The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday released phase 1 of the controversial “Epstein Files", which included an evidence list, flight logs, a heavily redacted contact book and a redacted masseuse list linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The contact book belonging to Epstein includes several high-profile personalities from across fields like politics, business, and entertainment, as per a report by The New York Times.
The list, made public by officials of Department of Justice, comprise names like Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Ethel Kennedy, mother of Robert F Kennedy Jr, supermodel Naomi Campbell, musician Courtney Love and actor Alec Baldwin.
The Trump administration’s DOJ released more than 100 pages of the document. However, the list only mentions the contact details and the addresses have been removed. Officials highlighted that the list is not a client list but it is a compilation of the contacts Epstein had in his ownership.
The report titled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1" is believed to be lacking bombshell information. According to The New York Times, "Much of this information has been earlier reported in several lawsuits and leaks over the years, making the list less shocking than some has anticipated."
While speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi had said that the DOJ plans to release a “lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information" related to Epstein.
The British financier, Epstein, was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 women, including minors.
The Justice Department also released a blacked-out list of masseuses and an evidence list showing entries for more than 150 items, including nude images, massage tables, sex toys and other items. There wasn't any indication whether the list was from Epstein's case, or his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell's case or some other investigation.
President Donald Trump, who was in office when Epstein was arrested in 2019, suggested while campaigning last year that he’d seek to open up the government’s files.
But the rollout of the documents — which were first given to political commentators at the White House hours earlier in binders that read “The Epstein Files: Phase I” — showed the administration’s penchant for showmanship and preference for conservative influencers with large social media followings, AP reported.
The Justice Department didn’t post them on its website until hours later, along with a note downplaying their significance. “The first phase of declassified files largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government,” the note said.
Bondi suggested in a Thursday letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that more records were recently discovered. She ordered the FBI to hand over “the full and complete Epstein files” to her by Friday morning, and directed Patel to “conduct an immediate investigation” into why her order to the FBI to turn over all documents was not followed, AP reported.
Patel vowed in a post on X to ensure that all documents are provided to Justice Department leadership.
Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s, but wound up serving just 13 months in jail. He was indicted on federal charges in New York in 2019, more than a decade after he secretly struck a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of similar charges of sex trafficking.
The case has drawn widespread attention because of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s links to royals, presidents and billionaires. Maxwell herself is the daughter of the late British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who once owned the New York Daily News.
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