The Department of Justice defended President Trump’s name appearing repeatedly in the latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, dismissing what it calls the “sensationalist” claims against him and arguing that the timing of reports against him lodged with the FBI was politically motivated.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Justice Department wrote in an X post including a link to the newly released documents.
“To be clear: The claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” they added before patting themselves on the back for releasing them.
“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” the post concluded, referencing the large-scale redactions appearing in the 30,000-item document dump, which have been slammed by critics as an attempt at obfuscation.
The files were released starting Dec. 19 after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November — mandating their publication within 30 days — which Trump signed into law after failing to rally the Republican caucus against the bill.
A Jan. 8, 2020, email included in the most recent release notes that he traveled on convicted sex offender Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996.
“For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case,” reads the email, penned by an unidentified US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
On at least four of the flights, the email states, convicted Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was also present. On some of the trips, the president’s son Eric, his daughter Tiffany, as well as his second wife, Marla Maples, were also in attendance.
On one flight in 1993, Trump and Epstein were the only listed passengers, and another flight included just Trump, Epstein and an unnamed 20-year-old.
“We’ve just finished reviewing the full records (more than 100 pages of very small script) and didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road,” the email warned.
The email gives no evidence that Trump was aware of Epstein’s sex crimes against women and girls as young as 14, nor does it accuse him of any wrongdoing.
The president himself has vocally dismissed the obsessive interest in the files as an attempt by Democrats to damage him politically.
“What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” he told reporters in Florida Monday.
“Like, for instance, today, we’re building the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world, and they’re asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was finished.”
Trump has claimed he banished Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago golf resort after the disgraced financier ignored warnings to stop poaching masseuses from the club to work for him.
He’s also risen to the defense of former President Bill Clinton, who appeared in numerous photos released in earlier batches of Epstein files drops, including in a hot tub and with an unidentified young woman seated on his lap on Epstein’s private jet.
“I don’t like pictures of Bill Clinton being shown,” Trump told reporters Monday. “I think it’s a terrible thing.”
