NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Department of Justice began releasing final documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Friday, with a massive trove of documents that predominantly shows photos and heavily redacted materials categorized into four different sections.
The DOJ on Friday afternoon released four different data sets of thousands of photos, New York grand jury material and evidence related to investigations surrounding Epstein. The documents and photos were released on the DOJ’s official website.
Epstein was a well-connected financier who rubbed elbows with those at the highest echelons of government and private industry. He was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2008 and served just more than one year of incarceration, which also included a controversial work-release arrangement under a plea agreement.
He was arrested again in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell from suicide that same year, officials reported.
DOJ PUBLISHES TROVE OF EPSTEIN FILES, SAYS MORE TO COME AFTER FRIDAY DEADLINE
DATA SET ONE:
The first data set shows thousands of photos of the interiors and exteriors of Epstein’s properties, including in New York and on his private island, Little St. James.
DATA SET TWO:
The second data set released shows Epstein in personal photos with high-profile individuals, including former President Bill Clinton. The photos in the second data set show Epstein shirtless while sitting on a sofa, standing near a helicopter and many photos of him on boats.
A photo in the set included Clinton shirtless in a hot tub.
When asked about the photo, Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena directed Fox Digital to a statement he posted to X in response to the Epstein drop.
“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,” he wrote. “This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. 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 Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.”
Urena said there are “two types of people” involved in the Epstein scandal: those who did not know of Epstein’s crimes and cut him out of their lives upon his conviction and a second group of people who “continued relationships with him after” his crimes came to light.
“We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that,” the Clinton spokesman continued. “Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.”
MASSIE SETS LITMUS TEST FOR DOJ’S EPSTEIN DISCLOSURES AS DEADLINE SLIPS
DATA SET THREE:
The third data set released by the Department of Justice included heavily redacted photos of potential victims, documents from Epstein’s 2019 grand jury records that were also heavily redacted, and potential victim exhibits.
SCHUMER ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF EPSTEIN FILES ‘COVER-UP’ AMID DOCUMENT DISPUTE
DATA SET FOUR:
The fourth data set in the document drop mostly showed evidence and exhibits from the investigations into Epstein, including documents dated 2005 and 2006, when the Palm Beach, Florida, Police and FBI began investigating Epstein over tips of potential sex trafficking.
President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan law in November that required the Department of Justice to release all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” within 30 days of Trump’s signature.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday morning during an appearance on Fox News that the Department was set to “release several hundred thousand documents today,” while adding that the DOJ anticipates releasing “more documents over the next couple of weeks.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act specifically directs the Justice Department to release all unclassified records and investigative materials related to Epstein and his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as files related to individuals who were referenced in Epstein previous legal cases, details surrounding trafficking allegations, internal DOJ communications as they relate to Epstein and any details surrounding the investigation into his death.
Read the full article here
