The Don Jones Index

the *DON* JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 12/18/25… 15,712.16 12/11/25… 15,583.08 6/27/13... 15,000.00
*(THE DOW* JONES INDEX: 12/18/25... 47,885.97; 12/11/25... 48,057.75; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)**

LESSON for DECEMBER 18th, 2025 – “HERE on JEFFERY’S ISLAND!”

Year 2025, departing, was a year of fear, loathing and museworthy no-ments; wars and e-con-me, government shutdowns and immigrant takedowns; sports, weather and culture wars - but did Joneses among and across America pause and reflect?

They did not.

Instead, the tabloid flavor of the year is a dead old pervert, a Libertarian libertine with a jailbird sometimes girlfriend from a famous media family, lots of money and (for a while) his own private island-ho’s.

And children, lotsa children.

Not his own – other people’s children

Jeffery Epstein mesmerized America when he was alive, in New York City, Hollywood and Washington... foreign climes from Dublin to Dubai but, mostly, on his island, and continues to do so, years after he hanged himself in prison after facing on more prostie and pimping charges than Diddy. But before departing the planet, he’d make a fortune in money manipulations, spend it gleefully and party with the young and the famous, alongside his partner and procurer, the now-incarcerated (and pardon-seeking) Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of U.K. publisher and playboy Robert.

HERE on JEFF-Y-REES ISLAND

Less resourceful, but far more prurient than the crew of the Minnow... Jeff-e-ree, Miss Maxwell, too, the Presidents (and their wives), the celebrities and the royalty indulged on Jeff-e-ree’s Island (See ATTACHMENT ONE) until the long, strong arm of the law came down for the second time and knocked him into a New York jail, where he was found dead (either by suicide or, some say, murder... perhaps even at the behest of his no-longer BFF, the President, on whom he was rumoured to have collected numerous incriminating and embarrassing documents or files – salted away during two Trump and one Biden administrations.

The Justice Department has until tomorrow to make grand jury documents tied to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell publicly available – whether with or without “national security” redactions.

In July, the Justice Department determined “no further disclosure” in the Epstein case “would be appropriate or warranted,” which only fueled scrutiny into the president’s relationship with Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of minors before being found dead in his jail cell in 2019.

Last month, after a mounting pressure campaign among members of Congress, including his one-time Republican allies, (Independent U.K. December 10^th, ATTACHMENT TWO), Trump “reluctantly agreed to sign a measure that compels the Justice Department to release all investigative materials from the Epstein case in its possession.”

IUK contended that the government was preparing to release “potentially tens of thousands of pages of documents, including FBI notes throughout the investigations, transcripts of witness interviews, videos and photographs, Epstein’s autopsy report, and, of course, flight logs and passenger lists from Epstein’s plane; (q)uestions about the fate of those documents (having) dominated the president’s second term after he pledged during his campaign to release them.”

Transcripts of grand jury proceedings from an abandoned federal case in Florida “could reveal why, exactly, federal prosecutors decided against moving forward with a case against Epstein in 2007.”

A Palm Beach grand jury indicted Epstein on one state felony charge of solicitation of prostitution in 2006, a case then referred to the FBI. “In 2007, an assistant U.S. attorney crafted a draft indictment outlining 60 criminal counts against Epstein, along with a memo of evidence against him,” but... in what critics called a “sweetheart” deal, then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta arranged a controversial agreement for Epstein to plead guilty to two state charges as well as a prison sentence and a requirement that he register as a sex offender in exchange for the federal case to be dropped.

“Epstein then pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. He was released after serving less than 13 months in state prison,” the IUK remembered.

The grand jury records are expected to include testimony from the FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective who gave evidence to jurors who indicted her.

But New York District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made clear that the materials “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.”

The only witness to testify before the grand jury that indicted Epstein on trafficking charges before he killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019 was an FBI agent who “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay,” according to another New York District Judge, Richard M. Berman.

In Wednesday’s order, Berman noted that the transparency law signed by Trump “unequivocally intends to make public Epstein grand jury materials and discovery materials” that were previously sealed.

Politico (11/13/25, ATTACHMENT THREE) revealed the “nine most shocking revelations in the Epstein docs” based on over 20,000 pages of documents – including “communications between the convicted sex offender and high-profile individuals in politics, media, Hollywood and foreign affairs.”

Names were named... former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Trump advisor and podcaster Steve Bannon as well as many, many more (below) – without inference that they had participated in Jeffrey’s... uh... little games.

Summers has attracted scrutiny for his rhetoric about women in the past, including a 2005 speech in which he cited a controversial theory that has been used to suppose that men are more prone to extremely high or low IQs than women as one reason women are underrepresented in science and engineering. “The backlash generated by the speech contributed to Summers’ decision to step down as president of Harvard University in 2006.”

Bannon allegedly discussed a European tour of European capitals and leaders with Epstein but the tour apparently never occurred and a representative for Bannon declined to comment.

In a series of emails dating back 10 years, Epstein discussed his predicament and his ties to Trump with author and journalist Michael Wolff who, on several occasions, “offered advice to Epstein regarding how he might best publicly navigate his relationship with Trump...” to which Wolff replied: “I think you should let him hang himself,” in a 2015 email. “If [Trump] says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”

Epstein’s inbox also featured repeated appearances by another member of the Obama administration: former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler discussing the criminal case against former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, “who admitted to conspiring with Trump to pay porn star Stormy Daniels hush money.”

In one of the messages, Epstein exclaims: “you see, i know how dirty donald is. my guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. what it means to have your fixer flip.”

Politico also repored on discussions between Epstein and Peter Thiel (PayPal founder and Palantir spymaster) wherein the dead pervert invited Thiel to Little St. James (a spokesperson for Thiel said he never visited the island) and with Vitaly Churkin – Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations – whom Jeffy called “great.”

He also referenced filmmaker Woody Allen, “Piss-Christ” artist Andres Serrano and publicist Peggy Siegal in an effort to enlist uber-liberal Ariana Huffington to dig up dirt on Prince Andrew’s suicided accuser Virginia Giuffre.

“It was a moronic request, and he constantly tried to embroil innocent people into the fantasy of his life,” Siegal told POLITICO. “It’s beyond comprehension that I would call Arianna and get involved in this.”

The Trump administration pushed back on allegations of wrongdoing the following Wednesday, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleging Democrats “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” Trump, in a social media post, also accused Democrats of “trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects.”

Wikipedia’s dossier on how Epstein got his money (ATTACHMENT FOUR) followed the financier from his early days as a physics and mathematics teacher at the elite Dalton School. He was fired for “flirting with female students” but had won the attention of Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, failing upward until also fired for a “Reg D violation” (excessive withdrawals) and then starting his own consultancy as a “high level bounty hunter” recovering embezzled funds for a portion of the profits before pivoting into Saudi fiscal hanky panky and domestic corporate raidership for the Towers Financial Corporation, from which he jumped ship in 1993 before it “was exposed as one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history, losing over US$450 million of its investors' money (equivalent to $1 billion in 2024).^[36]Thereafter he provide financial advise to billionaires, at a price, and “as a global talent scout for Victoria's Secret during this time and used this powerful position to sexually manipulate young women.”

Offshoring his enterprises to the tax haven Virgin Islands, Forbes estimated Epstein was worth $600 million when he died, despite his extravagant lifestyle. He joint ventured with Bear Stearns and, again, jumped just before the company collapsed... setting into motion the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent Great Recession – and, when indicted for sex with minors, his ratting out financial rodents and rumoured involvement with either British or American intelligence agencies.

His last venture was with the Carbyne corporation – dealing with former Israeli prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak amd advisers to Vladimir Putin. His side gigs included dealings with Thiel and Woody Allen and, at the time of his indictment and death, “helping Elon Musk to find a new chairman for Tesla when Musk was in trouble with the SEC over his comments that he would privatize the car manufacturer.”

(See pix and refs at Wiki website.)

And, according to the Daily Beast (see below), Epstein and Trump fell out in 2004, when they both tried to buy a Palm Beach estate, Maison de L’Amitié, out of bankruptcy.

When the documents disaster escalated, Trump further contended that Jeffy had “stolen” some of the girls that worked for him at Mar a Lago. (The media chose not to portray them for their own protection.)

HIS FIRST CONVICTION

The Daily Mail reported that shortly after serving out his “extremely light” prison sentence on prostitution charges—during which Epstein allegedly continued to engage in “improper sexual contact,” claims his lawyer denies—Epstein partied with a veritable who’s who of Trump administration employees and friends, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and… Trump’s lead lawyer... former New York Mayor Rudy Rudy Giuliani who would later tell the hosts of Hill TV’s “Rising” that the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case is “obviously going to implicate a lot of people—I can’t tell you who but it’s not going to end up with just Jeffrey Epstein.“

While that was certainly the consensus, reporter Nick Bryant, who obtained Epstein’s “black book,” said that the scandal would “go all the way up to Mount Olympus”— and one person you could say is definitely implicated in the scandal was Giuliani’s own client, Donald Trump. (Vanity Fair, July 22, 2019, ATTACHMENT FIVE)

VF reporter Bess Levin added that it was also the same Donald Trump who hosted a “calendar girl” party at Mar-a-Lago in 1992, the guests consisting of him, Epstein, and “28 girls.” It was also the same Donald Trump “who was videotaped dancing and joking with Epstein at another party at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by young cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.” In fact, Trump remained on extremely friendly terms with Epstein for at least another decade, telling New York in 2002 that Epstein was a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with,” adding, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Giuliani... “weirdly,” Levin opined, “did not mention Trump while discussing the powerful people likely to go down” as a result of the new charges against Epstein, which the “financier” has denied. Nor did he mention fellow Trump defender and longtime Epstein pal Alan Dershowitz, who’s denied ever taking part in Epstein’s underage sex ring. (“I got one massage!” Dershowitz told my colleague Gabriel Sherman. “It was from a 50-year-old Russian woman named Olga. And I kept my shorts on. I didn’t even like it. I’m not a massage guy.”)

Elsewhere in the Hill interview, Giuliani contended that anyone who spent a considerable amount of time with Epstein—“like, say, Trump”—more than likely knew that crimes were being committed. “If you spent this much time with him and he was so involved with these underaged girls—who did you see him with and what was he doing and what did he tell you and what did he say to you and how could you have missed it,” Rudy said. “Maybe some were innocent—maybe some weren’t, but I think they’re going to investigate everybody.”

Lawyerly advice to lawyer Rudy never got much better than admonishing to run, run, Rudy... preferably to a country that did not allow extradition of the person or attachment of monies – howsoever improperly gotten. Giuliani might have been better off hiding on Little Saint James with the perv and the President, but he proved about as capable a felon as Mayor of New York.

He’s still out of jail. Last month, President Donald Trump pardoned him and scores of others accused of involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Trump's pardon attorney said late Sunday. In a statement, Giuliani's spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said the former mayor "stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election," saying Giuliani was responding to the "legitimate concerns" of thousands of voters. He said Giuliani was "deeply grateful" for Trump’s decision and called for the reinstatement of his law license.

Giuliani was disbarred in New York and in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The Christmas night is nigh and Giuliani’s red, red nose can’t help him guide Epstein, nor Trump, Santa or even Satan – putting the holiday sing-alongsters in mind of the Beach Boys’ “run, run, Rudy” ditty of six decades back which we, at the DJI, have upgraded to accompany Epstein/Gilligan’s theme song into your holiday earworm opii... (ATTACHMENT SIX).

With Rudy run, run, running from his legal career Jeffy had to fork over more of his cash on a litigatory team operating on the premise that quantity could, at least, come close to quality.

JEFFY’S SECOND ARREST

A 2019 analysis by CNN reported that the “sex trafficking” charges as would put Epstein back in prison and, soon after, in the ground, “date(d) to incidents between 2002 and 2005 and contain(ed) allegations that ha(d) been public for more than a decade.”

Why, then, did prosecutors in New York move to arrest him over the Fourth of July weekend and then unseal a federal indictment against him?

Legal experts polled by CNN said the origins of the case came primarily from The Miami Herald and reporter Julie K. Brown, who wrote an investigative report in November 2018 on what she called the “deal of a lifetime” for Epstein. (ATTACHMENT SEVEN)

“Prosecutors do read the newspaper every day,” former prosecutor Elie Honig said. And former federal prosecutor Jaimie Nawaday opined that there was some concern that Jeffy would run, run, run back to Little Saint James or some other sanctuary city, based on the dispatch with which the feddies snatched him up at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

“That they got to him straight from the plane indicates obviously a sense of urgency,” Nawaday explained.

Prosecutors argued in a court memo that Epstein has homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, New Mexico and Paris and also owns a private island in the US Virgin Islands. He has three US passports, owns at least 15 vehicles and has access to two private jets, according to the memo.

In fact, Epstein was arrested after spending three weeks abroad, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Another answer posited by CNN was that there may have been ongoing criminal conduct that did not end in 2005... indeed, after Epstein’s arrest, federal agents executed a search warrant of his mansion in New York City and seized a “vast trove” of lewd photographs of young-looking women or girls, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Epstein’s second string lawyers appealed, without traction that many of Jeffey’s raucous juvenile revels transpired on one of his two... two, count ‘em!... private islands he purchased from the proceeds of his financial schemes. His pervy (and presumably unextraditable) paradise; a speck in the American Virgin Islands, appropriately, going by the name of Little Saint James was not quite the Beach Boys’ and Santa’s Little Saint Nick’s; not exactly Great Neck, Long Island, but Congressman Santos didn’t think so either.

In fact, even as he wobbled towards the end of his Congressional career, the man whom even Trump sock puppet New York Post called “Lying George Santos” said he was was convinced the pedophile was “murdered” behind bars while awaiting trial. (Jan. 25, 2023, ATTACHMENT EIGHT)

“I believe he’s dead, and I believe he was murdered. That’s my conclusion,” Santos said in a “Rory Sauter Show” interview from Aug. 12, 2020, and he also said he feared that the same fate could await Epstein’s longtime pal and convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, “unless she is sent to a prison overseas” (or, as President Trump decided for the time being, an American country club).

“I’ve never dealt with him personally, but I’ve met him, I’ve seen him. I’m 6-2 and the guy was taller than me. There’s just no way you can hang yourself off of a bunk bed at that height. I can’t hang myself off a bunkbed because human instinct kicks in and the first thing you do is stand up,” he said.

“(Maxwell) was put on suicide watch because just like Epstein, she’s going to suicide herself and hang herself with a handkerchief or something like that. And they’re going to try to make us digest that all over again,” Santos said in the interview.

An AI Overview of the Little Saint crimescene notes that it was visited by a range of individuals, including prominent celebrities, businesspeople, and academics. These included magician David Copperfield and physicist Stephen Hawking... neither accused of wrongdoing... and Prince Andrew... who was. Repeatedly. (ATTACHMENT NINE)

There was a private a hideaway hangout cabin on something called Great Saint James, but that island’s not so great, nor costly, nor famous as its neighbor, Little Saint James. (There’s not so much room to walk around on the Little One, but Jeffy’s visitors usually could find something else to occupy their time.)

Wikipedia’s description of Little Saint James (ATTACHMENT TEN) notes its nickname (“Epstein Island”) and dates coverage past the death of Jeffrey – including its sale to him from venture capitalist Arch Cummin in 1998 and from him to billionaire Stephen Deckoff after a spell of posthumous litigation and dealmaking.

Its description, including maps and photograph (see the website) notes that Epstein, two days before his death, deeded Great and Little Saint James islands to a holding company. After his death and the sale to Deckoff, some $60 million was used to settle the many litigation judgements against Epstein.

Wiki takes note of some of Epstein’s more famous (or notorious) visitors, including bankers, billionaires and Victoria’s Secret models. Virginia Giuffre (Prince Andrew’s “date”) said that she saw Bill Clinton doodlin’ about.

During and after its ownership by financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the island acquired nicknames such as "Isle of Babes",^[39] "Island of Sin",^[33] "Pedophile Island",^[40][11] "Orgy Island",^[40][11] or more simply, "Epstein Island".^[41]

“According to attorneys for Epstein's alleged victims, Little St. James is where many of the crimes against minors were committed by Epstein and friends who traveled there with him.^[42] Court documents allege that then-17-year-old Virginia Roberts was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew on several occasions, including as part of an orgy on Little St. James.^[33][43] Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation.^[44][45] A lawyer for Epstein has described the allegations of orgies by Roberts as "old and discredited".^[33]

“According to locals, Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island in 2019, after he was registered as a sex offender.^[46] In August 2019, following Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James.^[47][48]

Disclosures upon the documents and files... disclosed or not... was reserved to other WikiLeaks. Most of the LSJ selection described its lavish architectural improvements – as well as plans for more that were abruptly interrupted by arrest, incarceration and death.

(See Attachment for particulars, and see Wiki LSJ website for maps and pictures.)

Australia, this week, has beach bummer Babylon problems of its own but, two weeks ago, the Australian Broadcasting Company had the time and the peace to look into “Little Saint Jeff’s” stormy past (ATTACHMENT ELEVEN)

Down Underling Lewis Wiseman reiterated some of the business details, some of the architectural and improvement details and some... ummm... other details about Epstein’s tropic adventures.

EPSTEIN LIKED THE ISOLATION

The convicted sex offender used both his private islands — Little St James and Great St James — as a personal and business hideaway.

In 2012, during a business pitch, Epstein said the US Virgin Islands were "perfect" because they were "so isolated".

In the same pitch he said, "I am not a madman".

WHAT ALLEGEDLY HAPPENED ON THE ISLAND?

Virginia Giuffre claimed that former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor raped her on Little St James.

Epstein's longtime associate and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell told a deposition with the US government that she was on the island when Andrew visited, but "there were no girls on the island" at that time.

A LOOK INSIDE THE BUILDINGS

On November 3 local time in the US, politicians released new pictures and video of Epstein's private island estate.

The images released by Democratic Party members of the House Oversight Committee show what it looked like inside the buildings on the island.

MILLIONS SPENT ON LITTLE ST JAMES

A blue-striped temple, a solar clock and an ever-moving Holstein-Friesian cow statue are three strange items found on Little St James.

The island also has multiple swimming pools, tennis courts, a helipad and several guest villas.

Epstein built a villa with a library, a Japanese bathhouse and a movie theatre on the island as well.

He spent millions developing the island during his ownership, The New York Times reported, citing government documents.

WHAT HAPPENED TO EPSTEIN'S ISLANDS?

In March 2022, the two islands owned by Epstein were listed for sale through New York-based Bespoke Real Estate for $US125 million.

Soon after the listing, a lawyer for Epstein's estate confirmed the money from the sale would be used to settle several lawsuits.

In May 2023, Stephen Deckoff, founder of private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, purchased both islands for just $US60 million.

After purchasing, he said he had never met Epstein and had never set foot on the islands until they were marketed for sale.

He told Forbes he had plans to develop a 25-room luxury resort on the property.

Wired (ATTACHMENT TWELVE) surveilled nearly 200 mobile devices of Epstein’s island girls (and boys) documented “the numerous trips of wealthy and influential individuals seemingly undeterred by Epstein’s status as a convicted sex offender”; the “troubled” databroker Near Intelligence tracking the innocent and guilty alike through “pristine beaches, pools, and cabanas” as only ceased after his second arrest for child abuse.

“The pervasive surveillance machine that has been developed for digital advertising now enables other uses completely unrelated to marketing, including government mass surveillance,” says Wolfie Christl, a Vienna-based researcher at Cracked Labs who investigates the data industry.

Daily Beastly author Michael Wolff (no relation to Christl) collected tapes of his many interviews of the dead pedo including Epstein’s claims that “Trump liked to “f---” his friends’ wives and first slept with Melania on the “Lolita Express,” in eleven takeaways. (ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN)

He also claimed that while Trump has friends, “he was at heart a friendless man incapable of kindness.”

On the tape Epstein can be heard saying, “He’s a horrible human being. He does nasty things to his best friends, best friends’ wives, anyone who he first tries to gain their trust and uses it to do bad things to them.” On one occasion, Epstein alleged, Trump took a woman to what he called “the Egyptian Room” in an Atlantic City casino. Epstein alleged, “He came out afterward and said, ‘It was great, it was great. The only thing I really like to do is f--- the wives of my best friends. That is just the best.’”

Epstein compared Trump to “an emotionally challenged 9-year-old,” and said, “He screams and yells at (personal assistant Rhona Graff) more than anybody else. His screaming is how he treats people. He has a tantrum, not a temper. If you don’t understand him, it’s frightening. Once you understand him, it’s sort of silly.”

Other disclosures fingered out many famous names and faces – as mentioned in the references cited in this Lesson. These included...

Adnan Khashoggi @Wikipedia

Alan Dershowitz @the Beach Boys; @AI Overview (1); @Wikipedia; @the New York Times

Alan Greenberg @Wikipedia

Amir Elihai @Wikipedia

Ana Obregon @Wikipedia

Andres Serrano @Politico

Bill Clinton @The Hill; @the BBC

Bill Gates @Time; @Independent U.K.; @Wikipedia; @the Daily Beast; @the BBC

Bill Richardson @The Hill (2)

Carl Icahn @the Daily Beast

Claudia Schiffer @The Hill

David Blaine @Rolling Stone

David Copperfield @The Hill; @AI Overview (1)

Deepak Chopra @Independent U.K.

Donny Deutsch @Wikipedia

Douglas Leese @ABC

Edgar Bronfman @Wikipedia

Ehud Barak @Wikipedia; @the Daily Beast; @Guardian U.K.

Elon Musk @Wikipedia

George Mitchell @The Hill (2)

Ingrid Seynhaeve @CNBC

Ivana Trump @the Daily Beast

Ivanka Trump @the Daily Beast

James Mattis @the Daily Beast

Jamie Dimon @Wikipedia; @ABC

Jared Kushner @the Daily Beast

Jay Lefkowitz @Wikipedia

Jes Staley @Wikipedia

Jimmy Cayne @Wikipedia

Kathryn Ruemmler @Politico

Kenneth Starr @Wikipedia

Larry Summers @Politico; @Time; @Rolling Stone; @CNBC; @the New York Times; @Independent U.K.

Leon Black @the Daily Beast; @Wikipedia

Leslie Wexner @The Hill; @AI Overview (1); @Wikipedia; @Wikipedia (2); @the Daily Beast

Marla Maples @the Daily Beast

Matthew Calamari @the Daily Beast

Michael Cohen @the Daily Beast

Mick Jagger @the Daily Beast

Mortimer Zuckerman @Wikipedia

Naomi Campbell @AI Overview (1)

Nelson Peltz @Wikipedia

Peggy Siegal @Politico

Peter Thiel @Politico; @Wikipedia

Pinchas Bukhris @Wikipedia

Prince Andrew @The Hill; @AI Overview (1); @the Daily Beast; @Time; @Guardian U.K.; @Rolling Stone; @CNBC; @The Hill (2); @the BBC

Reid Hoffman @Wikipedia

Rhona Graff @the Daily Beast

Richard Branson @Time; @Independent U.K.

Robert Meister @Wikipedia

Robert Mueller @the Beach Boys

Rudy Giuliani @the Beach Boys

Stacey Plaskett (D-VI ) @Independent U.K.

Stephen Cutler @Wikipedia

Stephen Deckoff @The Hill; @Wikipedia (2)

Stephen Hawking @AI Overview (1)

Steve Bannon @Politico; @Time; @CNBC; @the BBC

Steven Hoffenberg @ABC; @Wikipedia

Steven Mnuchin @the Beach Boys

Tom Barrack @the Daily Beast

Tony Blair @the Daily Beast

Viktor Vekselberg @Wikipedia

Virginia Giuffre @Politico; @The Hill; @Wikipedia (2)

Wilbur Ross @the Beach Boys

Woody Allen @Politico; @the New York Times; @Independent U.K.; @Rolling Stone; @the New York Times (2)

As America still waits for the President to comply with orders from Federal Judge Rodney Smith in Florida (see Update, below), the New York Times reported that Trump first appeared disinclined to release the files “but ultimately supported the legislation after it became clear that scores of Republicans in Congress were likely to join with Democrats in voting for their release.” (ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN)

But if he does not comply tomorrow, don’t expect Congress to do much of anything – inasmuch as many of them have already left Washington for yet another “vacation”.

Time, (December 12, ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN) took particular note of Presidents Trump and Clinton among the raucous revels on Little Saint James in words, insinuations and pictures.

See these photos here.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

In other photos, Trump can be seen with a woman whose face has been redacted; “smiling among a group of women whose faces have also been redacted; and standing beside Epstein while speaking with a blond woman.” Another image shows novelty condoms bearing an image of the President’s face and the words “I’m HUUUUGE!” in front of a sign reading “Trump Condom $4.50.”

Following the Times, Time (one word, 12/12 ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN) also noted pix of Jeffy with Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, Steve Bannon and Larry Summers who paid for his partying with his Harvard job, his membership in the prestigious American Economic Association, and (probably coerced) resignation from OpenAi’s the board of directors.

“The Justice Department is required to release all its files related to Epstein by Dec. 19 under a law Congress passed and Trump signed last month,” the Times concluded. “After months of resisting calls to release the files, the President changed his tune and signaled his approval for Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the files in November.”

Oversight Democrats released just 19 photos Friday morning, but later in the day, they increased that number to more than 70 “in the interest of transparency,” the Independent U.K. followed up on Saturday (December 13^th, ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN)

“Oversight Dems received 95,000 new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate,” House Oversight Committee Democrats wrote in a social media post Friday.

“These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!”

Trump said the newly released photos showing he and Epstein mingling with several women were “no big deal,” but later claimed he had not seen them.

“Everybody knew this man [Epstein] – he was all over Palm Beach,” the President of the United States told reporters Friday evening. “He has photos with everybody... there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have them.

“That's no big deal... I know nothing about them."

“House Democrats are selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

“Here’s the reality: Democrats like Stacey Plaskett and Hakeem Jeffries were soliciting money and meetings from Epstein AFTER he was a convicted sex offender,” Jackson said. “The Democrat hoax against President Trump has been repeatedly debunked and the Trump Administration has done more for Epstein’s victims than Democrats ever have by repeatedly calling for transparency, releasing thousands of pages of documents, and calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends.

Another f**k from I-Yuk (ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN) polled friends and foes, like Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego who remarked: “Trump has got to be scared s***less.”

That other lefty Britpub, GUK (ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN) waxed cosmic.

“For years, Jeffrey Epstein conjured a kind of grotesque fascination: the private island, the powerful friends, the whispered allegations. But focusing on the lurid details of his life and eventual death obscures the far more unsettling truth his case lays bare. Epstein’s story is not really about one man’s depravity. It is about a system – legal, cultural and institutional – engineered to protect the powerful through silence.”

In this sense, opined Grechen Carlson and Julie Roginsky of “Lift Our Voices”, the Epstein case is “not an anomaly but a magnifying glass.”

Nearly a decade ago, they remembered their coming forward “to allege sexual harassment and retaliation against the former Fox News chairman and chief executive Roger Ailes and the network he ran, respectively. We each had to jump through hoops for our cases to be public, battling silencing mechanisms to bring our claims to light. And yet, long after Ailes’s death in 2017, we are still bound by NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) that prevent us from sharing our stories.”

Thus, in 2022, “we helped to pass two federal laws that cracked the closet door open. The Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act ensures that survivors can bring their claims to court rather than being sent into the secret chamber of forced arbitration. The Speak Out Act limits the use of NDAs that silence survivors before misconduct even occurs.”

The real scandal, they concluded, “was never Epstein alone. It was the silence that allowed him to get away with his crimes for so long and that still allows his co-conspirators to get away with them years later.”

Far beyond the borders of America, world leaders, media and even inquiring foreign minds looked at the world, looked at Epstein, and tried to make sense of the affair.

Over there in Sandland (i.e. Al Jazeera, December 12^th ATTACHMENT NINETEEN attention centered around Jeffy’s “close relationship” with Israel’s ex-PM Ehud Barak.

After the Miami Herald investigated the prosecution against Epstein, federal authorities reopened the case against him, arrested him and charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019, the Jazzies recalled.

Two months later, he was found dead in his jail cell in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide.

“The scandal and the manner in which Epstein died have fuelled speculations that he may have been working for foreign or domestic intelligence services – particularly Israel’s Mossad.

“According to reporting by Drop Site News, Epstein – who was legally represented by prominent Israel defender Alen Dershowitz – helped facilitate Israeli diplomacy with Russia and African and Asian countries.”

His diplomatic and clandestine contacts, as well as the nature of his death, inspired Rolling Stone to ask: “Was Epstein a Spy?”

Stoner Vicky Ward (ATTACHMENT TWENTY) went to prison in Massachusetts where she interviewed Steven Hoffenberg (convicted for involvement in a $450 million Ponzi Scheme via debt collector Towers Financial), a colleague and colluder of and with Epstein who scammed him – taking Towers’ $100M loot offshore while ratting out Hoffenberg who, in the course of their larcenies, claimed that Jeffrey was protected by “intelligence circles.”

Epstein refused comment and warned Ward that her investigation would have “consequences” – a threat she took seriously due to his connections among international arms dealers... allegedly including Robert Maxwell, Jilly’s publisher father (who died in 1991, under vey strange circumstances, apparently having fallen off his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night) and one Douglas Leese, whose son Julian told her that his father “was a mentor of sorts to Epstein in the 1980s and was totally shocked that Epstein would have pretended not to know him.”

Maxwell, who was himself a conduit between the Israelis and other governments during his life time, introduced Epstein to Israeli leaders, who then allegedly used Epstein as the equivalent of an old-fashioned Russian “sleeper,” someone who could be useful in an “influence campaign.”

And once he got out of jail, in the last 10 years of his life, “Epstein bragged to various people, including journalists, that he was advising a whole assortment of foreign leaders who included Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Zayed, Mohammed Bin Salman, various African dictators, Israel, the British — and, of course, the Americans.

“He also told several of the same people that he was making a fortune out of arms, drugs, and diamonds,” and told journalist Edward J. Epstein, that he knew the owner of the deep-water port of Djibouti on the horn of Africa, a smuggler’s paradise, so well that he was basically in charge of it.

Ward asked him why he thought that Epstein, normally reclusive, had raised his head above the parapet and attracted media attention by flying Bill Clinton to Africa.

Hoffenberg had smiled.

“He can’t help himself. He broke his own rule,” Hoffenberg said.”

Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.

His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE) He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.

The FBI is investigating the incident, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Epstein’s alleged victims told ABC News they were not made aware of the details of the plea agreement while it was being negotiated.

A lawyer for Courtney Wild, one of the women in that case, urged other victims to still come forward with their own allegations despite Epstein's death.

And another lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, representing Giuffre in her latest attempt to overturn her conviction, said the timing of his apparent suicide was “no coincidence.”

A federal judge later denied bail for Epstein, after deciding he was too great a flight risk to release from custody.

Epstein's body will be taken to the city morgue and an autopsy will be conducted as soon as Sunday, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

For her part, Wild... among other Epstein victims... appeared at a press conference sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) and Ro Khanna (D-Ca) to force the Trump administration “to disclose publicly any files and information it might have on Epstein.” The victims also called on Trump to support the Courtney Wild Crime Victims’ Reform Act. (The Hill, 9/9/25, ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO)

“Epstein surrounded himself with the most powerful leaders of our country and the world,” the Hill’s Merrill Matthews opined

Many of those “powerful leaders” may be guilty of nothing more than hanging out with a degenerate pedophile. There will likely be legal challenges to releasing any names since at this stage there are only accusations. But at some point, we may find out more about who participated in Epstein’s sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

Victim Chauntae Davies says she was “taken on a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and other notable figures.” And she said, “Epstein surrounded himself with the most powerful leaders of our country and the world.”

(Tonight’s Colbert cartoon portrayed Trump, Jeffy and Stephen Miller’s “Naughty List” asking what Santa would do after being kicked out of his North Pole workshop – a tip o’ the cap to reality.)

Many of those “powerful leaders” may be guilty of nothing more than hanging out with a degenerate pedophile,” Mathews acknowledged. “There will likely be legal challenges to releasing any names since at this stage there are only accusations. But at some point, we may find out more about who participated in Epstein’s sexual abuse and sex trafficking.”

Fortunately... or unfortunately, for the public, the Epstein scandal “isn’t going away. The media, which also failed the victims by not aggressively covering the story early on, are all over this issue now — “perhaps because Trump is president. Rich and powerful people were involved, and some have hinted that Trump may be protecting his friends,” as, for example, the Justice Department dropping charges against indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Should Trump prove unable to quash the public’s interest, and it turns out he loses control of his own party over this issue, of all things, “the Epstein legend will have a strong claim to be the defining story of our time.”

Disagreeing slightly, Politico’s Dan Brooks called the Epstein conspiracy the “horror story” of our age (ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE).

“The disgraced financier was a rich and connected villain who flouted law and decency and, for decades, largely got away with it, confirming Americans’ deepest anxieties about how power works.”

The conspiracy theory is that Epstein provided politicians and celebrities with underage girls for sex, and that “his clients had him killed in prison to keep him quiet. Epstein getting murdered is a more intriguing story than reports he hung himself in his cell, but otherwise the strictly factual version is lurid enough.”

If the conspiracy version of the story is more popular, Brooks wrote (also comparing our President to Dracula, feeding off the blood of a nation): “that’s because it puts the boring and sometimes convoluted details into terms everyone can understand, the same way QAnon and flat Earth theory fictionalize the basic truth that other people know things you don’t and are not particularly concerned with your wellbeing. This sentiment contributed to Trump’s unlikely ascent to the presidency, and ironically, it might prove to be his undoing...”

If the money power Epstein represents transcended partisan divisions, “so too has our fascination with his story.”

And, it appears, fascinated Americans (with, of course, plenty of money) might be able to suck in the shadows of the Epstein Experience once financier Stephen Deckoff (founder of Black Diamond Capital Management) gets Great St. and Little St. James up and running.

“The private islands that were a nexus in Jeffrey Epstein's depraved abuse and trafficking of young women and underage girls will be turned into a resort destination,” NPR (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR, 5/4/23) reported.

“Under a $105 million settlement reached last December, the U.S. Virgin Islands government is due to receive half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James — and use the money to establish a trust to fund support services and counseling for victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking.”

CNBC (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE) cited a press release announcing that “Mr. Deckoff plans to develop a state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort that will help bolster tourism, create jobs, and spur economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the important environment of the islands.”

During a brief phone interview with CNBC, Deckoff confirmed he had bought the islands.

“No comment,” he said when asked about his plans for it.

Deckoff then hung up.

While America waits for their leaders to comply in releasing Epstein’s files and documents, Democrats titillated the tittie watchers by releasing “two new batches of photos” reported the BBC... “President Donald Trump, former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon” being among the high-profile figures featured in the photos (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX) with the legalistic excuse that the images, “many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.”

This batch of a hundred or so included more shots of Jeff with his usual suspects as well as a bowl of what some joker called “Trump Condoms”.

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked". House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) pressed former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton to appear for depositions in his probe of Jeffrey Epstein... the Hill (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN) reporting that Comer (no relation to Trump nemesis James Comey) has declared that: “If the Clintons fail to appear for their depositions next week or schedule a date for early January, the Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Democrats of “selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative" and called it part of a “Democrat hoax against President Trump.”

NBC/Blavity (ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT) reported that Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has said: “It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” in a statement, per Al Jazeera (Attachment Ninteen, above) in which Trump said he only knew Epstein because they were neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida – with Trump saying he eventually kicked Jeffy out from his Mar-a-Lago resort “because he was a creep.”

And President Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles contradicted his claims about former President Clinton's ties to Jeffrey Epstein in a new interview with Vanity Fair reported by Axios (ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE) which Wiles called "a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history," meaning Trump, not Slick Willie.

Wiles, in the interview, also defended Trump's own inclusion in the Epstein files, saying that the president and Epstein were "young, single playboys together."

· "[Trump] is in the file. And we know he's in the file. And he's not in the file doing anything awful," she said.

· Trump "was on [Epstein's] plane…he's on the manifest," she said.

· "They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it's a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together."

Tuesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned of “serious legal and political consequences” if members of the Trump administration “dodge, delay or partially release these files.” (Spectrum, ATTACHMENT THIRTY)

Democrats in the upper chamber said they would know if materials were missing based on feedback from women who have accused Epstein of abuse.

Epstein ‘harmed over one thousand victims,’ DOJ says

A Justice Department and FBI memo from July confirmed that authorities believe Epstein abused more than 1,000 girls and women – some of whom joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Marine Lacerda, “ who identified herself as “Minor-Victim 1” in federal court filings, said that she had to drop out of ninth grade because she spent so much time with Epstein.

“From 14 to 17 years old, I went and worked for Jeffrey instead of receiving an education,” she said.

Three separate federal judges earlier this month ordered that grand jury transcripts and records related to Epstein be unsealed by midnight, Friday with each saying the recently passed law overrode the usual rules about grand jury secrecy.

Spectrum also reported that Epstein accuser Liz Stein, who now works as an advocate against human trafficking nationwide, described seeing the newly released images in an interview with CNN.

“When we are seeing these photos, things that might seem like they won’t matter to the general public can really be meaningful to us,” Stein said. “I was talking to a survivor earlier who said, ‘To the rest of the world that just looks like a room, but to me that’s the phone that I picked up to call for help.’”

Stein added that the release of materials “can be really incredibly triggering for us, but at the same time, (we) realize how important it is for this all to come out.”

Amid all the posthumous furor and anti-Epstein sentiment, the dead pervert does have one defender... Woody Allen. The controversial actor/director participated in a rare series of interviews, among them an exchange in which he described Jeffrey Epstein as “charming and personable.” (New York Times, ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE)

“For several years, the filmmaker and his wife Soon-Yi Previn were regular guests at the Epstein townhouse on the Upper East Side, not far from their own,” the Times looked back. “Always accept. Always interesting,” he said of these dinners in a letter to his host, on the occasion of Mr. Epstein’s 63rd birthday.

“For a while it seemed as if Mr. Allen had emerged from a long period of tempered cancellation, one that began in the 1990s when his former partner, Mia Farrow, accused him of sexually abusing their daughter, Dylan — allegations Mr. Allen has always denied and for which no criminal charges were ever filed.

“But to the extent that collective memory of the scandal had faded, the Epstein connection revives and deepens questions about the sexual morality and social judgment of a man who married his girlfriend’s adopted daughter.”

The Times summarized and Ginia Bellafante editorialized on the Woodman’s demeanor in several of the pictures – enjoying an “intimate” aftermeal interlude with an “unidentified” woman; seated in a private plane next to Summers.

Concluding by describing the Woody/Jeffy relationship as “transactional”, Bellafanta reminded Times readers that, over his long career, Mr. Allen had made two films — “Crimes and Misdemeanors” in 1989 and “Match Point,” 16 years later — “about deceitful men who murder women and get away with it. The evasion of consequence has been an enduring source of fascination. In the end, perhaps Mr. Epstein provided Mr. Allen with something even more valuable than cachet: potential material.”

And, yesterday afternoon, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca) warned Pam Bondi that he expected the DOJ to comply with the court order and release the files... all the files or a “future president” (presumably not Vance, or Miller, Don Junior, even Eric!) would arrest (NBC, ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO)

Khanna said under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, if the information is not made public by Friday, "the Justice Department officials would be breaking the law."

Khanna said in an interview Monday that he believes the information “will show in certain cases how powerful men said that they had control over the local police in New York or had contacts with the FBI and told survivors not to report things because they would not go anywhere. That needs to come out.”

He said he believes the files will also shed light on happenings on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

“It needs to come out, who the other powerful men were on Epstein’s rape island,” Khanna said. “There were a lot of sex parties where women were trafficked for pay.”

Khanna acknowledged that even the full release of the files won't bring those to an end. But he said “they could bring some peace to his victims, which the FBI has said numbered over 1,000.”

UPDATES...

THURSDAY, 12/19

The files have not been released.

FRIDAY, 12/20

The DJI held back this Lesson until 5 PM, at which time a somewhat mixed release occurred. The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Friday morning that the Department of Justice planned to release documents later in the day from the government’s files, but added they would not all come out at once (GUK). “I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks,” he said. “So today, several hundred thousand, and then, over the next couple of weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”

The files released Friday include several photos of former President Bill Clinton, including one showing him in a hot tub with a person whose face is not shown.

We’ll insert a notice into next week’s DJI, which is now, already, this week’s upcoming DJI (which, will be released in an abridged version on Wednesday, the 23^rd before the world shuts down for Christmas.

	IN the NEWS: DECEMBER 11^TH to DECEMBER 17^TH , 2025
Thursday, December 11, 2025 Dow: 47,852.31	Inquiring minds and tongues want to know whether President Trump supports bombing Venezuelan boats, even after they’ve been wrecked and about the seizure of an oil tanker – specifically, what will happen to the captured oil. “Well, we’ll keep it, I guess,” he says, and promises more oily seizures, and, soon, an invasion on the ground. Dictator Maduro calls it “piracy”, Dems accuse him of wanting another “forever war.” It seems like forever weather keeps blasting the West (with choose one: a firehose; a Pineapple Express; a bomb cyclone; a polar vortex) drenching Washington State (the precipitation precipitating flooding and landslides) while, in the East, bitter cold creates bleaches the Upper Midwest with blizzards, moving towards New York and D.C. across stormy skies and roads thick with black ice. No better above, where air travel wracked by delays and cancellations. Rival Democratic and Republican healthcare bills both voted down. The former is accused of enabling fraud and allowing criminal aliens to cure their ills at citizen taxpayers’ expense... the donkeys respond that health insurance for poor and working class American citizens will quadruple. Let the blame games begin! Also beginning are the ritual year-ending awards and nominations. Time names the “architects of AI” as their person (sic) of the year and publishes a portrait of a coven of very white, very nerdy nerds in a row (but not a single robot among them). Coincidence or not, Disney sells its catalog to Open AI, auguring a future of deepfakes and Articificial Mickeys (like the Montlick ambulance chasers are already using).
Friday, December 12, 2025 Dow: 48,458.05	The Nobel peace prize is doled out and, to his deep disappointment, Donnie doesn’t get it. But he does take a quantum of solace in Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Machado coming out of hiding and popping up in Oslo and even more satisfaction as she greenlights not only an American invasion, but extending what suddenly silent American carpers call their “forever wars” to Colombia and Cuba, too. No peace here! Hurrying to wind up before the holidays, courts order the release of the inevitable Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICEland and host killers Tyler Robinson (Charlie Kirk) and Luigi Mangione (United Healthcare’s W) in preliminary hearings. “Preservationists” sue President Trump to stop construction on his Golden Ballroom while Michigan Coach Sherrone Moore is fired and indicted for “inappropriate behavior” – meaning that a substitute coach will take over for the Wolverines’ Citrus Bowl appearance. Number One NCAA champ Indiana will get a pass to the first round of bowl games, but Indiana legislators are not getting an easy road to gerrymandering the state as twenty one Republicans buck Trump’s call for more gerrymandering to make gumment leaner, meaner and whiter. Bucks and does, some Bambi’s too, to take cover as deer hunting season begins; hunters warned to feel the fear too because of an infestation of CWD (a sort of hoof in mouth) disease may make home-shot meals lethal to them, too.
Saturday, December 13, 2025 Dow: Closed	It’s the First Day of Christmas, and the partridge in a pear tree goes to iconic Dick Van Dyke, who turns 100 and writes an advice book telling his followers his secret to longevity: “Dance!”. Moving too are the Rockettes, also 100, and they bring out some of their retired hoofers, as old as 93, while veterans’ families memorialize the soldiers of the past in their annual gravesite wreath-laying ceremonies. Maybe not dancing, but certainly feeling like it, King Charles (now 77) says his cancer is in remission, thanks to his “dear doctors” But some will have to go without treatment: as Obamacare expires, “... some people will lose their coverage,” warns Sen. Warnock (D-Ga) and some of them will die.” And some with healthcare are dying too – the anti-vaxxing conspirators are creating a spike in childhood measles, which the dear doctors are calling “more infectious than Covid.” And then, amidst the chills and thrills of the season, Death takes the holiday. Two American soldiers are killed and another wounded in the first overeas fatalities in a decade in Syria by terrorists believed to be with ISIS. An “active shooter” guns down eleven, killing two at Brown University’s final exams while Russia continues bombing and strafing civilians in Ukraine, and Israel kills a top HAMAS commander in Gaza. Jews celebrate the arrival of Hannukah – except that...
Sunday, December 14, 2025 Dow: Closed	...a father/son terrorist team shoot fifty, kill fifteen during a beachfront celebration in, of all places, Sydney, Australia – shouting “Allah Akbah!” until one of the shooters is taken down by a hero bystander. Police in Providence, R.I. arrest a “person of interest” in the Brown shootings and the bean counters say there have been 390 so far in the U.S.A. It’s also Talkshow Sunday and the press and politicians are still debating the strikes on Venezuelan drug boats and seizure of an oil tanker. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) says most cocaine is coming from Ecuador and Colombia with Venezuela just a “way station”. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Oh) says that Trump should force the world to bow to U.S. scanctions on oil transport tankers from Venezuela, Iran and Russia, too, citing a Wall Street Journal contention that regime change wouldn’t be a coup, rather “a liberation for democracy.” Warner asks who would take over – if not Machado, maybe the military? Turner, inevitably, calls Maduro “left over from the Biden administration.” On ABC’s Roundtable addresses the Obamacare sunset... former DNC chair Donna Brazile calls for “four strong Republicans” to step in and save the people; Harvard’s Danielle Allen responds that the President will reveal his plan to save the country “soon” because Obamacare was a failure. Susan Glasser of the New Yorker cites the law and Constitution, while Leigh Ann Caldwell (Puck Magazine) calls it “Groundhog day all over again.” While Trump is still talking about concepts, another gumment shutdown seems appearing to be nearing, On Face the Nation, Machado says that Venezuela’s oil revenues are going to Maduro and his goons, not to the people... teachers earn $1/day, pensions are $1/month, leading to the migrations to America. Contending war would be peace, she adds that “peace is ultimately an act of love.” Sen. Warner, again, says it should be the military (not Trump, not Hegseth) who determines when, where, how and how often to strike the drug boats.
Monday, December 15, 2025 Dow: 47,739.32	The murderous weekend concludes as actor/director Rob Reiner and his wife are stabbed to death in their mansion. Police arrest son Nick – motive unknown although father directed son in “Being Charlie” about Nick’s drug addiction Djonald UnMoved said he was killed because of his Trump derangement politics, surprising even Republicans. “I was not a fan of Rob Reiner,” Donnie scoffs. The Brown shooting’s “person of interest” is released as not guilty and terror arises anew among students and townspeople in Providence. Survivors compaer the shooting to a video game; memorials and mental health crises spike and Mayor Smiley tells Brownies that there is “no credible threat” of future attacks. Few believe him. In Australia, police are on the watch for more anti-Semitic attacks after the worst mass shooting in 30 years. Victims included the rabbi organizing the celebration, a child with a dolphin just painted on her face and two Holocaust survivors before being stopped by a hero bystander. The Samaritan is identified as... a Muslim! And President Trump, asked if the Syrian attacks will engender further strikes against ISIS (or Hamas, Hezbollan, Al Qaida or whatever creature crawls forth next, he says it will (as it has for the whole of the 21^st century). There is bipartisan agreement that Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaais helping, not killing Americans as police foil a plot to bomb New Years’ celebrations in Southern Cal. There’s violence on the gridiron too... K.C.’s Patrick Mahomes suffers a torn ACL in a loss that puts them out of the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Old Man (Philip) Rivers returns to action with Indianapolis at 45 in a close, but contested loss... following Rob Petrie and the Rockettes, but Dancing Nana, RIPped at 102.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025 Dow: 48,114.26	Tributes pour in for Rob Reiner from actors (Kevin Bacon), writers (Stephen King) and the media. Police now reveal that Nick, troubled by drugs and alcohol, exploded at a Conan O’Brien pre-Xmas party while even some Repubs. like Sen. Massie condemn Trump’s “Archie Bunker” denunciations. In Australian, Muslim Achmed al Achmed hailed as a hero for stopping ISIS father/son team from shooting more Jews on first day of Hanukkah. Police cite ISIS flags and pipe bombs while politicians call for strengthening the country’s (already strong) gun laws. And at Brown, the shooter remains at large. A professor killed at MIT an hour north dismissed as not related. Providence Mayor Smiley sternly announces a $50K reward and warns against panic. Wars continue in Ukraine, the Mideast and Venezuela, where President Trump issues an EO defining fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” and warns Joneses against invading Peruvian More holiday horrors arise... 12 firefighters hurt in NC gas explosion; razor blades inserted into bread at Mississippi WalMart and a New Years bombing plot by leftist Turtle Island cult is identified and foiled in L.A. On the good side, football fans cheer Old Man Rivers’ junior Aaron Rodgers (only 42) at Pittsburgh while, at the other end, Cooper Flagg (18) makes stellar NBA debut.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 Dow: 47,885.97	Terror winding down in L.A. and Sydney. Nick Reiner hires superlawyer Alan Jackson as cout hearings begin with the death penalty on the table. Brown police call for public tips and say the “stocky” (i.e. fat) suspect has an unusual and unique way of walking and the religious emphasize prayer and advocate “moving from the house of fear into the house of light.” But gun violence continues: a Georgia homeowner shoots two porch pirates but is himself arrested while the homes of NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and WNBA’s Sabrina Ionescu are burglarized. Trump defends his attacks on Venezuelan boats believed to be carrying drugs – 25 blorn up so far and 95 smugglers killed. Trump adviser Susan Wiles gives interview predicting dictator Maduro will quit, but also saying that the President has an “alcoholic personality” even tho’ he doesn’t drink. In the courts, with the suspected Brown shooter being read his rights, Fani Willis testifies that: “we hve leaders in this country that do not know how to lead.” Veep Vance clarifies his statements, saying: “I only believe in conspiracy theories that are true.” President Trump makes latenite speech blaming the disasters of the past on Ol’ Goneaway Joe. Also gone away is the Captol statue of Robet E. Lee – torn down in DC
More government indices are coming back to life after the shutdown, and the resultant two to four month totals add up to big gains for the Don with wages and trade balances leading the way. The inflation report should be filed before next week, giving a final picture of how Joneses closed out 2025.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES

(60%)

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

RESULTS by PERCENTAGE

SCORE

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13 revised 1/1/22

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

LAST WEEK

THIS WEEK

THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...

Wages (hrly. Per cap)

1350 points

12/11/25

+5.97%

1/26

1,853.22

1,963.90

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 38.86

Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 5 cents, or 0.1%, over a month to $36.86 in November 2025, following a 0.4% rise in October and below market forecasts of 0.3%. This was the smallest increase in wages since August 2023

Median Inc. (yearly)

600

12/11/25

+0.053%

12/25/25

1,152.83

1,153.55

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 52,420

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

600

12/11/25

+4.35%

1/26*

530.25

507.20

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.6

Official (DC – in mi)

300

12/11/25

+0.17%

12/25/25

202.55

202.21

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,756

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

300

12/11/25

+0.003%

12/25/25

243.00

242.98

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 14,152

Workforce Participation

Number

Percent

300

12/11/25

+0.02%

+0.01%

12/25/25

297.98

297.95

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ In 164,048 Out 103,547 Total: 267.595

61.3046

WP % (ycharts)*

150

12/11/25

+0.32%

1/26*

150.71

151.19

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.50

OUTGO

(15%)

Total Inflation

1050

12/11/25

+0.4%

10/25*

927.45

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3 NC NC

Food

300

12/11/25

+0.5%

10/25*

262.59

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.2

Gasoline

300

12/11/25

+1.9%

10/25*

255.11

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +4.1

Medical Costs

300

12/11/25

-0.1%

10/25*

274.20

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3

Shelter

300

12/11/25

+0.4%

10/25*

250.63

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.2

WEALTH

An official website of the United States government

census.gov
Notification: Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.

Dow Jones Index

300

12/11/25

+0.96%

12/25/25

365.88

369.40

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 47,885.97

Home (Sales)

(Valuation)

150

12/11/25

+1.015%

-1.75%

12/25/25*

125.77

272.70

125.77

272.70

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 4.10 Valuations (K): 415.2* NC

Millionaires (New Category)

150

12/11/25

+0.054%

12/25/25

134.50

134.57

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 23,905

Paupers (New Category)

150

12/11/25

+0.021%

12/25/25

133.50

133.53

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 37,214

*Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.

GOVERNMENT

(10%)

Revenue (trilns.)

300

12/11/25

+0.06%

12/25/25

459.58

459.84

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5,274

Expenditures (tr.)

300

12/11/25

+0.04%

12/25/25

295.09

294.96

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,040

National Debt tr.)

450

12/11/25

+0.08%

12/25/25

352.00

351.73

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 38,492

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

12/11/25

+0.07%

12/25/25

376.39

376.15

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 105,818

TRADE

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

12/11/25

+0.10%

12/25/25

257.47

257.22

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 9,435

Exports (in billions)

150

12/11/25

+3.03%

1/26*

174.76

180.05

*https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 289.3

Imports (in billions))

150

12/11/25

-0.50%

1/26*

151.56

150.81

*https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 342.1

Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)

150

12/11/25

-12.88%

1/26*

253.88

286.58

*https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 52.8

FOR SEPT, CATCHING UP

SOCIAL INDICES

(40%)

FOR 2026 ADD TOP 1% AND BOTTOM 50% WEALTH

ACTS of MAN

(12%)

World Affairs

450

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

469.61

470.08

Bulgarian PM resigns admidst mass protests, Denmark watches USA strike Venezuela and fears Greenland conquest, EU defies Trump in support for Ukraine. Chile elects extreme-right Jose Kast. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy party disbands under Chinese pressure. Belarus frees 123 in prison swap.

War and terrorism

300

12/11/25

-0.8%

12/25/25

287.18

284.88

Eleven shot, two killed at Brown final exams. 15 killed at Hannukah beach party in Australia, ISIS kills two soldiers in Syria, China accused of genocide against Islamic Uyghurs.

Politics

450

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

459.76

460.22

Feddie rate cut promotes record Dow (that slides back). Powerball pot passes a billion. Trump pre-empts screening of “Terminator” for speech praising hia accomplishments and denigrating Poor Ol’ Joe.

Economics

450

12/11/25

-0.1%

12/25/25

430.93

430.50

With Feddie numbers crunchers back at work, unemployment found to be up to 4.6% with other indices catching up. Senate will investigate rising US energy prices (hint... look at the AI server farms) whilc Roomba maker IRobot files for bankruptcy. Warner Bros. rejects Paramount takeover bid.

Crime

150

12/11/25

-0.1%

12/25/25

208.51

208.30

TV and police shrinks say holidays motivate publicity-seeking terrorists and despairing lone wolves. Homeowner in Atlanta suburb arrested for shooting porch pirates (who are uncharged). Woman arrested for stabbing tourist in NYC Macy’s restroom. Cold caseworkers reopen Jon Benet Ramsey killing. 12971 741 720

ACTS of GOD

(6%)

Environment/Weather

450

12/11/25

-0.2%

12/25/25

282.95

282.38

Wet weather West with floods and mudslides, cold and snow Midwest heading east. -45° in Fargo, ND, snow in NY, NJ and NE. Bitter cold in South warming up Thursday – perhaps to a Hot Christmas? As the week ends, there’s eight more inches of rain and two feet of snow coming into Caliofornia’s mountain, overrunning levees in Washington State.

Disasters

450

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

461.15

461.61

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy says rollback in air safety invites “history to repeat itself.” 22 killed in building collapse in Moroccan city of Fez, 6 injured and two missing in Hayward CA house explosion, 33 kids and staff escape fire at day care center. Near misses on United with burning engine and Jet Blue dodging Navy fighter plane in Curacao.

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX

(15%)

Science, Tech, Education

600

12/11/25

-0.3%

12/25/25

614.91

613.07

Energy costs expected to rise 15% this year despite gas prices hitting a new low. SafeTV’s new ice crusher found to have problem... namely that it catches fire! Literacy is declining, according to the University of Florida’

Equality (econ/social)

600

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

673.74

674.41

ICE denies arresting alien son of radical Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mn). Taylor Swift gives $197 in bonuses to her “Eras” tour crew. Statue of Robert E. Lee torn down at the Capitol.

Health

600

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

416.72

417.14

Partisan healthcare plans both fail – debt and deaths predicted. Woman delivers baby in Waymo. Killjoys warn parents now to gift kids with bikes, small choking toys, don’t even put strangler ribbons on packages. By Hand botulistic infant formula recalled as is ice cream with special ingredient: small stones. 18 states ban SNAP payments for “junk food”.

Freedom and Justice

450

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

481.61

482.09

Nobel Peace Price goes to Venezuelan dissident Maria Machado. Trump angry at snub but pleased with her denunciations of dictator Maduro. To court go DC killer Lakanwal, Kirk killer Tyler Robinson, United Healthcare killer SergioMangione (Brown suspect released) KAG goes free (for awhile), Michael Jordan goes off with a NASCAR settlement,

CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS

(6%)

Cultural incidents

450

12/11/25

+0.3%

12/25/25

573.41

575.13

Happy 100^th to Dick van Dyke and Rockettes. Hollywood wildfighters get a sidewalk star. More awards to Fernando Mendoza (Heisman) and Sylvester Stallone. Zootopia regains B.O. lead with $1B revenues; “Avatar 3” opens tomorrow then Hugh Jackman as Neil Diamond impersonator in “Song Sung Blue”. “Stranger Things” closes. NY Knicks win NBA midterns Gold Cup, beating San Antonio while elderly QBs amaze NFL (see above).

RIP: Rob (actor: “Meathead” and director: “Misery) Reiner and wife murdered in L.A. “Miss Maisel” actor Wenne Alton Davis (run over by a car in Gotham) and “Buck Rogers” actor Gil Gerard; 102 year old “Dancing Nana” Shirley Goodman, NCIS actress Rachel Carpanis and “Shopaholic” author Sophie Kinsella, (Retire)IP: rassler John Cena

Miscellaneous incidents

450

12/11/25

+0.1%

12/25/25

544.49

545.03

Sec. State Rubio redlights Calibri font as “woke” goes back to Times New Roman, as we do. Seal wanders into New Zealand bar. Raccoon breaks into liquor store, gets drunk, passes out in bathroom. Pantone’s color of the year is “Cloud Dancer” (aka “white”)

The Don Jones Index for the week of December 11^th through December 17^th, 2025 was UP 129.08 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM SHERWOOD SCHWARTZ

GILLIGAN’S ISLE...

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale

A tale of a fateful trip

That started from this tropic port

Aboard this tiny ship

The mate was a mighty sailin’ man

The Skipper brave and sure

Five passengers set sail that day

For a three hour tour.

A three hour tour

The reather started getting rough,

The tiny ship was tossed.

If not for the courage of the fearless crew.

The Minnow would be lost 2x

The ship set ground on the shore of this

Uncharted desert isle

With Gilligan

The Skipper too,

The Millionaire and his wife

The Movie Star

The professor and Mary Ann

Here on Gilligan’s Isle.

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM INDEPENDENT U.K.

EPSTEIN AND MAXWELL GRAND JURY DOCS ARE BEING UNSEALED AS TRUMP’S DOJ APPROACHES DEADLINE TO PUBLISH FILES

Judges and prosecutors have cautioned that the materials might not lead to any new revelations

By Alex Woodward Wednesday 10 December 2025 22:01 GMT

Federal judges in New York and Florida have agreed to unseal grand jury documents tied to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, paving the way for the Department of Justice to release all the files in its possession as pressure builds to expose an alleged network of powerful figures who enabled the late sex offender.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that grand jury records in the sex trafficking case against Epstein must be unsealed after Donald Trump signed a measure that compels his administration to publicly release them.

Wednesday’s order marks the third and final ruling to unseal grand jury materials in the three federal cases against Epstein and his associate.

The Justice Department has until December 19 to make those materials — and thousands of other documents surrounding Epstein — publicly available.

But it’s unclear whether any of the documents will shed new light on Epstein after the Justice Department called on the courts for permission to release them, an endeavor that one judge said would “not add to public knowledge” and another said amounts to only a “hearsay snippet” of Epstein’s crimes.

Judges have agreed to unseal grand jury materials tied to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, though judges and prosecutors have cautioned they might not lead to any new revelations. (REUTERS)

The grand jury materials represent only a fraction of the documents in the Justice Department’s possession.

The government is preparing to release potentially tens of thousands of pages of documents, including FBI notes throughout the investigations, transcripts of witness interviews, videos and photographs, Epstein’s autopsy report, and, of course, flight logs and passenger lists from Epstein’s plane.

Questions about the fate of those documents have dominated the president’s second term after he pledged during his campaign to release them. His administration released some documents to a group of far-right influencers earlier this year, though most of those documents were already public.

Last month, after a mounting pressure campaign among members of Congress, including his one-time Republican allies, Trump reluctantly agreed to sign a measure that compels the Justice Department to release all investigative materials from the Epstein case in its possession.

FLORIDA GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION

Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings from an abandoned federal case in Florida could reveal why, exactly, federal prosecutors decided against moving forward with a case against Epstein in 2007.

The materials in Florida stem from an aborted effort to federally prosecute Epstein that resulted in what critics have called a “sweetheart” deal for state charges and a brief jail sentence.

A Palm Beach grand jury indicted Epstein on one state felony charge of solicitation of prostitution in 2006, a case that was then referred to the FBI. In 2007, an assistant U.S. attorney crafted a draft indictment outlining 60 criminal counts against Epstein, along with a memo of evidence against him.

Then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta arranged a controversial agreement for Epstein to plead guilty to two state charges as well as a prison sentence and a requirement that he register as a sex offender in exchange for the federal case to be dropped.

Epstein then pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. He was released after serving less than 13 months in state prison.

GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S GRAND JURY EVIDENCE

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for crimes associated with Epstein’s decades-long scheme to recruit young women and girls.

From 1994 to 2004, Maxwell and Epstein worked together to recruit young girls and entice them to travel to Epstein’s properties, according to prosecutors. During a monthlong trial in 2021, survivors testified in Manhattan federal court that Maxwell had groomed them, taken their passports, and sexually abused them.

The grand jury records are expected to include testimony from the FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective who gave evidence to jurors who indicted her.

But New York District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made clear that the materials “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.”

“They do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s,” he wrote. “They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes.”

Epstein’s trafficking case in New York

That agent testified over two days in 2019, while the rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and four pages of call logs.

He also stressed that the safety and privacy of victims “are paramount.”

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM POLITICO
THE 9 MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS IN THE EPSTEIN DOCS

By Jacob Wendler 11/12/2025 07:31 PM EST Updated: 11/13/2025 10:19 AM EST

House lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday — and they include communications between the convicted sex offender and high-profile individuals in politics, media, Hollywood and foreign affairs.

One email shows Epstein communicating with a former White House counsel. Some showed offensive emails between Epstein and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Another offers insight into Epstein’s offer to help Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon.

The documents, a small batch released by Democrats and a larger one released by Republicans, also shed light on the disgraced financier’s private musings about Trump and to what extent Trump may have known about his criminal conduct.

The Trump administration pushed back on allegations of wrongdoing Wednesday, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleging Democrats “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” Trump, in a social media post, also accused Democrats of “trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects.”

Here are some of the most stunning revelations from the latest trove of documents.

EPSTEIN AND FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY LARRY SUMMERS

Epstein’s inbox features several appearances by Larry Summers, a prominent economist who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

In one exchange, Summers shares snippets from a 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia, including a quip that the “general view” among Saudi officials was that “Donald is a clown, increasingly dangerous on foreign policy.”

In another email, Summers remarks that “I observed that half of the IQ In world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population.”

“I’m trying to figure why American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard, but hit on a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank,” Summers added before directing Epstein: “DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”

Summers has attracted scrutiny for his rhetoric about women in the past, including a 2005 speech in which he cited a controversial theory that has been used to suppose that men are more prone to extremely high or low IQs than women as one reason women are underrepresented in science and engineering. The backlash generated by the speech contributed to Summers’ decision to step down as president of Harvard University in 2006.

A representative for Summers did not respond to a request for comment about the exchange.

MICHAEL WOLFF’S ADVICE

Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter speaks at the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, as he moderates a conversation with Counselor to President Donald Trump Kellyanne Conway during “The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days” forum. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

In a series of emails dating back 10 years, Epstein discussed his predicament and his ties to Trump with author and journalist Michael Wolff.

Wolff on several occasions offered advice to Epstein regarding how he might best publicly navigate his relationship with Trump, who at the time was in the midst of his 2016 presidential campaign

In a 2015 email, Wolff offers advice on what to do if Trump was asked about his relationship with Epstein. Specifically, Epstein asked Wolff how Trump would respond to such a question.

“I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolff wrote of Trump in a 2015 email. “If [Trump] says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”

In a 2019 email to Wolff, Epstein wrote that “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. [O]f course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

The message appears to reference Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted Epstein co-conspirator currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for crimes connected to Epstein.

The following year, Epstein and several associates received word that Reuters was readying a story about a lawsuit filed against the disgraced financier and Trump over an alleged sexual assault from 1994.

“Well, I guess if there’s anybody who can wave thus [sic] away, it’s Donald,” Wolff wrote. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

Wolff’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

EPSTEIN AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL KATHRYN RUEMMLER

White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler listens as President Barack Obama speaks at an installation ceremony for FBI Director James Comey at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. Comey, a former Bush administration official who defiantly refused to go along with White House demands on warrantless wiretapping nearly a decade ago, took over last month for Robert Mueller, who stepped down after 12 years as agency director. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) | AP

Epstein’s inbox also features repeated appearances by another member of the Obama administration: former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.

In a 2018 exchange, Ruemmler — then a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins — discusses the criminal case against former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who admitted to conspiring with Trump to pay porn star Stormy Daniels hush money during a New York criminal investigation.

In one of the messages, Epstein exclaims: “you see, i know how dirty donald is. my guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. what it means to have your fixer flip.”

In a separate exchange, Ruemmler shared her apparent disdain for the people of New Jersey during an email about a planned road trip to New York.

“Think I am going to drive,” she wrote. “I will then stop to pee and get gas at a rest stop on the New Jersey turnpike, will observe all of the people there who are at least 100 pounds overweight, will have a mild panic attack as a result of the observation, and will then decide that I am not eating another bite of food for the rest of my life out of fear that I will end up like one of these people.”

Ruemmler did not respond to a request for comment. She is now the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs, which declined to comment.

EPSTEIN AND PETER THIEL

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, gives a keynote address at the Bitcoin Conference, Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) | AP

In one 2018 exchange, Epstein asks PayPal founder Peter Thiel — an ally of Vice President JD Vance — if he was enjoying Los Angeles. Epstein also complimented Thiel on his “trump exaggerations, not lies.”

“Can’t complain thus far…,” Thiel answered, to which Epstein replied, “Dec visit me Caribbean.”

Epstein’s private island near St. Thomas in the Caribbean has long been the subject of speculation about which possible conspirators may have visited the island, which Epstein allegedly used to conceal his criminal behavior.

A spokesperson for Thiel said he never visited the island.

EPSTEIN AND STEVE BANNON

WarRoom podcast host Steve Bannon speaks during a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) international summit at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Feb. 19, 2025. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images) | AP

In several of Epstein’s exchanges with business associates and friends, he boasts of his relationships to powerful figures in media, technology and foreign affairs.

In a 2018 exchange with Bannon, Epstein says “there are many leaders of countries we can organize for you to have one on ones” with if Bannon agreed to spend eight to 10 days in Europe.

“If you are going to play here, you’ll have to spend time, europe by remote doesn’t work,” Epstein wrote.

A representative for Bannon declined to comment.

EPSTEIN AND THE KREMLIN

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) | AP

Epstein apparently leaned on his foreign policy connections in at least one instance: in the lead-up to Trump’s 2018 bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Epstein suggested that Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s longtime foreign minister, seek his insights on Trump.

“I think you might suggest to putin that lavrov can get insight on talking to me,” Epstein wrote in an email to Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway who was leading the Council of Europe at the time.

During the exchange, Epstein said he had already spoken with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, about Trump before Churkin died in 2017.

“Churkin was great,” Epstein wrote. “He understood trump after our conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple.”

The Russian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

EPSTEIN AND CELEBRITIES

Filmmaker Woody Allen makes a surprise appearance onstage to award the 45th AFI Life Achievement Award to actress Diane Keaton during a gala tribute to her at the Dolby Theatre on Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) | AP

The rotating cast of characters Epstein turned to for advice apparently also included the family of disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen.

In one email, Epstein shared a news article about James Woolsey, who led the CIA during the Clinton administration, joining Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign as an adviser with Soon-Yi Previn — Allen’s wife and the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow, whom Allen had a relationship with.

Previn replied that “Woody said it didn’t mean anything.”

Previn and Allen could not be reached for comment about the exchange.

EPSTEIN AND A WELL-KNOWN PUBLICIST

Peggy Siegal attends the CHANEL Tribeca Film Festival Artist Dinner at Balthazar Restaurant on Monday, April 18, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) | AP

In 2011, Epstein wrote to Peggy Siegal, a prominent publicist who has worked in elite New York and Hollywood circles, with an ask: Could she reach out to media mogul Ariana Huffington to enlist her help in clearing his name?

In the exchange, Epstein and Siegal discuss “the girl who accused Prince Andrew” — an apparent reference to the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers who sued Prince Andrew in 2021 alleging he sexually assaulted her on several occasions. The prince was stripped of his titles and is now identified as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. He has long denied any accusations of sexual wrongdoing.

In one message, Epstein writes that Huffington — the co-founder of the Huffington Post, now HuffPost — “should champion the dangers of false allegations” and “send a reporter or reporters to investigate” Giuffre.

Epstein wrote of the idea: “the palace would love it, the girl in the photo, was nothing more than a telephone answerer,, she was never 15, according to her version she worked for trump, first at that age, at MAra lago.”

Siegal offered to send the message to Huffington on her own behalf if Epstein fixed the grammar in his message, although Huffington, who left HuffPost in 2016, told POLITICO she “was never contacted and never sent a reporter.”

A spokesperson for HuffPost also said that “After reaching out to current and former staff, to the best of our knowledge, no talk of this coverage ever made it to HuffPost.”

EPSTEIN AND CONTROVERSIAL ARTIST ANDRES SERRANO

United States’ artist Andres Serrano arrives to meet reporters after being received by Pope Francis on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Contemporary Art section of the Vatican Museum, at the Vatican, Friday, June 23, 2023. Some 200 artists were received by the Pope at the Vatican on the 50th anniversary of the creation of the modern religious art collection opened on June 23, 1973 by Pope Paul VI that includes works from artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Bacon, Botero, Rodin, De Chirico, Severini, Guttuso, Matisse and others. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) | AP

While several of the emails released Wednesday call attention to Epstein’s apparent ties to Trump, in one conversation, he appears to express doubt about supporting the then-candidate’s presidential campaign.

In the exchange from October 2016, Epstein discusses the election with artist Andres Serrano, whose controversial 1987 photograph “Piss Christ” — depicting a crucifix submerged in urine — attracted widespread condemnation.

Epstein wrote to Serrano that there was “no good choice” in the election, to which Serrano replied “I was prepared to vote against Trump for all the right reasons but I’m so disgusted by the outrage over ‘grab them by the pussy’ that I may give him my sympathy vote.” Serrano was referencing the widely known Access Hollywood tape of Trump bragging about sexually abusing women.

“I’m sure Bill C said things, too,” Serrano added, in an apparent reference to former President Bill Clinton.

Serrano did not respond to a request for comment about the emails. Clinton has previously denied having a close relationship with Epstein and through spokespeople said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Gregory Svirnovskiy, Cheyanne M. Daniels, Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein and Erica Orden contributed to this report.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM WIKI

EPSTEIN’S CAREER and MONEY

Career

PRIVATE SCHOOL TEACHER (1974–1976)

At age 21, Epstein started working in September 1974 as a physics and mathematics teacher for teens at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.^[31][38] Donald Barr, who served as the headmaster until June 1974,^[39][40][41] was known to have made several unconventional recruitments at the time, although it is unclear whether he had a direct role in hiring Epstein.^[38][42][43] Three months after Barr's departure, Epstein began to teach at the school, despite his lack of credentials.^[43][38]

Epstein allegedly showed inappropriate behavior toward underage female students at the time, paying them constant attention, and even showing up at a party where young people were drinking, according to a former student.^[42] Other former students also often saw him flirting with female students.

Eventually, Epstein became acquainted with Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, whose son and daughter were attending the school.^[37] Greenberg's daughter, Lynne Koeppel, pointed to a parent-teacher conference where Epstein influenced another Dalton parent into advocating for him to Greenberg.^[40] In June 1976, after Epstein was dismissed from Dalton for "poor performance",^[38][44][45] Greenberg offered him a job at Bear Stearns.^[36][46]

BEAR STEARNS (1976–1981)

Epstein was Cosmopolitan magazine's "bachelor of the month" in the July 1980 issue

Epstein joined Bear Stearns in 1976 as a low-level junior assistant to a floor trader.^[47] He swiftly moved up to become an options trader, working in the special products division, and then advised the bank's wealthiest clients, such as Seagram president Edgar Bronfman, on tax mitigation strategies.^[37][48][49] Jimmy Cayne, the bank's later chief executive officer, praised Epstein's skill with wealthy clients and complex products. In 1980, four years after joining Bear Stearns, Epstein became a limited partner.^[47] In 1981, Epstein was asked to leave Bear Stearns for, according to his sworn testimony, being guilty of a "Reg D violation".^[50][37][36] Even though Epstein departed abruptly, he remained close to Cayne and Greenberg and was a client of Bear Stearns until its collapse in 2008.^[47]

FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER (1981–1987)

In August 1981, Epstein founded his own consulting firm, Intercontinental Assets Group Inc. (IAG),^[51] which assisted clients in recovering stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.^[36] Epstein described his work at this time as being a high-level bounty hunter. He told friends that he worked sometimes as a consultant for governments and the very wealthy to recover embezzled funds, while at other times he worked for clients who had embezzled funds.^[36][52] Spanish actress and heiress Ana Obregón was one such wealthy client, whom Epstein helped in 1982 to recover her father's millions in lost investments, which had disappeared when Drysdale Government Securities^[53] collapsed because of fraud.^[54]

In the mid-1980s, Epstein traveled multiple times between the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.^[55][56] While in London, Epstein met Steven Hoffenberg. They had been introduced through Douglas Leese, a defense contractor, and John Mitchell, the former US attorney general.^[36] An anonymous source met with Epstein and Leese as early as 1981.^[57] Epstein also stated to some people at the time that he was an intelligence agent.^[58] Epstein associate Hoffenberg in 2020 alleged that Epstein was recruited in the 1980s by Leese to work for British intelligence, and that Hoffenberg introduced Epstein to Robert Maxwell.^[57]

During the 1980s, Epstein possessed an Austrian passport that had his photo, but with a false name. The passport showed his place of residence as Saudi Arabia.^[55][56] In 2017, "a former senior White House official" reported that Alexander Acosta, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who had handled Epstein's criminal case at the end of the George W. Bush administration, had stated to interviewers of President Donald Trump's first transition team: "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to 'leave it alone'", and that Epstein was "above his pay grade."^[59][60]

During this period, one of Epstein's clients was the Saudi Arabian businessman Adnan Khashoggi,^[61] who was the middleman in transferring American weapons from Israel to Iran as part of the Iran–Contra affair in the 1980s.^[6] Khashoggi had been introduced to him by Leese.^[57] Khashoggi was one of several defense contractors that he knew.^[36][58]

TOWERS FINANCIAL CORPORATION (1987–1993)

Steven Hoffenberg hired Epstein in 1987 as a consultant for Towers Financial Corporation (unaffiliated with the company of the same name founded in 1998, and acquired by Old National Bancorp in 2014),^[62] a collection agency that bought debts people owed to hospitals, banks, and phone companies.^[63][64] Hoffenberg set Epstein up in offices in the Villard Houses in Manhattan and paid him US$25,000 per month for his consulting work (equivalent to $69,000 in 2024).^[36]

Hoffenberg and Epstein then refashioned themselves as corporate raiders using Towers Financial as their raiding vessel. One of Epstein's first assignments for Hoffenberg was to implement what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid to take over Pan American World Airways in 1987. A similar unsuccessful bid in 1988 was made to take over Emery Air Freight Corp. During this period, Hoffenberg and Epstein worked closely together and traveled everywhere on Hoffenberg's private jet.^[36]

In 1993, Towers Financial Corporation imploded when it was exposed as one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history, losing over US$450 million of its investors' money (equivalent to $1 billion in 2024).^[36] In court documents, Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein was intimately involved in the scheme.^[65][66] Epstein left the company by 1989 and was never charged for involvement in the massive investor fraud committed. It is unknown if Epstein acquired any stolen funds from the Towers Ponzi scheme.^[36]

J. Epstein & Company (1988–2019)

In 1988, while Epstein was still consulting for Hoffenberg, he founded his financial management firm, J. Epstein & Company.^[64][51] The company was said by Epstein to have been formed to manage the assets of clients with more than US$1 billion in net worth, although others have expressed skepticism that he was restrictive of the clients that he took.^[37]

The only publicly known billionaire client of Epstein was Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of L Brands (formerly The Limited, Inc.) and Victoria's Secret.^[36][67] In 1986, Epstein met Wexner through their mutual acquaintances, insurance executive Robert Meister and his wife, in Palm Beach. A year later, Epstein became Wexner's financial adviser and served as his right-hand man. Within the year, Epstein had sorted out Wexner's entangled finances.^[37][68] In July 1991, Wexner granted Epstein full power of attorney over his affairs. The power of attorney allowed Epstein to hire people, sign checks, buy and sell properties, borrow money, and do anything else of a legally binding nature on Wexner's behalf.^[69] Epstein managed Wexner's wealth and various projects such as the building of his yacht, the Limitless.^[36] It was during this time that Southern Air Transport relocated its headquarters to service Wexner's brands,^[70] and that Epstein dated models like Stacey Williams.^[28] Epstein represented himself as a global talent scout for Victoria's Secret during this time and used this powerful position to sexually manipulate young women.^[71][72]

By 1995, Epstein was a director of the Wexner Foundation and Wexner Heritage Foundation. He was also the president of Wexner's Property, which developed part of the town of New Albany outside Columbus, Ohio, where Wexner lived. Epstein made millions in fees by managing Wexner's financial affairs. Although never employed by L Brands, he frequently corresponded with the company executives. Epstein often attended Victoria's Secret fashion shows, and hosted the models at his New York City home, as well as helping aspiring models get work with the company.^[68][69]

In 1996, Epstein changed the name of his firm to the Financial Trust Company^[37] and, for tax advantages, based it on the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.^[37] By relocating to the US Virgin Islands, Epstein was able to reduce federal income taxes by 90 percent. The US Virgin Islands acted as an offshore tax haven, while at the same time offering the advantages of being part of the United States banking system;^[73] Epstein, who capitalized on his relation with Jes Staley while the latter was employed by JP Morgan,^[74] maintained close relations with that bank's subsidiary in the USVI.^[75][76][77]

In 2002, according to New York Magazine, his financial-administrative staff numbered 150 employees (among whom 20 accountants) across three sites: Villard House in Manhattan, the Wexner operation in Columbus, and St Thomas USVI.^[37]

Although it took 12 years to deliver the story, as Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times tells it, JP Morgan banker Jes Staley and CEO Jamie Dimon had a falling-out over Staley's client Epstein sometime around 2012, after in October 2011 the general counsel of the bank, Stephen Cutler, complained to Staley and others that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way. He should not be a client."^[78][79] During the meeting with Staley, Epstein, and Cutler, Cutler was reassured when Epstein lied to him directly and even brought up Bill Gates as a character reference. The bank did not discard Epstein until, facing increased pressure from federal regulators, 2013, coincidentally the year of Staley's departure from the bank. Epstein thereafter moved his trade to the American affiliate of Deutsche Bank.^[79]

According to Forbes in 2025, the great majority of Epstein's wealth between 1999 and 2018 came from $490 million in fees, (most of that from two billionaires, Leslie Wexner, $200 million, and Leon Black, $170 million) with the remaining $310 million reported as income during that period by his companies as being from investment returns, and was worth $600 million when he died.^[80]

In the course of his life Epstein engaged with no fewer than 75 lawyers,^[81] including Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr, Roy Black and Jay Lefkowitz.^[82] Senator Ron Wyden said in Congress that the US Treasury Department file on Epstein detailed from one account no less than 4,725 wire transfers that totalled $1.1 billion, and that he had extensive financial correspondence from Russian banks over his sex trafficking activities.^[83] Another report from Forbes says that between four banks (JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and Bank of America) the transfers totalled more than $1.9 billion.^[80]

Liquid Funding and the Bear Stearns explosion (2000–2008)

Epstein was the president of the Bermuda-incorporated company Liquid Funding Ltd. between 2000 and 2007.^[84][85] The company was an early pioneer in expanding the kind of debt that could be accepted on repurchase, or the repo market, which involves a lender giving money to a borrower in exchange for securities that the borrower then agrees to buy back at an agreed-upon later time and price. The innovation of Liquid Funding, and other early companies, was that instead of having stocks and bonds as the underlying securities, it had commercial mortgages and investment-grade residential mortgages bundled into complex securities as the underlying security.^[84]

Liquid Funding was initially 40 percent owned by Bear Stearns.^[84] Through the help of credit rating agencies—Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service—the new bundled securities were able to be created for companies so that they received a gold-plated AAA rating.^[84] The implosion of complex securities, because of their inaccurate ratings, led to the collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008 and set in motion the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent Great Recession. If Liquid Funding were left holding large amounts of such securities as collateral, it could have lost large amounts of money.^[84][86]

See WIKI “TED Spread graph” here

The US government began negotiation with Epstein for a plea agreement in mid-2007, as the Bear Stearns hedge fund began to collapse.

In August 2006, a month after the federal investigation of him began,^[8] Epstein invested $57 million in the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage hedge fund.^[87][88] The SEC filings for the Bear Stearns fund show that Epstein's Financial Trust Company controlled the votes of a 10-percent share.^[89] This fund was highly leveraged in mortgage-backed collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).^[88]

On April 18, 2007, an investor in the fund, who had $57 million invested, discussed redeeming his investment.^[89][90] At this time, the fund had a leverage ratio of 17:1, which meant for every dollar invested there were 17 dollars of borrowed funds; therefore, the redemption of this investment would have been equivalent to removing $1 billion from the thinly traded CDO market.^[91] The selling of CDO assets to meet the redemptions that month began a repricing process and general freeze in the CDO market. The repricing of the CDO assets caused the collapse of the fund three months later in July, and the eventual collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008. Losses to investors in the two Bear Stearns funds were estimated to exceed $1.6 billion.^[88][90]

By the time the Bear Stearns fund began to fail in May 2007, Epstein had begun to negotiate a plea deal with the US Attorney's Office concerning imminent charges for sex with minors.^[87][8] In August 2007, a month after the fund collapsed, the US attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, entered into direct discussions about the plea agreement.^[8] Acosta brokered a lenient deal, according to him, because he had been ordered by higher government officials, who told him that Epstein was an individual of importance to the government.^[59][60]

As part of the negotiations, according to the Miami Herald, Epstein provided "unspecified information" to the Florida federal prosecutors for a more lenient sentence and was supposedly "Unnamed investor #1" for the New York federal prosecutors in their unsuccessful June 2008 criminal case against Cioffi and Tannen, two of the managers of the failed Bear Stearns hedge fund.^[92][87]

Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein's attorneys in the 2008 criminal case, told Fox Business Network in 2019, "We would have been touting that if he had [cooperated]. The idea that Epstein helped in any prosecution is news to me."^[93] Moody's reported that on April 18, 2008 "all outstanding rated liabilities" of Liquid Funding were "paid in full". At the time the liquidator had not yet sold the beleaguered fund to its new owner as of May 1: JP Morgan.

Epstein & Zuckerman (2003–2004)

In 2003, New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman partnered with Epstein, advertising executive Donny Deutsch, and investor Nelson Peltz in a bid to acquire New York magazine.^[94] The ultimate buyer was Bruce Wasserstein, a longtime Wall Street investment banker, who paid US$55 million,over US$10 million above the offer from Zuckerman, Epstein, Deutsch, and Peltz.^[94]

In 2004, Epstein and Zuckerman committed up to US$25 million to finance Radar, a celebrity and pop culture magazine founded by Maer Roshan. Epstein and Zuckerman were equal partners in the venture. Roshan, as its editor-in-chief, retained a small ownership stake. It folded after three issues as a print publication and became exclusively an online one.^[95]

Zwirn (2002–2008)

Between 2002 and 2005, Epstein invested $80 million in the D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities Fund, a hedge fund that invested in illiquid debt securities.^[87][96] In November 2006, Epstein attempted to redeem his investment after he was informed of accounting irregularities in the fund.^[97] By this time, his investment had grown to $140 million. The D.B. Zwirn fund refused to redeem the investment. Hedge funds that invest in illiquid securities typically have years-long "lockups" on their capital for all investors and require redemption requests to be made in writing 60 to 90 days in advance.^[87] The fund was closed in 2008, and its remaining assets of approximately $2 billion, including Epstein's investment, were transferred to Fortress Investment Group when that firm bought the assets in 2009.^[87][96] Epstein later went to arbitration with Fortress over his redemption attempt. The outcome of that arbitration is not publicly known.^[87]

Epstein and Barak: Carbyne (2014–2019)

Main article: Carbyne (company)

After his first arrest, Epstein began an interest in the surveillance industry.^[98] Epstein maintained a close relationship with former Israeli prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak,^[99] exchanging private emails with him and meeting more than 30 times between 2013 and 2017.^[100][101] He also facilitated Barak's interactions with prominent figures, including Peter Thiel, as well as Sergey Belyakov and Viktor Vekselberg, who were connected to Vladimir Putin's circle.^[98] These interactions are documented in the leaked Barak–Epstein emails released by the Handala hacker group,^[98] whose authenticity has been partially corroborated by independent reporting, including The Sunday Times.^[102]

In business, Epstein leveraged his relationship with Barak to get access to Thiel.^[98] In 2015, Epstein invested in Reporty Homeland Security (later rebranded as Carbyne), a startup headed by Barak which developed advanced emergency communication technologies.^{[103][104][105]} The company's leadership included CEO Amir Elihai, a former special forces officer, and director Pinchas Bukhris, a former defense ministry director general and commander of IDF cyber unit 8200.^[106][107] In many years, Epstein's acquaintances had repeatedly encouraged Thiel to meet him. Reid Hoffman, Thiel's friend from the PayPal Mafia, directly introduced the two and joined some meetings.^[108]

Epstein pitched Reporty to Thiel-founded Valar Ventures in 2016; although the firm declined, Valar partner Andrew McCormack indicated they might revisit the venture once the company matured.^[98] Epstein had previously invested US$40 million into funds managed by Valar in 2015 and 2016.^[109] In 2018, another Thiel co-founded firm, Founders Fund, participated in Carbyne's $15 million Series B funding round (non-leading role^[110]).^[98] Between 2014 and 2016, Thiel had half a dozen scheduled meetings with Epstein at his townhouse, including with other people such as Woody Allen and Kathryn Ruemmler.^[108] There is no record of Thiel's social visits to one of Epstein's homes or flights on his private jet.^[111]

Other businesses

Barak discussed with Epstein in the leaked Barak–Epstein emails about meeting Putin's ally Viktor Vekselberg on the 6th and 8th day of June 2014. An email sent in April 2015 shows that Barak asked Epstein for his opinion on Vekselberg-backed Fifth Dimension, a startup which later shut down after being sanctioned in 2018 by the US for alleged election meddling.^[98]

In August 2018 Epstein said in a New York Times interview that he was helping Elon Musk to find a new chairman for Tesla when Musk was in trouble with the SEC over his comments that he would privatize the car manufacturer.^[112]

See pix and refs at the WIKI website.

And, according to the Daily Beast (see below), Epstein and Trump fell out in 2004, when they both tried to buy a Palm Beach estate, Maison de L’Amitié, out of bankruptcy.

HIS FIRST CONVICTION

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM VANITY FAIR

RUDY GIULIANI RETURNS TO IMPLICATE TRUMP IN EPSTEIN SCANDAL

The president’s attorney apparently forgot that one of Epstein’s closest pals was Donald Trump, himself.

By Bess Levin July 22, 2019

If the Mueller probe taught the world one thing, it’s that anyone professionally associated with Rudy Giuliani should demand a clause in his contract barring him from speaking publicly on their behalf. Last year, for example, in a series of interviews that made his unhinged rant against ferrets look sane, Giuliani suggested that Donald Trump fired James Comey in order to obstruct his investigations; that the president had colluded with Russia but that doing so wasn’t a crime; and that attorneys at his law firm regularly took it upon themselves to pay off porn stars alleging affairs with their clients—to say nothing of cringeworthy fantasies he offered up about riding to Ivanka Trump’s rescue. Now that the Russia matter has mostly concluded—save for testimony by Robert Mueller that could potentially change the impeachment calculus—Giuliani has been forced to find new ways to stick both feet in his mouth. On Monday, he found one!

Appearing on Hill.TV, the former New York City mayor told the hosts of “Rising” that the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case is “obviously going to implicate a lot of people—I can’t tell you who but it’s not going to end up with just Jeffrey Epstein.“ While that is certainly the consensus—reporter Nick Bryant, who obtained Epstein’s “black book,” said in an interview with Vanity Fair that the scandal will “go all the way up to Mount Olympus”—one person you could say is definitely implicated in the scandal is Giuliani’s own client, Donald Trump. The same Donald Trump who hosted a “calendar girl” party at Mar-a-Lago in 1992, the guest list for which consisted of him, Epstein, and “28 girls.” It is also the same Donald Trump who was videotaped dancing and joking with Epstein at another party at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by young cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. In fact, Trump remained on extremely friendly terms with Epstein for at least another decade, telling New York in 2002 that Epstein was a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with,” adding, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Six years later, Epstein would be convicted of sex crimes by a Florida state court.

Yet, weirdly, Giuliani did not mention Trump while discussing the powerful people likely to go down as a result of the new charges against Epstein, which the “financier” has denied. Nor did he mention fellow Trump defender and longtime Epstein pal Alan Dershowitz, who’s denied ever taking part in Epstein’s underage sex ring. (“I got one massage!” Dershowitz told my colleague Gabriel Sherman. “It was from a 50-year-old Russian woman named Olga. And I kept my shorts on. I didn’t even like it. I’m not a massage guy.”)

Elsewhere in the Hill.TV interview, ole Rudes contended that anyone who spent a considerable amount of time with Epstein—like, say, Trump—more than likely knew that crimes were being committed. “If you spent this much time with him and he was so involved with these underaged girls—who did you see him with and what was he doing and what did he tell you and what did he say to you and how could you have missed it,” he said. “Maybe some were innocent—maybe some weren’t, but I think they’re going to investigate everybody.”

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM THE BEACH BOYS 12/9/63

LITTLE SAINT NICK

Song by The Beach Boys ‧ 1964

Lyrics

Ooh
Merry Christmas Saint Nick
Christmas comes this time each year
Ooh, ooh

Well way up North where the air gets cold
There's a tale about Christmas
That you've all been told
And a real famous cat all dressed up in red
And he spends the whole year workin' out on his sled

It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)
It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)

Just a little bobsled we call the old Saint Nick
But she'll walk a toboggan with a four speed stick
She's candy apple red with a ski for a wheel
And when Santa hits the gas, man, just watch her peel

It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)
It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)

Run run reindeer
Run run reindeer (whoa)
Run run reindeer
Run run reindeer (he don't miss no one)

And haulin' through the snow at a frightening speed
With a half a dozen deer with Rudy to lead
He's got to wear his goggles 'cause the snow really flies
And he's cruisin' every path with a little surprise

It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)
It's the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick)

Ooh
Merry Christmas Saint Nick
(Christmas comes this time each year)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Brian Douglas Wilson / Michael E. Love

Little Saint Nick lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM CNN

WHY THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN CHARGES CAME NOW, MORE THAN A DECADE LATER

By Eric Levenson, CNN Updated 5:09 AM EDT, Tue July 9, 2019 girls by well-connected Jeffrey Epstein

The sex trafficking indictment against multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein dates to incidents between 2002 and 2005 and contains allegations that have been public for more than a decade.

Why, then, did prosecutors in New York move to arrest Epstein on Saturday and unseal a federal indictment against him on Monday? Why did this case happen now?

US Attorney Geoffrey Berman declined to spell out the case’s exact origins but said it remained vital all these years later.

“It’s still a very important case and it means a great deal to the alleged victims here that they have their day in court,” he said.

Jeffrey Epstein had vast trove of lewd photos of young-looking girls, prosecutors say

But legal experts said the origins of the case come primarily from The Miami Herald and reporter Julie K. Brown, who wrote an investigative report in November 2018 on what she called the “deal of a lifetime” for Epstein.

“Prosecutors do read the newspaper every day,” former prosecutor Elie Honig said. “Investigative journalists do really important work. You take a lead wherever you can get it as a prosecutor. Obviously, you do your own due diligence and make sure it’s all checked out, but investigative journalism really does move the needle with prosecutors.”

In addition, the exact time and place of the arrest – on a Saturday, as Epstein arrived on a private jet to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey – was unusual and suggests there is more to the case that has not been made public.

“That they got to him straight from the plane indicates obviously a sense of urgency,” former federal prosecutor Jaimie Nawaday explained.

That may be because prosecutors believe he is a flight risk, or it could mean that there may be some ongoing criminal conduct, she said.

Epstein, 66, pleaded not guilty to one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted of both counts.

According to the indictment, Epstein ran a trafficking enterprise between 2002 and 2005 in which he paid hundreds of dollars in cash to girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Manhattan home and his estate in Palm Beach. The indictment also says he worked with employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.

“In this way, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit, often on a daily basis,” Berman said in a statement.

Epstein, a well-connected hedge fund manager, had previously evaded similar charges when he secured a non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors in Miami. Instead of facing federal charges, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in 2008 and served just 13 months in prison. He also registered as a sex offender and paid restitution to the victims identified by the FBI.

That arrangement came under intense scrutiny last November in a Miami Herald investigation that examined how it was handled by then-US Attorney Alexander Acosta, who now serves as labor secretary in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

Jeffrey Epstein's arrest shows the power of one newspaper's investigation

The Herald investigation said that Acosta agreed not to file federal charges against Epstein despite an investigation identifying 36 underage victims. The agreement, the Herald said, “essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe” and further granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators” in the case.

In February, a federal judge in Florida ruled that the Department of Justice broke the law by failing to confer with Epstein’s victims about the agreement.

Epstein’s attorneys said in court Monday that the non-prosecution agreement would constitute the centerpiece of their defense.

“To us, this indictment is essentially a do-over,” an attorney for Epstein, Reid Weingarten, said. “This is the very stuff that was investigated by the feds in Florida.”

Authorities on Monday did not specifically mention the Herald’s work. But Berman praised the “excellent investigative journalism” that assisted their case, and FBI Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. also cited unspecified reporting.

“When the facts presented themselves – as Mr. Berman hinted at – through investigative journalist work, we moved on it,” Sweeney said.

Former child abuse prosecutor Roger Canaff said that the Herald’s investigation brought a tremendous amount of public attention on this case.

“What really drove it lately was the Herald reporting that (showed) this was a real miscarriage of justice,” Canaff said.

Nawaday, who previously worked as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York, said that generally prosecutors would hold a meeting after seeing a report on par with the Herald’s exposé.

“So I imagine what happened here is once the Miami Herald started running these reports, people got together within the US Attorney’s office and figured out how they could investigate and charge something very quickly. So there would have been a lot of time pressure, I think, in this investigation,” Nawaday said.

THE TETERBORO AIRPORT ARREST

While the broad push behind the arrest came from the Herald’s reporting, there are several possible explanations for why prosecutors moved to arrest Epstein this weekend at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

Canaff, the former child abuse prosecutor, said the Saturday airport arrest had to do with how mobile Epstein is and because prosecutors believe he is a flight risk. If the indictment had been unsealed while he was overseas, prosecutors would have to go through an extradition process to bring him to the US to face charges.

In court Monday, prosecutors argued against granting Epstein bail, saying he was a significant flight risk because of his extraordinary wealth and ability to leave the country.

“He is extraordinarily wealthy, mobile and unattached to the southern district of New York,” Assistant US Attorney Alex Rossmiller said.

The next big question about Jeffrey Epstein

In fact, Epstein was arrested after spending three weeks abroad, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Another answer is that there may be ongoing criminal conduct that did not end in 2005.

Indeed, after Epstein’s arrest, federal agents executed a search warrant of his mansion in New York City and seized a “vast trove” of lewd photographs of young-looking women or girls, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Some of the photos were discovered in a locked safe along with compact discs with hand-written labels that read, “Young [Name] + [Name],” “Misc nudes 1,” and “Girl pics nude,” according to a court filing.

Rossmiller said in court that when officials entered his home on Saturday, they found “the massage room was still set up in the same way it was 15 years ago, with a massage table and sex paraphernalia.”

“Your honor,” he said, “This is not an individual who has left his past behind.”

Nawaday said this search warrant “adds to the sense that something was urgent here, and there may be more coming.”

For now, though, the evidence that sparked that search warrant will remain unknown to the public.

“We know that there were photographs and other evidence seized today, and we also don’t know what else was found in his house today,” said Elliot Williams, a former prosecutor. “Certainly the prosecutors and the FBI knew they had probable cause to believe there was.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM THE NEW YORK POST

LYING GEORGE SANTOS SAID HE BELIEVED JEFFREY EPSTEIN WAS ‘MURDERED’ IN JAIL

By Mark Moore Published Jan. 25, 2023 Updated Jan. 25, 2023, 4:57 p.m. ET

When he’s not outright lying about his background and resume, congressman George Santos appears to have some sympathy for the devil.

Santos (R-LI) said in a newly resurfaced interview, that he knew multimillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein from when, he claims, he worked in finance — and that he was convinced the pedophile was “murdered” behind bars while awaiting trial.

Santos previously admitted to The Post that he lied about graduating college and working for top investment firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, among many other things.

He also said he feared that the same fate could await Epstein’s longtime pal and convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, unless she is sent to a prison overseas.

“I believe he’s dead, and I believe he was murdered. That’s my conclusion,” Santos said in a “The Rory Sauter Show” interview from Aug. 12, 2020.

Santos introduced himself on the show as a “born and bred New York City guy,” adding, “I say it how it is, I tell it very straight, very transparent.”

He claimed he met Epstein at “a couple private equity conferences.”

The freshman Republican lawmaker, who has admitted fabricating whole portions of his resume to The Post, including family history, job experience, education and Jewish heritage, said in the interview that Maxwell would likely be silenced because she knew the bold-faced names connected to Epstein’s perverted abuse.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist here, but I know she holds the key to a lot of careers being obliterated, and that goes from politicians to businessmen and other influential people in this country,” Santos said. “She should not be in custody in the United States. She should be in the UK or anywhere else in the world if she’s granted protection.”

“Maybe the U.K. is a bad idea because the prince is there. But you get the picture,” he said, referring to Prince Andrew.

Epstein, 66, pleaded not guilty to charges he abused dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his Palm Beach, Fla., waterfront mansion, and was facing a sentence of 45 years in prison.

The billionaire financier was found dead in August 2019 in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of Manhattan Correction Center.

Santos’ 2020 interview on the show came as reports said Maxwell was the subject of enhanced surveillance at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where she was being held after being arrested for helping Epstein find young girls to rape.

“She was put on suicide watch because just like Epstein, she’s going to suicide herself and hang herself with a handkerchief or something like that. And they’re going to try to make us digest that all over again,” Santos said in the interview.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM AI OVERVIEW

Jeffrey Epstein's private island, Little Saint James, was visited by a range of individuals, including prominent celebrities, businesspeople, and academics. While many names appeared in unsealed court documents and news reports, mere mention in the documents or presence on the island does not automatically imply participation in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged crimes.

Notable individuals linked to the island as visitors or invited guests include:

· David Copperfield The illusionist was subpoenaed in 2009 in a case related to Epstein's alleged crimes, though he was never deposed. He reportedly visited Epstein's Palm Beach residence regularly and flew on his jet.

· Stephen Hawking The renowned physicist visited the island in 2006 for a science conference in St. Thomas, an event where other academics were present. He was never accused of any wrongdoing.

· Prince Andrew The Duke of York was a close friend of Epstein's and visited the island on multiple occasions.

· Alan Dershowitz The lawyer confirmed he visited the island once with his wife and daughter.

· Ghislaine Maxwell Epstein's associate and convicted sex trafficker, Maxwell arranged many visits to the island.

· Leslie Wexner The billionaire businessman and former CEO of L Brands (parent company of Victoria's Secret) was a former business partner of Epstein and visited the island at least once.

· Naomi Campbell The model reportedly flew to the island, where Epstein hosted parties for other models.

Other individuals, such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, were mentioned in general Epstein files, but reports indicate they never visited the island itself. Investor Peter Thiel also denied visiting the island after an invitation was revealed in documents.

In March 2024, a data leak from a location data broker exposed the digital trail of nearly 200 mobile devices of people who visited the island in the years prior to Epstein's 2019 death, pinpointing their exact movements to and from the island. This data revealed the inferred home and office locations of many visitors, including both wealthy individuals and alleged victims.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM WIKIPEDIA

LITTLE SAINT JAMES

Geography
Location	Caribbean Sea
Coordinates	18°18′0″N 64°49′30″W
Archipelago	Virgin Islands archipelago
Administration United States
Territory	United States Virgin Islands
Area covered	0.28–0.32 km² (0.11–0.12 sq mi)

Little Saint James is the smaller of the two islands in the southeast of nr. 2 of Saint Thomas

Little Saint James is a small private island in the United States Virgin Islands, southeast of Saint Thomas. It was owned by American financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 1998 until his death in 2019.^[1][2] Due to Epstein's years of ownership, and especially its use as a base of operations for underage sex trafficking, the island is most often nicknamed Epstein Island.

Map of Little Saint James

Little Saint James is a small island (or islet)^[3] with an area of 70 to 78 acres (28 to 32 ha). It is in the United States Virgin Islands,^[1] located southeast of neighboring Great Saint James, both off the southern coast of the larger St. Thomas island^[4][5] and belonging to the subdistrict East End, St. Thomas.

The Virgin Islands are mountain peaks rising from the Caribbean ocean floor.^[6] The trade winds (prevailing east-to-west winds near Earth's equator) dominate its climate and local weather, with stronger winds and less rain during winter.^[7]

History

David Copperfield proposed to Claudia Schiffer on Little St. James, three months after meeting her in 1993.^[8]

Little St. James is a private island. In 1997, it was owned by venture capitalist Arch Cummin and was for sale for $10.5 million.^[9] In April 1998, a company called L.S.J. LLC purchased the island for $7.95 million, and documents showed that Jeffrey Epstein was the sole member of L.S.J.^{[10][11][12][13]} In 2019, the island was valued at $63,874,223.^[14] Little St. James was Epstein's primary residence,^[4][15] and he called the island "Little St. Jeff".^[1][2] The main house on the island was renovated by Edward Tuttle, a designer of the Aman Resorts.^[1]

In 2005, Epstein hired the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to install a combination power and fiber optic cable between St. Thomas and Little St. James, providing the island dedicated data and electric connections which eliminated the need for generators.^[16][17]

In 2008, Epstein's estate on Little St. James had 70 staff.^[11][18] According to a former staffer, Epstein insisted on discretion and confidentiality from his employees.^[13]

In 2016, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources received complaints about Epstein, who had begun to clear land without a permit.^[16]

In his will and testament (a 21-page pour-over will) signed just two days before his death,^[19] all of Epstein's holdings were transferred into the "1953 Trust",^[20] named after the year of his birth.

In March 2022, Little St. James and the neighboring Great St. James were listed at $125 million. A lawyer for Epstein's estate stated that the money obtained from the sale would be used to settle a number of lawsuits. Bespoke Real Estate, the agency jointly overseeing the sale, stated that further information on the listing was only available to prospective buyers.^[21][22]

In May 2023, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, under his firm SD Investments, announced the acquisition of the Great St. James and Little St. James islands for $60 million.^[23][24]

EPSTEIN'S BUILDINGS AND VISITORS (1998–2019)

In 1997, the island had a main house, three guest cottages, a caretaker's cottage, a private desalination system, a helipad, and a dock.^[9]

MAIN HOUSE

Edward Tuttle’s architecture practice designed the renovation of the main house on the island, often described as a compound.^[25][26] The renovation concluded sometime after March 2003^[27] and the colonnaded villa-style house is where guests stayed while visiting the island.^[28]

EPSTEIN'S CABANA

Epstein's personal residence on the island was a stone-walled cabana with a turquoise ceiling, one of many cabanas on the island.^[28]

POOL

The Recorder of Deeds had a lien for nearly $40,000 owed to Rex Wolterman for pool construction at the time of Epstein's death.^[16]

THE TEMPLE

EXTERIOR

There is a blue-striped, boxlike building at the southwest point of the island, surrounded by an expansive square pavilion with geometric patterns meant to look like mosaics painted in red on a white background. The structure was initially topped by a golden dome, which Google Earth satellite images suggest was added between July 2013 and March 2014. Aerial footage from March 2015 shows the dome and two large, golden, avian-like statues atop the building, along with two sculptures out front.^[29] Locals say the dome was blown away during Hurricane Maria in 2017.^[30]

The purpose of the actual construction is unclear and it deviates in substantial ways from the plans for the grand piano container that had been submitted for approval in 2010 by Epstein's architects.^[30]

The planned "Music Pavilion" building, much like the Dome of the Rock, was of an octagonal footprint. The planned building with a substantial covered porch, also octagonal, was also much lower in perspective than the as-built. The building that was eventually constructed was much taller, in the shape of a cube. The dome was also well within the footprint of the cube, and the building did not have any of the proposed finishes applied to the walls, nor was it constructed out of materials in those plans – namely, stone.^[30]

Patrick Baron, a piano tuner and technician who worked in the area at the time, visited the island twice in 2012 to tune a piano inside the building. Baron later described the structure as a relatively small building near the coast which was far away from the other buildings on the island. He said it was "dull pewter" in colour, featured statues that resembled gargoyles atop the roof, and a large glass door which faced south. Baron then confirmed the building against photographs provided by Trotter, despite it being blue and white in the images, based on its size, shape and location — indicating the distinctive stripes and false wooden door were painted after October 2012.^[31]

Footage captured by an American content creator who snuck onto the island in 2023 shows that the building and surrounding area had been painted white.^[32]

INTERIOR

Baron went on to describe the interior as having only one large room that had two levels: the ground floor 4 to 6 ft (1.2 to 1.8 m) tall and another on a slightly raised platform which was accessed by a single step. The flooring looked wooden and was covered with a large Oriental rug. He recalls a grey sofa to his right, against the eastern wall; directly ahead of him a dark wood desk of about 10 ft (3 m) long, behind it several columns of floor-to-ceiling bookcases; to his left, against the western wall, was a small black grand piano. Baron's notes describe the piano as having been manufactured by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. Above the piano hung a portrait of Epstein and the pope, although Baron could not confirm which specific pope it was.^[31]

EPSTEIN'S VISITORS

Victoria's Secret models were among the guests a former Epstein employee saw there, and billionaire Les Wexner visited the island at least once.^[13] Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor paid at least one visit aboard Epstein's private jet to the island, although former staff said he visited Little St. James several times.^[33]

Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, visited the island in 2015.^[34]

Virginia Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, stated in a lawsuit that while working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort^[35] she was lured into a sex-trafficking ring run by Epstein and while traveling with Epstein she saw Bill Clinton on the island.^[36] A Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secret Service records of visits Bill Clinton may have made to Little St. James produced no such evidence.^[36] According to Epstein's flight logs, Clinton never flew on one of Epstein's planes near the U.S. Virgin Islands.^[37] In July 2019, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement saying Clinton never visited the island.^[10][38]

Reputation under Epstein's ownership

According to attorneys for Epstein's alleged victims, Little St. James is where many of the crimes against minors were committed by Epstein and friends who traveled there with him.^[42] Court documents allege that then-17-year-old Virginia Roberts was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew on several occasions, including as part of an orgy on Little St. James.^[33][43] Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation.^[44][45] A lawyer for Epstein has described the allegations of orgies by Roberts as "old and discredited".^[33]

According to locals, Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island in 2019, after he was registered as a sex offender.^[46] In August 2019, following Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James.^[47][48]

MORE ON THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN CASE

Epstein Photos: House Democrats released new images from the estate of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that highlight his ties to celebrities and powerful men, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton and director Woody Allen. But the photos offer little new detail to illuminate Epstein’s well-documented relationship with these men.

· Ghislaine Maxwell: In a court filing, a lawyer for Epstein’s onetime companion said she would seek to be released from her minimum-security federal lockup.

· Influence on Academia: Even as his crimes were revealed, newly released emails show how professors at top universities stuck by Jeffrey Epstein.

· Lawrence Summers: The former Harvard president will step back from his teaching duties while the university investigates his ties to Epstein. He also resigned from OpenAI’s board. Will this be his last scandal?

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM TIME

TRUMP AND BILL CLINTON AMONG SEVERAL HIGH-PROFILE FIGURES SEEN IN NEWLY RELEASED PHOTOS FROM EPSTEIN’S ESTATE

By Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Dec 12, 2025 2:12 PM ET

New photos from the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s estate released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday include pictures of a number of prominent figures, including President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.

The 19 photos also include shots of Epstein with longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, director Woody Allen, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, and Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

None of the photos appear to show illegal activity.

Woody Allen and Jeffrey Epstein seen in a photo released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Dec. 12, 2025. House Oversight Democrats

See these photos here.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

Garcia’s office said Democrats on the committee “will continue to release photos to the public in the days and weeks ahead” and are “committed to protecting the identities of the survivors.”

When asked about his reaction to the photos on Friday evening in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “Well, I haven't seen it, but I mean everybody knew this man. He was all over Palm Beach; he has photos with everybody. I mean, almost—there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him, so that's no big deal. I know nothing about it."

One of the photos released on Friday appears to be signed by Clinton and shows the former President posing alongside Epstein and the late sex offender’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation.

Clinton’s name has previously appeared in documents released in connection with Epstein’s case. Republicans have subpoenaed him, along with his wife, Hillary Clinton, and others for documents and materials in the committee’s Epstein investigation, though a date has yet to be set for their testimonies. The former President has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and denied visiting the financier's island.

In other photos, Trump can be seen with a woman whose face has been redacted; smiling among a group of women whose faces have also been redacted; and standing beside Epstein while speaking with a blond woman. Another image shows novelty condoms bearing an image of the President’s face and the words “I’m HUUUUGE!” in front of a sign reading “Trump Condom $4.50.”

HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS

Trump’s name has also appeared in other releases connected with Epstein’s case, including emails released by Democrats on the Oversight Committee last month in which the late sex offender alleged Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of them.

The President has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has denied having any prior knowledge of the late sex offender’s conduct. In recent months, as his years-long relationship with Epstein and his Administration’s handling of files related to the case have drawn heightened scrutiny, he has repeatedly sought to dismiss the matter as a politically motivated "hoax." But despite those attempts at deflection, controversy surrounding the issue has continued to mount.

A Monday Reuters/Ipsos poll indicates that only 23% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the Epstein scandal, while 52% disapprove. Some 53% of the president’s Republican supporters are satisfied with his handling, up from 44% last month, but still well below the around 85% approval rating he has among Republicans. Meanwhile, 62% believe the government is withholding secrets about Epstein’s 2019 death and 70% about the trafficking the late financier was accused of.

In addition to the images featuring Trump and former President Clinton, Gates can be seen in multiple photos included in the Friday release. In one, he is pictured smiling at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II. Another shows Gates standing with Epstein.

Gates previously denied having any kind of personal or business relationship with Epstein. In 2021, the Microsoft co-founder acknowledged to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he met Epstein multiple times in hopes of raising money for philanthropy and said he regretted it. “It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there,” Gates said.

The former Prince Andrew has also denied wrongdoing. In late October, he was stripped of his titles and evicted from his royal residence in late October amid scrutiny over his connection to Epstein.

Summers, who can be seen in one of the photos on what looks like a small plane, recently faced blowback over his own ties to the late sex offender. After the House Oversight Committee released a tranche of Epstein-related documents last month that included emails between Summers and Epstein which showed that Summers maintained his friendly relationship with the disgraced financier long after he was first convicted of sex crimes in 2008, Summers was banned for life from the prestigious American Economic Association, resigned from OpenAi’s the board of directors, and took leave from his role at Harvard. He said at the time that he was “deeply ashamed” and took full responsibility for his “misguided decision” to continue communicating with Epstein.

Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist during the President’s first term, is seen in the photos speaking to Epstein while the late sex offender sits on the opposite side of a desk and, in another image, posing with Epstein in front of a mirror. Exchanges between Bannon and Epstein have also been included in previous releases in connection with the case.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a second batch of 70 images from the late convicted sex offender’s estate mere hours after the first set. These photos, released without much context, largely seem to showcase Epstein’s resort on the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Although lawmakers didn’t say much else about the second release on Friday, they did suggest that the latest drop from the Epstein estate was being shared with the purpose of “transparency.”

They included obscure images of bathrooms, stairwells, decorating tools, and a machine labelled “massage therapy system.” It is unknown if these were taken from the disgraced financier’s properties.

In total, the nearly 100 images that featured high-profile figures previously linked to Epstein’s orbit and his resort only scratch the surface of the 95,000 images the committee allegedly received from his estate.

The Justice Department is required to release all its files related to Epstein by Dec. 19 under a law Congress passed and Trump signed last month. After months of resisting calls to release the files, the President changed his tune and signaled his approval for Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the files in November.

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM IUK

NEW PHOTOS SHOW TRUMP WITH WOMEN AT EPSTEIN ESTATE; CLINTON AND STEVE BANNON ALSO APPEAR IN DOCS

House Oversight Democrats released images of high-profile figures

By Kelly Rissman Saturday 13 December 2025 04:56 GMT

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate on Friday, including images of Donald Trump and several other powerful figures in the late sex offender’s circle.

Trump has distanced himself from Epstein and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

One of the photos shows the then-real estate mogul with six women, whose faces have been blurred out by the committee. A grinning Trump is sporting a suit while the women are wearing leis around their necks.

Another image shows a collection of condoms — going for $4.50 each — depicting a caricature of Trump’s face above the phrase: “I’m HUUUUGE!”

Oversight Democrats released just 19 photos Friday morning, but later in the day, they increased that number to more than 70 “in the interest of transparency.”

“Oversight Dems received 95,000 new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate,” House Oversight Committee Democrats wrote in a social media post Friday.

“These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!”

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated event at the White House Friday evening, Trump said the newly released photos showing he and Epstein mingling with several women were “no big deal,” but later claimed he had not seen them.

“Everybody knew this man [Epstein] – he was all over Palm Beach,” he told reporters Friday evening. “He has photos with everybody... there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have them.

“That's no big deal... I know nothing about them."

At an unrelated event at the White House, Trump said the newly released photos showing he and Epstein mingling with several women were “no big deal,” but later claimed he had not seen them.

Both the White House and Republicans on the panel dismissed the photos as "cherry picked."

“Once again, Oversight Democrats are chasing headlines by releasing a handful of selectively censored and cherry-picked photos from the Epstein Estate. Democrats' hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked,” the GOP-led Oversight Committee wrote on X.

“Nothing in the documents we've received shows any wrongdoing. Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Oversight Democrats should be ashamed of this disgusting behavior of putting politics above justice for the survivors.”

The new tranche also includes an image of Trump ally Steve Bannon meeting with Epstein, as well as a photo signed by former President Bill Clinton — capturing him linking arms with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein. Clinton has vehemently denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, has never visited Epstein’s island, and said in 2019, when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, that he hadn’t spoken to the disgraced financier “in well over a decade.”

Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.

Another image released by the committee showed a box full of novelty Trump condoms,

Former Harvard President Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, Woody Allen, and Sir Richard Branson also made appearances in the newly-released photos. It’s not clear when the photos were taken, as they are undated.

Summers, who exchanged emails with Epstein as recently as 2019, said his continued communications with the convicted sex offender were “misguided” and that he was “deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused.” Summers announced he was stepping down from his teaching role after email exchanges with Epstein came to light.

Mountbatten-Windsor had his birthright title removed because his "serious lapses in judgement" over his association with Epstein. The royal settled allegations of sexual abuse in court with Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre in 2022, involving a substantial donation to her charity and an acknowledgment of her suffering, without admitting liability in the civil case.

Gates has said it was a “huge mistake to spend time with him” and denied having a personal relationship with Epstein, clarifying that he met with the disgraced financier to discuss philanthropy.

The Independent has reached out to representatives for Allen and Branson for comment.

“House Democrats are selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

A report claimed Plaskett, the U.S. Virgin Islands non-voting delegate, appeared to be texting with Epstein during a 2019 hearing before questioning Trump; her office confirmed she had received texts from Epstein. The top Republican on the Oversight Committee posted a 2013 email sent by a fundraising firm that was soliciting campaign money from the disgraced financier for Jeffries’ campaign. Jeffries has said he’s never met Epstein, never received a donation from him and had no recollection of the email.

Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a probe into Democrats’ ties to Epstein at Trump's direction.

The new batch of photos comes weeks after the committee released thousands of documents, including shocking emails sent by Epstein to several powerful figures from 2011 to 2019. Those figures included attorneys, journalists, author Michael Wolff, Deepak Chopra and Summers, among many others.

In the messages, Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours at my house” with a victim of sex trafficking.

“I know how dirty donald is,” Epstein wrote in another email.

Trump did not send or receive any of the emails.

The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to the disgraced financier’s estate earlier this year. That effort is separate from the so-called Epstein Files possessed by the Justice Department.

Last month, the president signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. In her first act as Congresswoman, Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva provided the 218th — and final — signature on a discharge petition that forced a vote on the release of Epstein files in the Justice Department’s possession. The House and Senate swiftly passed the legislation and Trump signed it, giving the DOJ a December 19 deadline to release all of the Epstein Files.

The DOJ then asked federal judges overseeing Epstein’s and Maxwell’s criminal cases to make public the grand jury transcripts and relevant records to comply with the act.

This week, a federal judge ordered that grand jury records in the sex trafficking case against Epstein must be unsealed, marking the third and final ruling to unseal grand jury materials in the three federal cases against Epstein and his associate.

Several Democratic lawmakers have reacted to the latest release, with one Congresswoman calling the photos “vile.”

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM IUK

Friday 12 December 2025 16:06 GMT

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have received 95,000 photos from the Epstein estate, with 19 posted online Friday (House Oversight Committee) ((House Oversight Committee))

· A picture of condoms with a caricature of President Donald Trump’s face on them has been released from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.

· The image shows a bowl of condoms with the phrase “I’m HUUUUGE!” on the contraceptives, priced at $4.50 each.

· Three other photos released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday include Trump, with one showing him surrounded by five women whose faces are blurred.

· Trump has consistently distanced himself from Epstein and has not faced any accusations of wrongdoing in connection with these images.

· “These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” Oversight Dems wrote on X. “Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!”

“Vile, disturbing new photos of Donald Trump that raise even more question about knowledge of abuses at Epstein's estate,” Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari wrote in a social media post.

“@OversightDems are demanding the DOJ comply with our subpoena and release the full Epstein files. Stop protecting pedophiles. Survivors deserve justice now.”

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego remarked: “Trump has got to be scared s***less. The deadline to release the DOJ’s files is in one week.”

More about

Donald Trumpsurvivors

Jeffrey Epstein

House Oversight Committee

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM GUK

JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S MOST POWERFUL ALLY WAS SILENCE

When abuse occurs, the first instinct is too often containment. We know this pattern because we have seen it ourselves

By Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky Mon 8 Dec 2025 06.00 EST

For years, Jeffrey Epstein conjured a kind of grotesque fascination: the private island, the powerful friends, the whispered allegations. But focusing on the lurid details of his life and eventual death obscures the far more unsettling truth his case lays bare. Epstein’s story is not really about one man’s depravity. It is about a system – legal, cultural and institutional – engineered to protect the powerful through silence. His crimes thrived not because they were hidden, but because the people who knew were coerced, encouraged or more than willing to shut up.

Silence was not incidental to Epstein’s success. It was central to it. And in this, he was hardly unique.

The most revealing document in the entire Epstein saga is one of the first to come to light: the non-prosecution agreement the Department of Justice quietly signed in 2007, shielding Epstein from federal charges and insulating unnamed “co-conspirators”. The girls he had abused – minors the government was legally obligated to inform – were kept in the dark. The message was unmistakable: protecting powerful men mattered more than honoring the voices of the girls they harmed.

Even now, after Congress forced President Trump’s hand to mandate the release of the Epstein files, the Department of Justice has not committed to full disclosure. After everything we have learned in the nearly two decades since Epstein pleaded guilty to sex with a minor, the culture of silence is so powerful that it is unclear when, or even if, his survivors will ever truly receive justice.

This pattern echoes across institutions and industries. When abuse occurs, the first instinct is too often containment, not accountability. Corporations draft non-disclosure agreements that muzzle employees. Organizations force workers into arbitration, protecting executives while survivors are bound by confidentiality and pushed out the door. Even government agencies, as in Epstein’s case, have shown a willingness to trade transparency for expediency.

We know this pattern because we have seen it ourselves. Nearly a decade ago, we came forward to allege sexual harassment and retaliation against the former Fox News chairman and chief executive Roger Ailes and the network he ran, respectively. We each had to jump through hoops for our cases to be public, battling silencing mechanisms to bring our claims to light. And yet, long after Ailes’s death in 2017, we are still bound by NDAs that prevent us from sharing our stories. The priority, time and again, is to sweep accountability under the rug, even if it comes at the expense of the truth.

What the Epstein case and many like it expose is the architecture that protects predators long before the public ever hears their names. It is built from familiar materials: forced arbitration clauses, airtight NDAs, closed-door settlements, and a culture of retaliation that make speaking out dangerous. These tools do not simply resolve disputes – they suppress them. And that suppression creates the conditions in which serial abuse becomes not just possible, but predictable.

The language of these mechanisms is bureaucratic, even dull. But their real purpose is simple: silence. Silence that keeps survivors isolated. Silence that prevents patterns from coming into view. Silence that allows predators to move from institution to institution with their reputations intact.

Consider how many adults crossed paths with Epstein’s operation – staff, business associates, social friends, lawyers, financial managers. Many surely suspected what was happening and some certainly knew. But secrecy functions as a kind of social gravity: if everyone stays quiet, no one stands out. Epstein didn’t need to silence every person he encountered. The architecture around him did much of that work for him.

In this sense, the Epstein case is not an anomaly but a magnifying glass. It shows us how private power, institutional incentives, and legal structures align to smother survivors’ voices long before a journalist or prosecutor ever gets involved. But we should not rely on exposés and avoidable tragedies to break silence. The cost of that approach is too high, and the damage to survivors too enduring.

In 2022, we helped to pass two federal laws that cracked the closet door open. The Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act ensures that survivors can bring their claims to court rather than being sent into the secret chamber of forced arbitration. The Speak Out Act limits the use of NDAs that silence survivors before misconduct even occurs. These reforms chip away at the secrecy that has long shielded predators. They also send a signal: institutions can no longer count on silence as a default outcome.

Still, this work is only beginning. If we want to ensure that another Epstein cannot hide in plain sight, we must confront not only the individuals who commit abuse but also the systems that shield them. That means rewriting laws, changing culture, and rejecting the idea that forcing survivors into silence is the way it should be, because it has always been this way.

All survivors deserve more than whispered sympathy. The real scandal was never Epstein alone. It was the silence that allowed him to get away with his crimes for so long and that still allows his co-conspirators to get away with them years later.

· Gretchen Carlson is a journalist, bestselling author and internationally recognized advocate for women’s rights. Julie Roginsky is a champion of women’s rights and political consultant. Carlson and Roginsky co-founded the nonprofit Lift Our Voices, dedicated to eliminating silencing mechanisms like forced arbitration and NDAs for toxic workplace issues

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM AL JAZEERA

US CONGRESS RELEASES EPSTEIN ESTATE PHOTOS FEATURING TRUMP, CLINTON

House Democrats urge White House to end ‘cover-up’ of Jeffrey Epstein case and bring justice to sex abuse victims.

By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 12 Dec 2025 12 Dec 2025

Democrats in the United States Congress have released a new batch of photos from the estate of the late sex offender Jeffry Epstein, featuring rich and powerful public figures, including President Donald Trump.

The minority on the House Oversight Committee made dozens of photos public on Friday, calling for Trump to end what they called a “cover-up” in the case.

Israel’s ex-PM Ehud Barak and Epstein had close relationship, emails reveal

Ghislaine Maxwell to seek release from prison: Court filing

US judge approves bid to unseal Epstein grand jury documents

The pictures showed Trump, his former adviser Steve Bannon, ex-President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, billionaire businessman Bill Gates, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and film director Woody Allen.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel, said in a statement.

“These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

One photo showed Trump flanked by three young women on each side with his hand clutching the waist of the woman to his right.

Progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jaypal called the pictures “repulsive”.

Trump has repeatedly denied any close ties to Epstein, saying that he only knew the sex offender as a neighbour in Palm Beach, Florida, and eventually kicked him out of his Mar-a-Lago resort for being a “creep”.

Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal published what it said was a birthday card with sexual connotations that Trump sent to Epstein with a message written inside of a drawing of a naked woman.

Trump denied writing or drawing the card and sued the newspaper over the allegation.

Last month, Congress passed a law to compel the Trump administration to release all government documents related to Epstein while protecting the victims’ identities.

Epstein ran a sex abuse ring of girls and young women.

Trump’s top aides previously opposed making the files public, saying that they would amount to “child pornography”.

But after mounting pressure, including from segments of his own base, Trump – who can authorise releasing the records without congressional intervention – lifted his opposition to the “Epstein files” bill, allowing it to pass.

The law requires the Justice Department to release the file by December 19.

Epstein first pled guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor in 2008 and was given a lenient sentence that critics describe as a sweetheart deal that did not match the severity of the offence.

After the Miami Herald investigated the prosecution against Epstein, federal authorities reopened the case against him, arrested him and charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019.

Two months later, he was found dead in his jail cell in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide.

Epstein’s associates included Clinton, Israel’s Barak and the United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew.

The scandal and the manner in which Epstein died have fuelled speculations that he may have been working for foreign or domestic intelligence services – particularly Israel’s Mossad.

According to reporting by Drop Site News, Epstein – who was legally represented by prominent Israel defender Alen Dershowitz – helped facilitate Israeli diplomacy with Russia and African and Asian countries.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM ROLLING STONE

WAS JEFFREY EPSTEIN A SPY?

The notorious financier pedophile told exaggerated stories of his time in intelligence circles — but some of those stories may have been, at least partially, true

By Vicky Ward

Back in 2002, when I was reporting on Jeffrey Epstein’s finances for Vanity Fair magazine, he was not a household name. During that time, I paid a visit to the Federal Medical Center, Devens in Devens, +Massachusetts, to meet with an inmate, one Steven Hoffenberg.

What Was the Real Relationship Between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gates?

We sat in a little room near a recreation area, Hoffenberg dressed in the requisite orange jumpsuit, while I, several months pregnant with twins, was dressed per prison requirements: as shapelessly as possible.

It was an absolutely intriguing meeting.

Hoffenberg was serving 18 years in prison for committing a $450 million Ponzi scheme. In the 1980s, he’d been running Towers Financial, a debt collection and reinsurance business, and had worked alongside Epstein, who was a paid consultant. Hoffenberg told me that Epstein had plans to turn Towers into a global colossus — through illegal means.

But Hoffenberg was so transfixed by Epstein and his ideas that he had even paid the rent for Epstein’s office space. (Now, he says, he was “stupid” and greedy for doing so.)

Jeffrey Epstein Denied Wanting to Kill Himself Days Before Killing Himself

Hoffenberg told me with a sad grin that he represented a problem for Epstein because while they were working together, Epstein had confided in him as to how, exactly, he made a career out of conning people and institutions — not least because the idea was that they’d do it together.

Hoffenberg said that Epstein had a term for the perfect execution of the grift. He called it “playing the box,” which meant that he ensured that even if his crime was uncovered, the victim would be unable to do anything about it, either because of social embarrassment or because the money was tucked away in a place where they couldn’t either find it or get it.

(What Hoffenberg had failed to realize, he told me, is that Epstein would con him. Epstein would take $100 million of Towers money, move it offshore, and meanwhile cooperate with U.S. prosecutors against Hoffenberg, who was unable to do anything about this because he’d pleaded guilty, which meant there was no trial — and therefore no discovery.)

I can’t prove all of Hoffenberg’s claims — but some of them are accurate.

I have discovered, for example, that Epstein certainly did secretly cooperate against Hoffenberg and gave at least three interviews to prosecutors, and that had the case gone to trial, a source with knowledge says it would have likely turned out far worse for Epstein than for Hoffenberg.

Hoffenberg also knew something else Epstein wanted hidden, according to Hoffenberg: He claimed that Epstein moved in intelligence circles.

The Hoffenberg-Epstein relationship was not something Epstein, then pitching himself to Vanity Fair as a money-manager extraordinaire for billionaires only, had volunteered to me.

So when I gingerly raised Hoffenberg to Epstein, and mentioned I had documentation showing that the two were linked, the financier turned really nasty.

He maintained he hardly knew Hoffenberg, he’d just consulted briefly on a couple of deals, that he’d not been involved in any prosecution of Hoffenberg and that if I wrote any different, things would turn out badly for me. Here is exactly what he said:

“If there’s any implication of wrong doing, I will take legal action against you personally. I’m telling you so you understand. I will be as harsh as I possibly can personally … not for the magazine, but you, because I had this discussion with you. This relationship is with you.… You shouldn’t risk your future for a job.”

Now, Epstein’s “sensitivity” regarding Hoffenberg was equal to his sensitivity on what he called “the girls.”

He went berserk if you mentioned either subject.

In hindsight, one has to wonder if Hoffenberg presented an equally big problem as “the girls” would. Hoffenberg told me that in the 1980s, after Epstein left Bear Sterns in ignominious circumstances, Epstein was trained in moving money off-shore and that a mentor of Epstein’s was someone Hoffenberg knew: a British defense contractor, who died in 2011, named Douglas Leese.

Hoffenberg claimed that Leese was an arms dealer. (Leese’s son Julian says that is not true.) But the U.K. parliamentary record does mention Leese in reference to the El Yammamah arms deal of the early 1980s.

I remember distinctly that in our first meeting Hoffenberg told me that Leese was pivotal in understanding Jeffrey’s MO, because Leese had introduced him not only to aristocratic Europeans (who Epstein subsequently fleeced) but to all sorts of people in the arms business — including the late Turkish-born businessman Adnan Kashoggi — and, allegedly, the late media mogul Robert Maxwell.

Back in 2002 I didn’t pay much attention to this.

This was because Epstein breezily threw me off.

First, Epstein told me he’d never met Maxwell. And I asked him twice if he knew Leese, whom I had never heard of, and Epstein said no. The second time, he elaborated:

“Douglas Leese … I think he was the father of somebody I knew … I think his son was friendly with Ferranti, that’s where that whole crowd comes in that you asked me about a long time ago. I think his name was Nicholas … it was sort of that 66th Street building, I think they might have all lived there.”

So, I forgot about Leese. And I didn’t bother to pursue the notion that Epstein had known Maxwell.

But all these years later, Leese’s name popped up again in my new reporting for a podcast and a documentary series about Maxwell’s daughter Ghislaine, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of helping Epstein in his alleged sex-trafficking operations of minors. (She has denied all charges.)

First, I found a lawsuit filed by Leese in Florida, in which he asserted that he “was involved with various highly confidential business enterprises including business in the United States, some of which involved governmentally- involved or other highly confidential business projects.”

Second, a source who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of what was discussed told me that Epstein had invited the source to join him and Leese on a private-jet trip to the Pentagon in 1981.

Even Leese’s son Julian told me that his father was a mentor of sorts to Epstein in the 1980s and was totally shocked that Epstein would have pretended not to know him.

So why Epstein’s silence on Leese?

And was his denial about knowing Robert Maxwell equally meaningless?

What about the spy stuff?

Hoffenberg told me that Epstein had said he’d worked on several projects with Robert Maxwell, including solving Maxwell’s “debt” issues. (Maxwell died in 1991, under very strange circumstances, apparently having fallen off his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night and it was discovered in the aftermath that he’d stolen 100s of millions of dollars from the pensions of his employees.)

Epstein had also told Hoffenberg that via Maxwell and Leese he was involved in something that Hoffenberg described as “national security issues,” which he says involved “blackmail, influence trading, trading information at a level that is very serious and dangerous.”

So here’s where it gets tricky.

Four separate sources told me — on the record — that Epstein’s dealings in the arms world in the 1980s had led him to work for multiple governments, including the Israelis.

Some of these sources are more reliable than others. But the gist of the claims that you will be able to hear, and ultimately watch in a three-hour documentary series, is that Maxwell, who was himself a conduit between the Israelis and other governments during his life time, introduced Epstein to Israeli leaders, who then allegedly used Epstein as the equivalent of an old-fashioned Russian “sleeper,” someone who could be useful in an “influence campaign.”

The sources, who range from former arms dealers to former spies — and also Hoffenberg — suggest that Epstein, who lacked any sort of moral compass, decided to go one step further and compromise influential people by recording them doing things they wouldn’t want made public.

All of this is completely unprovable. And people close to Robert Maxwell say it sounds ridiculous.

But here’s what’s odd.

First, Epstein did visit Israel in 2008, with a view to moving there permanently and avoid his jail time in 2009 for the state charges he was convicted of. On his return, he told Russian model Kira Diktyar that he’d changed his mind and decided to face the music. (He didn’t mention he’d avoided a far more serious federal investigation, thanks to a cushy non-prosecution agreement.)

And once he got out of jail, in the last 10 years of his life, Epstein bragged to various people, including journalists, that he was advising a whole assortment of foreign leaders who included Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Zayed, Mohammed Bin Salman, various African dictators, Israel, the British — and, of course, the Americans.

He also told several of the same people that he was making a fortune out of arms, drugs, and diamonds.

He told one person, journalist Edward J. Epstein, that he knew the owner of the deep-water port of Djibouti on the horn of Africa, a smuggler’s paradise, so well that he was basically in charge of it.

Now, according to my sources in the intelligence world, this is hyperbole — but also not completely ridiculous. His name was mentioned as a middleman in both Africa and the Middle East. He was known in the intelligence world as a “hyper-fixer,” somebody who can go between different cultures and networks.

Usually these people are very silent about what they do.

And yet Epstein was not silent. He had a photo of the Saudi crown prince, MBS on the wall, and photos of Bill Gates and all the VIPS who flocked to his salons.

It’s not wholly surprising therefore that the same sources who say they know he was some sort of intelligence asset say that he became a liability — which is why, possibly, he lost any “protection” and was arrested.

A handful of people I interviewed, including former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky, maintain that this is exactly what happened to Robert Maxwell, which is why, they say, Maxwell was killed. His financial problems were about to make him vulnerable. (His death was officially said to be because of a heart attack.)

Who knows what to make of all this?

But, when I think back to 2002, when I first met Steve Hoffenberg, I do remember asking him why he thought that Epstein, normally reclusive, had raised his head above the parapet and attracted media attention by flying Bill Clinton to Africa.

Hoffenberg had smiled.

“He can’t help himself. He broke his own rule,” Hoffenberg said. “He always said he knew the only way he could get away with everything he did was to stay under the radar, but now he’s gone and blown it.”

Vicky Ward is the host of the Audible Original podcast “Chasing Ghislaine,”.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM ABC NEWS

JEFFREY EPSTEIN, ACCUSED SEX TRAFFICKER, DIES BY SUICIDE: OFFICIALS

Jeffrey Epstein was facing federal sex trafficking charges.

ByAaron Katersky, Luke Barr, and Ella Torres

August 10, 2019, 12:45 PM

Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced millionaire who was facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide early Saturday, law enforcement sources and the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News.

Epstein hanged himself, the sources said.

He was found unresponsive in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan around 6:30 a.m., the Bureau of Prisons said. He was transported in cardiac arrest at 6:39 a.m. to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to sources.

(MORE: The rise and fall of Jeffrey Epstein: A timeline of the financier's legal troubles)

Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.

His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News. He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.

The FBI is investigating the incident, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Epstein was arrested in July for alleged sex trafficking of girls at his Upper East Side mansion and his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Some of the charges date back to the early 2000s.

(MORE: Former lead prosecutor tried to ‘prosecute Jeffrey Epstein to the fullest extent of the law’: Lawyer)

Epstein pleaded not guilty to the charges. He faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

Following news of his death, his alleged victims condemned his apparent suicide and what they described as a lack of justice for them and other accusers.

"I am extremely mad and hurt thinking he once again thought he was above us and took the easy way out ... I still can't wrap my head around the fact that's really true," Jena-Lisa Jones, 30, an alleged victim of Epstein when she was 14 in Florida, said in a statement. "God will have his judgement now."

Jennifer Araoz, 32, who claimed that Epstein raped her when she was 15, called on authorities to "pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers.

"I am angry Jeffrey Epstein won’t have to face his survivors of his abuse in court. We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed the pain and trauma he caused so many people," Araoz said.

Michelle Licata, an alleged Florida victim of Epstein when she was 16, said she didn't want anyone to die.

"I just wanted him to be held accountable for his actions. Simple as that," she said.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement that the investigation of Epstein's alleged conduct remains ongoing. Berman noted that the indictment against Epstein included a “conspiracy count,” indicating the possibility that others could be charged.

(MORE: Alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein say he 'will never face the consequences' after apparent suicide)

The FBI, along with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, will also continue to evaluate the evidence and hear from his accusers, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

A source familiar with the case told ABC News that Attorney General William Barr is "livid." Barr said in a statement he was "appalled" at the news and the Inspector General is opening an investigation into Epstein's death, in addition to the FBI's investigation.

"Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered," he said.

Politicians, too, demanded answers in the wake of Epstein's death.

Lois Frankel, a Democratic congressman who represents Palm Beach, said his death "does not end the need for justice for his victims or the right of the public to know why a prolific child molester got a slap on the wrist instead of a long prison sentence."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter, "We need answers. Lots of them."

(MORE: Millionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein put on suicide watch after being found injured in jail: Source)

His alleged crimes were thrown back into the spotlight amid renewed scrutiny of the plea deal Epstein reached with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami in 2007, led by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. A non-prosecution agreement allowed Epstein, a hedge-fund manager, to plead guilty to two state charges and avoid federal charges for an allegedly broad pattern of similar sexual misconduct. He would serve just 13 months of an 18-month sentence in county jail in Florida.

(MORE: Millionaire Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking trial set for next year; a million pages of discovery expected)

The plea deal is currently under review by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

The alleged victims told ABC News they were not made aware of the details of the plea agreement while it was being negotiated.

A lawyer for Courtney Wild, one of the women in that case, urged other victims to still come forward with their own allegations despite Epstein's death.

“The victims deserved to see Epstein held accountable, and he owed it to everyone he hurt to accept responsibility for all of the pain he caused,” Brad Edwards, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents several alleged victims including Wild, said. “We will continue to represent his victims and will not stop in their pursuit of finality and justice.”

On Friday, a federal appellate court in New York unsealed around 2,000 pages of documents from a now-settled civil defamation case between Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an alleged Epstein victim, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate.

(MORE: Victims: Feds Hid 'Sweetheart' Deal for Sex Offender With Deep Political Ties)

Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her while she was working as a locker-room attendant at Mar-A-Lago in 2000 and bringing her to Epstein's home for a massage. She claims that she eventually became a teen sex slave to Epstein, and a victim of sex trafficking, beginning at age 17, at the hands of both Epstein and Maxwell.

The newly-unsealed documents showed that Giuffre alleged that Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with, among others: Prince Andrew; criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz; former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson; former Senator George Mitchell; a well-known prime minster, who she wouldn't name; and a foreign man who was introduced to her as a "prince."

Maxwell has consistently denied Giuffre's claims.

(MORE: Judge signs protective order over materials feds to turn over to jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein)

"Ghislaine Maxwell did not participate in, facilitate, manage or otherwise conspire to commit sex trafficking" as alleged by Giuffre, her attorney wrote in a 2016 court filing.

Maxwell's attorneys also contend in the newly unsealed court filings that Giuffre had “utterly failed” to substantiate her allegations that Maxwell facilitated her abuse. Giuffre’s claims about having been trafficked to other prominent men, Maxwell’s lawyers wrote, are “patently incredible.”

Mitchell and Richardson denied the claims. Both said in statement they have never met Giuffre.

Prince Andrew had previously denied the allegations.

(MORE: Former IT contractor for Jeffrey Epstein says he quit over concerns about revealing pictures and topless young women)

Giuffre's allegations were never tested in court because the case was settled prior to trial.

After news broke that Epstein died, Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Giuffre, said the timing of his apparent suicide was “no coincidence.”

“We are hopeful that the government will continue to investigate and will focus on those who participated and facilitated Epstein's horrifying sex trafficking scheme that damaged so many,” McCawley said in a statement. “The victims await the true justice they have sought and deserve.”

During a detention hearing in July, Epstein came face-to-face with two other accusers. Annie Farmer said she was 16 when Epstein had her sent to New Mexico where he was allegedly “inappropriate” with her. Courtney Wild told the judge she was 14 when Epstein allegedly sexually abused her in Palm Beach, Florida. Both women spoke in support of keeping Epstein locked up without bail.

Epstein appeared to watch them address the judge, but his face showed no emotion.

A federal judge later denied bail for Epstein, after deciding he was too great a flight risk to release from custody.

Epstein's body will be taken to the city morgue and an autopsy will be conducted as soon as Sunday, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM THE HILL

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE EPSTEIN VICTIMS’ PRESS CONFERENCE

by Merrill Matthews, opinion contributor - 09/09/25 1:30 PM ET

President Trump had hoped the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — and his past association with the late convicted pedophile and sex trafficker — would go away. It won’t. The recent Epstein victims’ press conference raised important questions, revealed certain facts and opened the door for even more information to come out.

The primary purpose of the press conference was to raise support for a “discharge petition” sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to force the Trump administration to disclose publicly any files and information it might have on Epstein. The victims also called on Trump to support the Courtney Wild Crime Victims’ Reform Act.

What did we learn from the victims and their attorneys? Here are four takeaways.

First, there is a list — or at least there will be. Jeffrey Epstein may not have had a list of rich and powerful people who allegedly participated in, or at least knew of, his sex offenses. But attorney Bradley Edwards, who represents several Epstein victims, has compiled a list from discussions with his clients.

In addition, victim Lisa Phillips said, “We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now, together, survivors, we will confidentially compile the names. We all know who were regularly in Epstein world.”

Some names were mentioned. Victim Chauntae Davies says she was “taken on a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and other notable figures.” And she said, “Epstein surrounded himself with the most powerful leaders of our country and the world.”

Second, government let the victims down. Many of the victims’ stories go back decades. Epstein was first indicted in 2006 based on allegations by a 14-year-old girl. The FBI later outlined 60 criminal counts. But in 2007, Epstein’s attorneys reached a plea bargain with the government that included brief prison time, registering as a sex offender, and paying monetary damages.

But the deal also reportedly included immunity for Epstein, four co-conspirators and “any potential co-conspirators.” Moreover, the prosecutors agreed not to tell the victims about the plea deal. According to NPR, the Department of Justice “has since acknowledged that decision reflected poor judgment.” Ya think?

Once out of jail, Epstein resumed hosting lavish parties for the rich and famous at his various homes. In 2018 the Miami Herald published a series of reports on Epstein and the plea deal. Federal agents, this time from New York, charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors, which eventually led to his conviction and a prison sentence.

To the victims, the 2007 plea deal, the decision not to tell the victims, and immunity for co-conspirators reeks of government favoritism and cover-up, if not corruption.

Third, the rich and powerful get a pass. A recurring theme from the victims is that many rich and powerful people are being protected. Court documents were unsealed in January of last year revealing the names of many high-profile men, including Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and … Donald Trump. NPR reports, “Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 that the pair also shared an affinity for beautiful women.”

Trump severed ties with Epstein apparently around 2006 or 2007 — around the time Epstein was first indicted.

And yet the only people prosecuted were Epstein, his primary enabler, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2021, and Epstein’s former household manager, for obstruction of justice. And Maxwell was recently transferred to what one of the victims referred to as a “prison spa.”

Is it really possible that so many rich and powerful men could have chummed around with Epstein and Maxwell at lavish parties that included young, attractive girls for so many years and not have suspected what was going on, or even participated?

Fourth and finally, the Epstein scandal isn’t going away. The media, which also failed the victims by not aggressively covering the story early on, are all over this issue now — perhaps because Trump is president. Rich and powerful people were involved, and some have hinted that Trump may be protecting his friends. He did when the Justice Department dropped charges against indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Epstein’s victims are calling for full accountability for those who ignored, enabled or participated in Epstein’s crimes. They were careful not to accuse Trump of wrongdoing, but they do believe he could do more to facilitate their efforts. Until he does, this story will continue to haunt him.

Merrill Matthews is a co-author of “On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM POLITICO

OPINION | THE EPSTEIN CONSPIRACY IS THE HORROR STORY OF OUR AGE

The conspiracy theory captures our anxieties about how power really works, but the boring version might say more.

Opinion by Dan Brooks 07/25/2025 05:00 AM EDT

Watching Donald Trump try and fail to move the news cycle past Jeffrey Epstein this week was like watching an octopus spray ink and get eaten anyway: a wonder of evolution failing with the strategy that always worked for him.

“The Washington ’Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump posted on Sunday on Truth Social, adding that the Cleveland Guardians should go back to being the Indians, too. It was a fairly transparent attempt. Even the ultra-circumspect New York Times, among other outlets, described it as an effort to distract people from his administration’s refusal to release files related to the investigation of Epstein by federal law enforcement.

Then, on Tuesday, House Republican leaders announced that they were cancelling scheduled floor votes and sending lawmakers home for summer recess early, reportedly to head off bipartisan demands to release Epstein material. In death, Epstein may be the only figure Trump cannot upstage, the one story more interesting than him.

In death, Epstein may be the only figure Trump cannot upstage, the one story more interesting than him.

There’s a reason the Epstein narrative — both what law enforcement and journalists have documented and the internet conspiracy theories it spawned — has become an immovable object in Americans’ attention, even as Trump tries to force it aside. The disgraced financier was a rich and connected villain who flouted law and decency and, for decades, largely got away with it, confirming Americans’ deepest anxieties about how power works.

The conspiracy theory is that Epstein provided politicians and celebrities with underage girls for sex, and his clients had him killed in prison to keep him quiet. Epstein getting murdered is a more intriguing story than reports he hung himself in his cell, but otherwise the strictly factual version is lurid enough. He allegedly trafficked dozens of victims, many of whom were teenagers, and some of whom have said that powerful figures participated in their abuse. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump — who has sued the paper over its report that he wrote Epstein a lewd birthday note alluding to “secrets” — appears in files related to the investigation, something Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told him in May, a few weeks before he stopped demanding the files’ release. Trump has denied the existence of the letter, and POLITICO has not independently verified it. He has also not been accused of any wrongdoing linked to Epstein.

These events, which already sound like they should be connected by red string on a bulletin board, have been convincingly documented and widely accepted as true. If the conspiracy version of the story is more popular, that’s because it puts the boring and sometimes convoluted details into terms everyone can understand, the same way QAnon and flat Earth theory fictionalize the basic truth that other people know things you don’t and are not particularly concerned with your wellbeing. This sentiment contributed to Trump’s unlikely ascent to the presidency, and ironically, it might prove to be his undoing.

In this world, the law, public opinion and party politics have power over ordinary people, but money has the power to transcend all of them.

As a vehicle for our worst fears about the 21st-century United States, Epstein is our Dracula. You are probably familiar with Count Dracula, the blood-drinking aristocrat with a taste for virgins who is vulnerable only to holy water and garlic. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in the United Kingdom in 1897, but the vampire legends on which it was based emerged centuries earlier in Eastern Europe. It doesn’t take a degree in folklore and mythology to notice that the count, who leaves his castle only to drain the life from peasants and corrupt young women, and who persists unnaturally from generation to generation until he is stopped by the power of the church, says something about how medieval Europeans saw their titled aristocracy. Dracula is what literary theorists call a big-time metaphor. His parasitic relationship with working people, his rivalry with priests, and his infamous horniness all reflect the anxieties of the late 19th century, when hereditary landowners vied with industrial capital and religious authority for control of Europe, and ordinary people exercised little power in proportion to their number.

The conspiracy version of the Epstein story expresses similar anxieties about power and who wields it in the 21st-century United States. This conspiracy narrative diverges from the factual version in two ways: (1) Epstein didn’t kill himself while awaiting trial; he was murdered, and (2) he kept a “client list” of wealthy and powerful people to whom he had provided underage girls for sex, which he used to blackmail public figures.

It is known that Epstein’s social circle included Trump, Bill Clinton and Les Wexner, the billionaire and former CEO of Victoria’s Secret. The reporter Julie Brown has identified more than 60 victims of a sex trafficking ring Epstein allegedly ran, some of whom named other public figures in their accounts. Epstein often traveled by private plane, and while celebrities from Clinton to attorney Alan Dershowitz have acknowledged that they flew on this plane, none has admitted to illicit sex.

The various Epstein conspiracy theories fill in the gaps between these facts with plausible but unsupported speculation: that Epstein used his private plane to fly public figures to his island, where they engaged in the kind of illegal sex acts he and his clients were rich enough to get away with. The theory holds that along with his Renfield, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein secretly videotaped these sexual encounters to use as leverage over his clients, giving them a shared interest in keeping him quiet that again trumped law and decency when they had him killed before his trial.

It is the story of vampires, whose existence is defined by parasitism and exemption from the rules that determine the course of ordinary people’s lives.

This narrative, like the Dracula story, says some obvious things about how our culture understands its ruling class. The most powerful figure in it is not an elected politician or celebrity but rather a financial adviser, a guy whose money and connections make him the real force behind the facade of representative government and impartial law. Although he did business in the United States, his company was headquartered in the Virgin Islands for tax purposes, allowing him to avoid the obligations the rest of us owe our country and communities.

The Epstein conspiracy theory describes two Americas, with two sets of laws and standards: the one most of us live in, where you have to go to work, abide by public morals and wait on hold when you call your congressional representative, and the one rich people live in, where statutory rape is an open secret and presidential candidates put aside their differences to hang out on tropical sex islands. In this world, the law, public opinion and party politics have power over ordinary people, but money has the power to transcend all of them. Financiers run the whole thing, literally and figuratively seducing political and cultural leaders in order to control them, while the various rules we democratically agreed on don’t apply to anyone involved — as proven by their successful murder of the only guy with the secrets to bring them down.

It’s a compelling story, and it engages several valid concerns about the United States as it currently operates, but it has some holes. For one thing, why did the conspiracy of wealthy sex perverts wait until Epstein was in prison to kill him, when it presumably would have been easier to do it after he was convicted and released the first time, or after the second time a grand jury was convened against him but before he was in federal custody? If you believe a group of powerful people killed Epstein to keep him from revealing what he knew, you have to ask why he didn’t die in a car accident, instead of during the three minutes that were cut from the camera recording near his cell, as many theorists believe. (That the three minutes were cut is reported, not rumored; what, if anything, the three minutes showed is not known.)

The Epstein conspiracy theories are unproven, but you don’t have to say the words “hyoid bone” to read the Epstein story as a fable of how power works in the 21st-century United States. The non-conspiracy version of events says just as much.

In this version, New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Facility, the jail where Epstein died that a court ordered closed in 2021, simply didn’t work very well. The plumbing was leaking, and the building was falling apart. The camera system didn’t work right. The guards were overworked and understaffed and sat in the break room browsing the internet when they were supposed to be making their rounds.

This story of institutional failure should be familiar to anyone who has been to a VA hospital or worked somewhere that got bought by a private equity fund. It’s the story of a system that prioritizes low taxes and high profits over how well anything actually works, cutting costs and squeezing wages at the expense of long-term success. In other words, it’s the story of a country that runs according to the interests of Epstein’s clients: wealthy people who get their money from rents, investments and inheritances and therefore have a material interest in nothing changing, not this month, unless it’s a lower tax rate. It’s the story of finance taking over the economy and money taking over politics, the story of a system that doesn’t do enough to restrain the power of those few Americans who live well without working, even as the rest of us are supposed to rule by majority. In other words, it is the story of vampires, whose existence is defined by exemption from the rules that determine the shape of ordinary people’s lives.

That is a story of the world we actually live in, and millions of Americans believe it. The conspiracy theory is just the simpler, more dramatic version, and if it gets the facts wrong — which it almost certainly does — the important parts are still true.

As of this writing, Democrats have joined with mutinous congressional Republicans to publicly demand that Trump release information related to the Epstein investigation. It is easy to identify a political motive among the Democrats, but Trump’s failure to corral elected Republicans is unprecedented since 2016. If the money power Epstein represents transcended partisan divisions, so too has our fascination with his story. Should Trump prove unable to quash the public’s interest, and it turns out he loses control of his own party over this issue, of all things, “the Epstein legend will have a strong claim to be the defining story of our time.”

Disagreeing slightly, Politico’s Dan Brooks called the Epstein conspiracy the “horror story” of our age (ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE).

In death, Epstein may be the only figure Trump cannot upstage, the one story more interesting than him.

In this world, the law, public opinion and party politics have power over ordinary people, but money has the power to transcend all of them.

It is the story of vampires, whose existence is defined by parasitism and exemption from the rules that determine the course of ordinary people’s lives.

As of this writing, Democrats have joined with mutinous congressional Republicans to publicly demand that Trump release information related to the Epstein investigation. It is easy to identify a political motive among the Democrats, but Trump’s failure to corral elected Republicans is unprecedented since 2016. If the money power Epstein represents transcended partisan divisions, so too has our fascination with his story. Should Trump prove unable to quash the public’s interest, and it turns out he loses control of his own party over this issue, of all things, the Epstein legend will have a strong claim to be the defining story of our time.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM NPR

FINANCIER BUYS JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S PRIVATE ISLANDS, WITH PLANS TO CREATE A RESORT

By Bill Chappell May 4, 2023 1:15 PM ET

The private islands that were a nexus in Jeffrey Epstein's depraved abuse and trafficking of young women and underage girls will be turned into a resort destination by a U.S. billionaire. Great St. James and Little St. James have been in limbo since Epstein's death in 2019.

Financier Stephen Deckoff paid $60 million for Great St. James and Little St. James through his SD Investments firm, a spokesperson told NPR. Deckoff is the founder of Black Diamond Capital Management.

The purchase price reflects a steep discount from the $110 million for which the two properties were recently listed.

Little St. James spans around 71.6 acres and includes "a helipad, private dock, gas station, high-capacity water filtration, 2 pools, the main compound, 4 guest villas, 3 private beaches, gym, tiki hut," and other buildings, according to its real estate listing.

The pair of islands initially went on the market in March of 2022, with a $125 million asking price. The listing figure was later reduced after no buyers materialized.

The two islands, which lie just off St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, figured prominently in the civil and criminal cases against Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. That's especially true of Little St. James, where numerous young women have said in court papers that they were taken via private jet before being ordered to perform sexual acts with Epstein and other men.

Epstein bought Little St. James in 1998, roughly 18 years before purchasing its larger neighbor, which measures around 161 acres.

Deckoff, who lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he plans to build a "world-class destination" on the two islands. He pledged that the project will bring economic benefits to the region, while also respecting its local culture and natural beauty.

Deckoff said he is in the process of hiring architects and engineers to develop the resort, adding that it could open as early as 2025.

The sale of the islands might herald a new chapter for the idyllic locale, but the transaction also has a link to Little St. James' recent dark history, as a place where vulnerable minors and young women endured nightmarish ordeals after being enticed by Epstein and Maxwell.

Under a $105 million settlement reached last December, the U.S. Virgin Islands government is due to receive half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James — and use the money to establish a trust to fund support services and counseling for victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

News of the sale comes less than a year after the islands were mentioned repeatedly by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York in a sentencing memo seeking decades of prison time for Ghislaine Maxwell; she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to sexually abuse minors.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM CNBC

Billionaire Stephen Deckoff buys Jeffrey Epstein’s private islands

By Dan Mangan and Dawn Giel Published Wed, May 3 2023 4:54 PM EDT

Key Points

· An investment firm led by the billionaire Stephen Deckoff has bought two private islands in the U.S Virgin Islands previously owned by the late notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

· Deckoff, the founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, purchased the two islands for $60 million.

· JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is due to be deposed in late May for lawsuits accusing the bank of benefiting from sex trafficking by Epstein on his private island.

An investment firm led by the billionaire Stephen Deckoff has bought two private islands in the U.S Virgin Islands previously owned by the late notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, Deckoff confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday.

Forbes first reported that Deckoff, the founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, purchased the two islands for $60 million, less than half of their initial asking price.

One of the islands was used by Epstein to sexually abuse young women for years, according to court filings.

“Mr. Deckoff plans to develop a state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort that will help bolster tourism, create jobs, and spur economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the important environment of the islands,” according to a press release about the sale.

SD Investments, which is led by Deckoff, announced the purchase.

“A significant portion of the sale proceeds are being paid to the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands under a previously announced settlement agreement between the government and Mr. Epstein’s estate,” the release said.

Epstein’s estate and related entities in November agreed to pay the government of the Virgin Islands more than $105 million to settle claims of sex trafficking and child exploitation. That deal required the estate to pay the Virgin Islands half of the proceeds of the sale of the islands, Little St. James and Great St. James, and another $450,000 to address damages on Great St. James, where Epstein had razed the remnants of structures that were hundreds of years told to make room for development.

During a brief phone interview with CNBC, Deckoff confirmed he had bought the islands.

“No comment,” he said when asked about his plans for it.

Deckoff then hung up.

Little St. James covers more than 70 acres, and Great St. James is more than double the size of its neighbor.

The purchase was reported on the same day that CNBC revealed that lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands and an accuser of Epstein’s will depose JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon starting on May 26.

The USVI and the anonymous woman accused JPMorgan in civil federal lawsuits of benefiting from Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women at his Virgin Islands property. Epstein was for years a customer of JPMorgan Chase, and had millions of dollars in deposits there.

The bank denies the allegations in the lawsuits. But it kept Epstein as a customer until 2013, five years after he pleaded guilty to a Florida state court charge of soliciting sex for money from an underage girl.

Multiple women have said they were raped or sexually assaulted on Little St. James, where Epstein had a mansion. They included Virginia Giuffre, who has alleged she was sexually abused there, and in other locations, by Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles of Great Britain.

· Judge unseals Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials, citing Epstein files act

Andrew has denied her claim, but in February 2022 agreed to a confidential settlement with Giuffre to end a civil lawsuit against him in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The USVI’s lawsuit against JPMorgan notes that Epstein “was a resident of the Virgin Islands and he maintained a residence on Little St. James, which he acquired in 1998 and in 2016 he also purchased Great St. James.”

The islands were collectively valued at $86 million after Epstein’s death in August 2019, when the former friend of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton committed suicide in a Manhattan jail a month after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.

“The Epstein Enterprise in 1998 acquired Little St. James in the Virgin Islands as the perfect hideaway and haven for trafficking young women and underage girls for sexual servitude, child abuse and sexual assault,” the suit says.

“Little St. James is a secluded, private island, nearly two miles from St. Thomas with no other residents,” the suit noted. “It can be visited only by private boat or helicopter ... Epstein had easy access to Little St. James from the private airfield on St. Thomas, only 10 minutes away by his private helicopter, but the women and children he trafficked, abused, and held there were not able to leave without his permission and assistance, as it was too far and dangerous to swim to St. Thomas.”

The lawsuit goes on to say that in 2016, Epstein used a straw purchaser to hide Epstein’s identity and bought Great St. James the nearest island to Little St. James.

“By then, Epstein was a convicted sex offender,” the suit says. “The Epstein Enterprise purchased the island for more than $20 million because its participants wanted to ensure that the island did not become a base from which others could view their activities or visitors.”

It adds: “By acquiring ownership and control of Great St. James to the exclusion of others, the Epstein Enterprise created additional barriers to prevent those held involuntarily on Little St. James from escaping or obtaining help from others.”

Epstein’s former paramour and longtime procurer Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced last June to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM THE BBC

NEW PHOTOS FROM EPSTEIN ESTATE SHOW TRUMP, ANDREW AND BILL CLINTON

By Brandon Drenon

US President Donald Trump was among several prominent figures featured in the images released on Friday

Democratic US lawmakers have released two new batches of photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, revealing details of the convicted paedophile's home and ties to the rich and powerful.

US President Donald Trump, former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

The nearly 100 photos released by members of the House Oversight Committee on Friday are some of more than 95,000 images obtained via subpoena, the Democrats said.

The justice department is separately approaching a deadline next week to publish all Epstein-related documents.

In the first batch of photos released on Friday by lawmakers, Epstein is seen with multiple high-profile figures, none of whom have yet commented. Many of them have previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.

Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.

A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.

An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked". Trump had for months argued the Epstein saga was a distraction orchestrated by his critics to take attention away from his administration's accomplishments.

Friday's files also include private images of Epstein, including one of him in a bathtub and another that appears to show sexual toys. They also show him with several other prominent people including former President Bill Clinton and tech billionaire Bill Gates.

One photo featuring Clinton shows him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.

Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.

One image included in Friday's batch was a cropped section of a picture originally taken by a photographer working for Getty Images in 2018, which showed King Charles in conversation with Microsoft founder Gates at a London summit.

The image contained in Epstein's collection was cropped to show only Andrew and Gates.

Andrew, who has faced years of scrutiny over his past relationship with Epstein, was stripped of his "prince" title and left his Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge, earlier this year. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is also seen in some of the images. In one, he is shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.

A third image shows him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.

Other prominent figures who appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.

No additional context or details were included, so it is not clear when, why or where many of the photos were taken or by whom, including images from what appear to be Epstein's estate in the US Virgin Islands, showing multiple rooms - including one with a dental chair surrounded by sculptures of moustached men on the walls, a scene which featured in a previous release of Epstein files.

There is an image of an orange pumpkin with a blonde wig that has been carved in the likeness of Trump. Above it, a sign reads: "Trumpkin. Make Halloween Great Again."

Republicans, who are in the majority on the House Oversight Committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the congressional committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW," he added.

Epstein's connection to multiple high-profile figures, along with various unanswered questions about the case, and his 2019 suicide in a Manhattan jail as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges, has fuelled online conspiracies and demands for greater transparency around the investigations into the billionaire financier.

Following months of pressure from across the political spectrum, the justice department has until 19 December to release all documents related to the Epstein case as required by a bill passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed by Trump in November.

That upcoming deadline is separate from the congressional investigation into the Epstein case.

Friday's publications mark the second time in a month that Democrats on the committee have published new images from its inquiry into Epstein.

They originally released 19 images on Friday morning before publishing another nearly 80 later in the day, saying in a statement: "In the interest of transparency, we will continue to release photos from the Epstein estate."

Trump was asked about the new photos on Friday evening and told reporters that a lot of people knew and were photographed with Epstein, calling the release "no big deal".

Trump was friends with Epstein in the 1990s, but according to the president, the pair fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested. The White House has also previously said that Trump booted him from his Florida resort for "being a creep".

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM THE HILL

COMER CALLS ON CLINTONS TO APPEAR FOR EPSTEIN DEPOSITIONS OR ‘FACE CONTEMPT’

By Ashleigh Fields Sat, December 13, 2025 at 9:19 AM EST

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Friday pressed former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton to appear for depositions in his probe of Jeffrey Epstein, citing their time spent with the late disgraced financier.

“It has been more than four months since Bill and Hillary Clinton were subpoenaed to sit for depositions related to our investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes,” Comer wrote in a statement released by the committee. “Throughout that time, the former President and former Secretary of State have delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony.”

“If the Clintons fail to appear for their depositions next week or schedule a date for early January, the Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable,” he added.

The Kentucky Republican gave the Clintons a Dec. 17 deadline to respond.

In August, Comer said Clinton was a “prime suspect” in the investigation and warned him against defying a subpoena for his testimony. The former president’s spokesperson denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.

On Friday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released 19 new photos related to the case, which included a picture of the late millionaire with Clinton and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell — who is serving a 20-year sentence.

Epstein was also seen with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, conservative advocate Steve Bannon, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and others, including President Trump.

“These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” the Democrats wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!” they added.

The pressure comes weeks after Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, which requires the Justice Department to release documents related to Epstein. The former financier was being charged in connection to a sex trafficking scheme involving underage girls when he died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Epstein came back into the spotlight earlier this year when the Justice Department and FBI issued a joint memo seemingly concluding the case. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed the Trump administration for months to publicly release grand jury testimonies and files in the case.

The president and his allies initially pushed back against the request but ultimately reversed course after a bipartisan discharge petition advanced and the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to release the files.

Unreleased Epstein Photos Show People 'Engaged in Sexual Acts' and Victims in 'Compromising Positions,' Congressman Says

Army-Navy Crowd Made It Clear How They Feel About President Trump

Republican House leader signals plan to begin contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton

Despite being named in many of the files, Trump has lashed out at critics for tying him to Epstein and denied any connection to his crimes.

Recent polling shows that more than half of Americans disapprove of the way the Trump administration has handled the controversy. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 70 percent of respondents believe the government is hiding info about Epstein’s connections.

Epstein files: House Democrats release new photos from estate

Fri, December 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM EST

House Democrats have released new photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein. The photos include Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the former Prince Andrew.

House Oversight Committee Democrats release new Epstein photos showing Trump, Clinton and others

Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM EST

There are new photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

View Peanut Gallery comments(34)

House Democrats release photos of Trump, Clinton, Andrew and others from Jeffrey Epstein's estate

Malek Fouda Sat, December 13, 2025 at 3:12 AM EST

Democrat lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have released a selection of photos from the estate of disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including some of US President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and disgraced UK royal, the former Prince Andrew.

The dozens of photos initially released by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee were a small part of more than 95,000 they received from the estate of Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The photos released on Friday were separate from the case files that the Department of Justice is now under compulsion to release, but anticipation is growing as the Trump administration faces a deadline next week to produce the Epstein files that have been the source of conspiracy theories and speculation for years.

The photos were released without captions or context and included a black-and-white image of Trump alongside six women whose faces were blacked out.

The president said he hadn’t seen the photos from Epstein’s estate released on Friday, but noted that they were “no big deal.” Trump said Epstein was “all over Palm Beach” and had “photos with everybody.”

Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, did not say whether any of the women in the photos was a victim of abuse, but he added, “Our commitment from day one has been to redact any photo, any information that could lead to any sort of harm to any of the victims.”

Many of the photos have already circulated in the public. Democrats pledged to continue to release photos in the days and weeks to come, as they look to pressure Trump over his Republican administration’s earlier refusal to release documents in the Epstein probe.

Garcia said his staff had looked through about a quarter of the images it had received from Epstein’s estate, which included photos that were sent to him or that he had in his possession.

“Donald Trump right now needs to release the files to the American public so that the truth can come out and we can actually get some sense of justice for the survivors,” Garcia stated.

He initially released 19 photos on Friday morning, then roughly 70 more photos later in the day, including one of Epstein taking a bath, a photo of him with a swollen lip, photos of his home and a photo of him posing with a book about the scandal.

Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, has said he parted ways with him long before he faced the sex trafficking charges.

Former US President Bill Clinton, too, has minimised his relationship with Epstein, acknowledging that he travelled on Epstein’s private jet but saying through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes.

Clinton also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims. However, Republicans on the House committee are pushing him and Hillary Clinton to testify in their investigation.

This undated, redacted photo released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shows Steve Bannon, left, talking with Jeffrey Epstein - AP/AP

A spokesperson for the Republican-controlled committee also said that nothing in the documents the committee has received shows “any wrongdoing” by Trump.

The photo release also included images of the right-wing political operative Steve Bannon, billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and law professor Alan Dershowitz.

The men have denied any wrongdoing in their associations with Epstein, who kept many high-profile figures in his circle of friends.

Some lawmakers, however, believe that other high-powered figures could be implicated in Epstein’s abuse if the full case files from the Justice Department are released.

View Peanut Gallery comments(8) at website

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT – FROM NBC/BLAVITY

NEW PHOTOS RELEASED SHOWING JEFFREY EPSTEIN WITH POWERFUL MEN

Updated Fri, December 12, 2025 at 6:42 PM EST

Democrats on the House Oversight committee released new photos obtained from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. The photos show Epstein with a number of powerful men including President Trump, President Clinton, Woody Allen and Steve Bannon. The photos do not appear to show any illegal activity. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports.

View Peanut Gallery comments(85) at website

New Batch Of Epstein Photos Released By House Democrats, Featuring Trump, Clinton, Bill Gates, Woody Allen And More

Tomas Kassahun Fri, December 12, 2025 at 8:00 PM EST

The newest batch of Epstein files released by House Democrats include photos featuring Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as several other high-profile figures.

The House Oversight Committee released the files on Friday, showing 19 photos from the documents and urging Trump to stop covering up the details surrounding Epstein.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Democrat Robert Garcia said in a statement, per Al Jazeera.

The latest batch of photos from the Epstein estate features Trump, Clinton and more

One of the photos released from the Epstein files showed three women surrounding Trump while his hand was wrapped around the waist of one of the women. The women’s faces are blurred out to protect their identity. Another photo shows Bill Clinton posing with Epstein and his then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

The various celebrities seen in the other photos also include Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon and Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, as well as Bill Gates, Woody Allen, entrepreneur Richard Branson and attorney Alan Dershowitz, according to NBC News.

While it’s not clear if the people seen in the photos were involved in any illegal activities, House Democrats are continuing to investigate their association with Epstein.

“These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” Garcia said, per NBC News. “We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

Trump continues to deny having close ties to Epstein

According to Al Jazeera, Trump said he only knew Epstein because they were neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump said he eventually kicked him out from his Mar-a-Lago resort because he was a creep.

Trump once again defended himself earlier this year after The Wall Street Journal released a photo of a birthday card that Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein. The card featured a crude drawing of a naked woman and a message that appeared to be written by Trump. He denied knowing anything about the photo or the message.

The post New Batch Of Epstein Photos Released By House Democrats, Featuring Trump, Clinton, Bill Gates, Woody Allen And More appeared first on Blavity.

View Peanut Gallery comments(24) at website See photos here

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM AXIOS

Trump is "wrong" about Clinton-Epstein accusations, WH chief of staff says

BY Jason Lalljee

President Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles contradicted his claims about former President Clinton's ties to Jeffrey Epstein in a new interview with Vanity Fair published Tuesday.

The big picture: The president has repeatedly tried to deflect attention from his own ties to Epstein by spotlighting Clinton's relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Driving the news: In the Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday, Wiles is quoted as saying that Trump "was wrong" about his repeated claim that the Epstein files reveal anything incriminating about Clinton.

· Trump has said that Clinton visited Epstein's private island, Little St. James, "supposedly 28 times," which Clinton has denied.

· "There is no evidence" those visits happened, Wiles said, per Vanity Fair.

Flashback: After House Democrats released a series of emails last month detailing Trump's connection to Epstein, Trump directed the Justice Department to "investigate Jeffrey Epstein's involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions."

What they're saying: Wiles said after her comments were published that the piece was "a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history."

· "Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story."

Catch up quick: House Oversight Democrats last week released a new round of photos showing powerful figures socializing with Epstein, including Trump, Clinton, Steve Bannon and Woody Allen.

· Democrats said they received 95,000 new photos from Epstein's estate, releasing 19.

· The undated photos show Trump speaking to various women with their faces redacted, images of Epstein's jet and red condom packets with Trump's name and likeness on them with the phrase, "I'm HUUUUGE!"

Zoom in: Wiles in the interview also defended Trump's own inclusion in the Epstein files, saying that the president and Epstein were "young, single playboys together."

· "[Trump] is in the file. And we know he's in the file. And he's not in the file doing anything awful," she said.

· Trump "was on [Epstein's] plane…he's on the manifest," she said.

· "They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it's a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together."

Context: As Vanity Fair notes, Trump started dating first lady Melania Trump, then Melania Knauss, sometime in 1998.

· Virginia Giuffre, Epstein's highest-profile accuser, first met Epstein while she was an employee of Trump's Mar-a-Lago spa in 2000.

· Trump and Epstein reportedly fell out in 2004.

What we're watching: The government has until Dec. 19 to release the Epstein files to the public, per a law passed by Congress and a recent court ruling.

April Rubin contributed to reporting.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM SPECTRUM NEWS

DEADLINE FOR JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO RELEASE EPSTEIN FILES LOOMS. HERE'S WHERE THINGS STAND

BY Christina Santucci PUBLISHED 5:17 PM ET Dec. 16, 2025

WASHINGTON — The deadline for the Justice Department to release records in its investigation into notorious convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is just days away.

By Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi must make the files publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format," per the Epstein Transparency Act signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.

What You Need To Know

· By Friday, Dec. 19, Attorney General Pam Bondi must make files in the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format," per the Epstein Transparency Act signed into law by President Donald Trump last month

· Included in the scope of what must be made public are documents relating to Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving out a 20-year prison sentence for luring girls to be abused by Epstein over the course of a decade

· Epstein, who himself pled guilty in 2008 to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18, died by suicide in a New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges

But it is unclear when exactly the records will be released and if the files will be shared at once.

Included in the scope of what must be made public are documents relating to Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for luring girls to be abused by Epstein over the course of a decade. Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas in August.

Epstein, who himself pled guilty in 2008 to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18, died by suicide in a New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Ahead of the release, here’s a look back at what led up to the Epstein Transparency Act and what may be included in the release:

A law requiring the files’ release

A small group of bipartisan lawmakers — including Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California as well as Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — led a monthslong push for the release of the files.

Their effort to compel the House to vote on making Justice Department files public secured the final lawmaker signature needed once Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn into office last month — seven weeks after she won a special election for her House seat

In the days leading up to subsequent votes in the House and Senate — both of which were overwhelmingly in favor of forcing the files' release — Trump seemed to reverse course on his previous opposition to the measure and signed the bill into law the same day it arrived on his desk

The law explicitly notes that records cannot be delayed, withheld or redacted on “the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity” but does allow for carve-outs for Bondi to prevent information “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy” as well as materials that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution” from being made public.

One investigation that may be considered “active” or “ongoing” is the probe Bondi announced in November into some of Trump’s political foes, including former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. A request made by Spectrum News to the Justice Department about the status of the investigation was not immediately returned.

Records that contain "personally identifiable information" about survivors of Epstein's abuse may also be withheld or redacted.

During a news conference Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned of “serious legal and political consequences” if members of the Trump administration “dodge, delay or partially release these files.”

Democrats in the upper chamber said they would know if materials were missing based on feedback from women who have accused Epstein of abuse.

Epstein ‘harmed over one thousand victims,’ DOJ says

A Justice Department and FBI memo from July confirmed that authorities believe Epstein abused more than 1,000 girls and women.

Several of his accusers joined lawmakers earlier this year on Capitol Hill, where some, including Marina Lacerda, said they were publicly sharing what happened for the first time.

Lacerda, who identified herself as “Minor-Victim 1” in federal court filings, said that she had to drop out of ninth grade because she spent so much time with Epstein.

“From 14 to 17 years old, I went and worked for Jeffrey instead of receiving an education,” she said.

Grand jury records unsealed ahead of deadline

Three separate federal judges earlier this month ordered that grand jury transcripts and records related to Epstein be unsealed, with each saying the recently passed law overrode the usual rules about grand jury secrecy.

The records pertain to the abandoned federal investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, materials and other nonpublic evidence from Maxwell's criminal case, as well as files from the 2019 sex trafficking case against Epstein.

“It’s a good sign that the DOJ went back and asked for that grand jury material,” Massie said last week, when asked about the looming deadline. But he added, “What we want to see are the facts and the evidence that the FBI and DOJ have never given to a grand jury.”

In January, a separate batch of court documents from Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell were also unsealed — sparking renewed public interest in the investigation.

Separate investigation by House has resulted in release of other files

The House Oversight Committee launched its own investigation into Epstein over the summer, and issued a flurry of subpoenas to high-profile Democrats, including Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Epstein’s estate and most recently two banks that lawmakers said had dealings with the notorious financier.

The Republican-led committee has shared several rounds of documents to date, including some 33,000 in September and another 20,000 in November. Many of the documents were already public.

Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the committee — Rep. Robert Garcia of California — last week released 19 undated photos, including ones with Trump, Clinton and the former Prince Andrew, as well as several other high-profile men in politics and business. The images, which did not depict any clear criminal conduct, were among some 95,0000 provided by Epstein’s estate, Garcia said.

Each of the men shown has previously denied wrongdoing. Clinton said in a statement after Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges that he knew “nothing of the terrible crimes” that the disgraced fianancier was accused of, and Andrew has continued to “vigorously deny” accusations of sexual misconduct.

The White House accused Democrats of “releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative.”

When asked about the photographs during an unrelated event at the White House on Friday, Trump said that Epstein was “all over Palm Beach” and that "there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him."

Earlier this month, Garcia also shared images and videos of Epstein’s private property in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Epstein accuser Liz Stein, who now works as an advocate against human trafficking nationwide, described seeing the newly released images in an interview with CNN.

Stein added that the release of materials “can be really incredibly triggering for us, but at the same time, (we) realize how important it is for this all to come out.”

POLITICAL PRESSURE OVER THE FILES' RELEASE

Public and political pressure had already been rising earlier this year when Bondi suggested during a Fox News interview in February that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk." Her comments came ahead of an event with conservative influencers at the White House, where she shared binders of information — most of which already was public.

Then in July, the Justice Department and FBI contended that Epstein did not maintain an incriminating “client list” and “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,” drawing criticism even from some in the Make America Great Again movement.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles offered her assessment to a Vanity Fair journalist, saying in a piece published Tuesday that she thought Bondi “completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this.”

When asked for comment about Wiles remarks, a Justice Department spokesperson pointed to Bondi’s post on X. The attorney general had written in part, “Any attempt to divide this administration will fail.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

WOODY ALLEN IS NOT SORRY ABOUT HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN

The nonagenarian director is taking a slightly different tack than many of the other powerful people associated with the disgraced former financier.

By Ginia Bellafante Dec. 13, 2025

Over the course of the past three months, Woody Allen published his first novel, “What’s With Baum?”; turned 90; mourned the death of his friend and former muse, Diane Keaton; and participated in a rare series of interviews, among them an exchange in which he described Jeffrey Epstein as “charming and personable.”

For several years, the filmmaker and his wife Soon-Yi Previn were regular guests at the Epstein townhouse on the Upper East Side, not far from their own. “Always accept. Always interesting,” he said of these dinners in a letter to his host, on the occasion of Mr. Epstein’s 63rd birthday.

For a while it seemed as if Mr. Allen had emerged from a long period of tempered cancellation, one that began in the 1990s when his former partner, Mia Farrow, accused him of sexually abusing their daughter, Dylan — allegations Mr. Allen has always denied and for which no criminal charges were ever filed.

But to the extent that collective memory of the scandal had faded, the Epstein connection revives and deepens questions about the sexual morality and social judgment of a man who married his girlfriend’s adopted daughter and can count in his prolific, creative output a romantic comedy about a middle-aged writer’s involvement with a 17-year-old girl (to say nothing of his screenplay for “Annie Hall,’’ in which the Tony Roberts character jokes about having sex with 16-year old twins.)

On Friday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a trove of photographs from the Epstein estate, images of him with famous and influential men, Mr. Allen included. In the pictures, the two are seen enjoying each other’s company in settings more intimate than a house party. In one picture, they sit across a table from each other, seemingly lingering after a long meal. There are coffee cups and water glasses between them and the only other person around is an unidentified woman. Mr. Epstein, who is not often photographed wearing glasses, here has on black frames similar to the style Mr. Allen has worn for years.

(Reached for comment about these newly distributed pictures, a representative for Mr. Allen did not respond.)

In another instance, Mr. Allen, seated in a director’s chair with headphones around his neck, looks up at Mr. Epstein who is gazing into his monitor, presumably visiting him on a film set. Still another picture has the filmmaker seated in a private plane next to Larry Summers, the former Harvard president, who was recently revealed to have mined Mr. Epstein for dating advice, in a run of poorly punctuated correspondence, as he pursued a protégé.

After those texts and emails were made public, Mr. Summers expressed shame around his continued communication with Mr. Epstein, which he called “misguided.” But when asked by a reporter for the British newspaper The Sunday Times, in September, about his relationship with the man who officials say killed himself in a federal detention center as he faced sex trafficking charges, Mr. Allen made no similar gesture toward embarrassment or contrition, calling him, instead “a substantial character.” The dinners were full of “illustrious people, college professors, scientists, Nobel laureates — accomplished people who were fun to listen to,” in Mr. Allen's view.

“He told us he’d been in jail and that he had been — I can’t remember the word — but that he’d been falsely put in jail in some way,” Mr. Allen said, suggesting a gullibility not often associated with Manhattan’s sophisticate class or, alternately, a sympathy for someone he thought might be a fellow traveler in the world of the wrongfully accused.

“Extorted?” the reporter asked. “Right, extorted,” Mr. Allen said. “He told us he was trying to make up for it now by being philanthropic and giving money to cutting-edge scientists and universities. He couldn’t have been nicer.”

The images suggest that the two men, both children of postwar working-class Brooklyn, were better acquainted than previously believed. They also indicate just how taken the culturally privileged can be with the financially extravagant, felony sentencing be damned. By his own account, Mr. Allen began going to the Epstein house in 2010, two years after Mr. Epstein had been sentenced for soliciting sex from teenage girls. What appeared to override any concerns that might have existed about these transgressions was the company, even when the company did not include the faculty of MIT, but rather people like the magician David Blaine, who once showed up “swallowing live goldfish and then regurgitating them.”

Transactional relationships take many forms and a way to regard this one perhaps demands the lens of content. Over his long career, Mr. Allen has made two films — “Crimes and Misdemeanors” in 1989 and “Match Point,” 16 years later — about deceitful men who murder women and get away with it. The evasion of consequence has been an enduring source of fascination. In the end, perhaps Mr. Epstein provided Mr. Allen with something even more valuable than cachet: potential material.

Ginia Bellafante writes features, profiles and social criticism for The Times.

the DON JONES INDEX…