a sizzling tub with a redacted particular person and suggestively labeled the redacted person a “victim” of Epstein’s abuse.
Clinton, like Trump, has by no means been accused by regulation enforcement of wrongdoing associated to Epstein. On Monday – earlier than the latest batch was launched — the former president’s spokesman encouraged DOJ to launch every thing it has associated to Clinton, claiming that “selective releases” had been about “insinuation,” not transparency.
The DOJ’s questionable dealing with of the files has additionally been underscored by the curious and heavy-handed redactions that transcend the limits of the regulation Congress handed final month.
The 2020 e-mail from the assistant US lawyer redacts the writer’s identify, as an illustration. Other emails seem to redact the names of presidency officers, which means it’s not clear which officers had been concerned in key selections and discussions – together with emails from round the time of Epstein’s much-criticized non-prosecution deal in the late 2000s.
And lastly, the paperwork had been apparently uploaded Monday, then eliminated, then reposted once more, in line with The Washington Post.
It’s not clear why that occurred or whether or not the paperwork that had been reposted match the ones that had been initially been posted.
The Justice Department has already didn’t adjust to the deadline to launch all of those paperwork, which had been due of their totality on Friday.
And after that preliminary launch, it briefly pulled again some paperwork that had been posted, together with one picture that featured a photo of Trump, which was later restored.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has stated the photograph was eliminated resulting from warning about doubtlessly that includes an Epstein sufferer.
“It has nothing to do with President Trump,” Blanche stated this weekend. “The absurdity of pulling down a single photo because of President Trump is laughable.”