The US Justice Department’s latest release of Epstein-related documents has set off fresh debate and scrutiny, with newly surfaced emails and flight records leading to questions about the networks around the disgraced financier, and renewed disputes over what the files actually show.
More than 30,000 pages of material were made public, revealing previously unseen details about Jeffrey Epstein’s connections and communications, including messages that appear to involve high-profile figures.
The disclosures come amid ongoing demands for transparency about Epstein’s activities and the powerful people once in his orbit.
Royal email raises eyebrows
Among the newly unsealed material is an email exchange from 2001 that appears to show a correspondent identified only as “A”—believed to be Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew—asking Epstein’s close associate Ghislaine Maxwell whether she had found him “some new inappropriate friends.”
Maxwell’s reply said she had only found “appropriate” friends, to which the sender responded simply, “Distraught!”
Subsequent messages in the thread reference travel plans and “intelligent, pretty” women from “good families,” suggesting introductions being organised as part of social arrangements.
While there is no direct evidence of criminal conduct in the thread, the suggestion of arranging meetings has rekindled interest in historical allegations surrounding Epstein and his associates.
Photo: Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are seen in this image released by the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC, US, on December 19, 2025 as part of a new trove of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (US Justice Department)
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Another part of the release has drawn attention to US President Donald Trump. A 2020 email included in the files suggests Trump was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996, according to the Guardian.
One flight reportedly included only Trump, Epstein, and an unnamed 20-year-old woman, and others included individuals later considered possible witnesses in the Ghislaine Maxwell case.
But the Justice Department has pushed back on how these details are being interpreted. Officials said many of the claims in the documents are “unfounded and false,” and warned against sensationalising references to Trump.
Critics of the release say the files have been heavily redacted and represent only a fraction of the material that should be public. Some survivors and advocates have called out what they describe as extreme censorship that obscures the full picture of Epstein’s network.
Despite the backlash, authorities maintain that they are complying with legal transparency requirements.


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