When thousands of new documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation were released on Friday evening, journalists and citizen investigators across the nation were greeted by one of the most reassuring phrases in the English language: “CSAM NOT SCANNED.” CSAM, an abbreviation for child sex abuse material, is the current law enforcement term for what might previously be known as child pornography. Seeing the term dozens of times across the 3 gigabytes of new Epstein material is a sign that the FBI has more specific documentation of the late abusers’ crimes, but the bureau will not be disseminating it.
The remaining array of photographs and heavily redacted documents provide more insight into Epstein’s relationships with celebrities, along with detritus from the FBI’s years-long investigation. The 2019 searches of his townhome on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and compound on Little Saint James Island in the Caribbean yielded hundreds of pictures, and those have been made public with very few redactions. In these images, the framed photos presumably showing victims are obscured.
The releases also contain hundreds of photos from Epstein’s own personal collection, including photos from a Rolling Stones concert and one that shows Epstein posing with Micheal Jackson. There are photos that show him cuddling with Ghislaine Maxwell as they visit haute locations like St. Tropez and Brunei, and others that show him shooting guns on his Zorro Ranch property in New Mexico. The CSAM disclaimer appears most frequently in these sections, along with a few photos of disembodied female buttocks, presumably belonging to known adults.
And while the FBI withheld the worst of its Epstein material, there are still plenty of unpleasant sights to be seen for anyone with the stomach to dig through. Here, Vanity Fair looks at them so you don’t have to:
Epstein had an abiding interest in race science, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that a desk at his home on Little Saint James Island prominently displays the sort of white phrenology bust you would find in the possession of a 19th century eugenicist.
When the DOJ gave Fox News an early selection of files, the department led with photos of the former Democratic president—including one where Clinton is shirtless, reclining in a hot tub. Political motivations aside, it’s not hard to tell why the Trump administration might have wanted to foreground this image. There are hundreds of pictures in Friday’s drop, but it really is one of the strangest.
(In response, Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Ureña said that the Trump Justice Department’s political aims explain the inclusion of the photo. “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light,” he said. “The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”)
There may be no CSAM, but the drop still includes plenty of figurative art featuring children. Epstein’s townhouse had a lifesized bronze sculpture of a little boy on a stairwell landing. He had a Henry Darger-esque painting of other nude children frolicking in a bedroom.
You can’t find the energy to run an unimaginably large sex trafficking scheme without indulging in a bit of self care every now and then. There are a few photos showing Epstein as he kicks back and indulges in a spa day. The nastiest one of them is a close up of his face slathered in a bile-green mask.
Epstein’s townhouse, which was constructed to the 19th century, had very little inside that referenced the opulence of the Gilded Age. But one sitting room was decorated with period details. The decor looks nice enough that you might miss its creepiest touches—like a taxidermied tiger in repose, and what definitely looks like a stuffed dog in an active pose.
One piece of paper in the files shows notes from a message that Brunel left for Epstein on April 4, 2005. “He spoke to the doctor about your symptoms,” it read. “It can be cured but you have to move.” The message ends with a stern warning—failure to heed this might lead to results “which can shorten your sex life.”
The erstwhile couple seemed to have plenty of downtime on Epstein’s private jet while they traveled from place to place. There are plenty of photos that show them getting a little silly, but the weirdest one is a closeup of Maxwell grabbing Epstein’s feet and stuffing his toes down the front of her blouse.
The FBI search of the townhouse uncovered a letter from someone named Steven from Buffalo, New York, which reads like a perverted pep talk to cheer Epstein up before he faces consequences for his crimes.
Erin Vanderhoof
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Many familiar faces and names are mentioned or pictured in the redacted documents, among them former President Bill Clinton, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly known as Prince Andrew, until he was recently stripped of his royal titles in connection with the Epstein scandal), and even Winnie the Pooh and Piglet (one victim claimed that Epstein took her to Disneyland, and photos are included in the data dump).
Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton and Diana Ross.Department of Justice.
Jeffery EpsteinDepartment of Justice.
Kase Wickman
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Six years after his death, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein still makes headlines.
He stars in conspiracy theories and falsehoods — about what government files reveal about him, the island where he trafficked girls and women, important men he knew, including Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
Social media users and politicians across the political spectrum engross themselves in stories — true and imagined — about Epstein’s world of sex, power, connections and wealth.
Epstein received lenient treatment from the criminal justice system until the Miami Herald published a 2018 extensive investigation into his case. He was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges for recruiting dozens of underage girls to his New York City mansion and Palm Beach, Florida, estate from 2002 to 2005 to engage in sex acts for money. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, and investigators concluded he died by suicide.
In November, Congress passed and Trump signed a law that requires the Justice Department to release unclassified government investigative files related to Epstein. In the lead-up to the White House’s anticipated Dec. 19 documents release, PolitiFact looked back at our coverage of Epstein-related falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
Trump told reporters in July that the Epstein files “were made up” by former FBI Director James Comey and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. That’s Pants on Fire.
The files are not “made up” — they collectively represent investigative evidence and findings from law enforcement documents, victims’ testimonies and court cases.
Neither Obama nor Biden were in office when the FBI investigated Epstein; George W. Bush and Trump were. Comey worked in the private sector during those investigative periods. Epstein was arrested on federal charges during Trump’s first administration.
Some Trump critics have pointed to his past links to Epstein. Trump’s former adviser Elon Musk wrote on X that Trump “is in the Epstein files.” Being mentioned in the files is not akin to criminal wrongdoing. It is well-documented that Trump and Epstein knew each other although they had a falling out some time between 2004 and 2007.
The 2024 release of court documents in an Epstein-related lawsuit led to false social media claims about a 166-name list that alleged Epstein was connected to famous politicians, musicians and actors.
Seventy-eight percent of the people on the list were not mentioned in the court documents. Looking through other documents, including Epstein’s private jet flight logs and his address book, PolitiFact found that the majority of the names on the list were not in those records either. Although some of the people listed had well-documented relationships with Epstein, only two had been charged with crimes.
After 2024 election results showed Trump won the presidency, an Instagram post falsely claimed Trump had visited the island Epstein owned. But there is no documented evidence that Trump visited Epstein’s Little St. James in the Virgin Islands.
Flight logs show Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane at least seven times in the 1990s between Palm Beach and New York, but there’s no documented evidence showing Trump visited the island. A supposed photo of a teenager dancing with Trump on the island was fabricated.
Social media posts previously said Clinton was photographed with young women on the island and appeared in 26 Epstein flight logs. In November, Trump made a similar statement, saying, “Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times.”
Clinton took four trips in 2002 and 2003 on Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with Clinton Foundation work, a Clinton spokesperson said. It’s unclear how many individual flights Clinton took for those trips.
Vanity Fair in December published an article based on multiple 2025 interviews with Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff. Wiles said “there is no evidence” that Clinton visited the island. Wiles said in an X post that “significant context was disregarded” in the article but included no examples and cited no errors of fact.
Social media posts this summer falsely said Trump “made 4,725 wire transfers” to Epstein, totaling nearly $1.1 billion. The posts included as proof a clip of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., talking about 4,725 wire transfers, but he wasn’t referring to Trump. Wyden said Senate Finance Committee investigators reviewed a Treasury file on Epstein and found 4,725 wire transfers “flowing in and out of just one of Mr. Epstein’s bank accounts.”
In November, a Democrat used newly-released documents from Epstein’s estate to assert that Trump and Epstein remained friends after Trump was elected in 2016.
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., highlighted one email exchange and said in an X post: “Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017.” That exaggerates what records show.
In an email exchange dated Nov. 23, 2017, Epstein discussed his Thanksgiving plans with Faith Kates, cofounder of the New York-based modeling agency NEXT Management. When Kates asked who else was “down there,” seemingly referring to Florida, Epstein mentioned several names including Trump.
It is possible Epstein was not foretelling a specific Thanksgiving Day plan but commenting about who else would be in the Florida area at that time.
News reports, photos, videos and White House news releases show Trump spent Thanksgiving 2017 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. PolitiFact found no proof he met with Epstein that day.
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GOP House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he plans to commence contempt of Congress proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton for ignoring the committee’s subpoenas related to its ongoing probe into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Earlier this summer, in July, a bipartisan House Oversight Subcommittee approved motions to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as a slew of other high-profile political figures, to aid its investigation looking into how the federal government handled Epstein’s sex trafficking case. The subpoenas were then sent out in early August, with the Clinton’s scheduled to testify on Dec. 17 and 18.
“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. 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,” Comer said in a press release put out Friday evening.
DOJ CLEARED TO RELEASE SECRET JEFFREY EPSTEIN CASE GRAND JURY MATERIALS
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“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.”
Comer’s threats come as Democrats from the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of photos obtained from Epstein’s estate, which included further images of the disgraced financier with powerful figures like President Donald Trump and former President Clinton. Thousands of images were reportedly released, with potentially more to come.
Other high-profile figures subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee include James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales.
FEDERAL JUDGE APPROVES RELEASING GHISLAINE MAXWELL CASE GRAND JURY MATERIAL
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is leading a probe into how the federal government handled the case against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In addition to testimony from these individuals, Comer and the Oversight Committee also issued subpoenas to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for all documents and communications pertaining to the case against Epstein.
In September, the committee released tens-of-thousands of pages of Epstein-related records in compliance with the subpoena, and the Oversight Committee indicated that the DOJ would continue producing even more records as it works through needed redactions and other measures that must occur before they are released.
From Left to Right: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Jeffrey Epstein, President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
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Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
In recent weeks, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released tens of thousands of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein estate, reams of emails and photographs that have provided additional details about the private life of the sex-trafficking financier and the prominent people in his orbit. The committee says it received 95,000 new images from the estate on Thursday and has now released 19 photos that depict Epstein with several high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. However, the panel did not include captions describing who or what is depicted in the photos, or when or where they were taken. “These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” the committee Democrats wrote on social media. Here, what’s included in the new tranche of photos, and what we’ve been able to discern about them.
In one photo, Trump is smiling surrounded by six women whose faces have been redacted. In another, Trump is seated aboard a plan next to a blonde woman whose face has also been obscured.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
One image depicts a younger Trump standing beside Epstein and a laughing blonde woman at what appears to be a public event. CBS News notes that Trump and Epstein were photographed together at a Victoria’s Secret “Angel’s Party” in New York, which the estate-released photo appears to resemble.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Another image shows a pile of novelty Trump condoms for sale in the Manhattan home goods store Fishs Eddy.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
The estate released an image of a photo signed by Clinton. In the photo, Clinton can seen standing next to Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as well as Epstein himself.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
In one photo, Gates is pictured next to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the son of Queen Elizabeth II whose association with Epstein and resulting allegations resulted in the loss of his royal titles. In another, Gates is seen standing in front of a plane beside an unknown pilot. In another image, a framed photo of Gates, apparently aboard a plane, can be seen on the wall above a dresser.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Again, the Committee provided no context for these images.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Trump adviser Steve Bannon is included in multiple photos. In one, Bannon is seated across from Epstein, who is behind a desk in what appears to be his office. In the other image, Bannon and Epstein can be seen taking a mirror selfie together. Bannon is also pictured talking with Woody Allen in a separate image.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
One photo shows Epstein speaking with the director, who is sitting in a directors chair, on an unknown set. Another shows Epstein, Allen, and a woman whose face is redacted sitting around a dinner table.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
One photo depicts Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, his wife, Harvard professor Elisa New, and Woody Allen on what appears to be a private plane.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
In one image, Epstein is seen in an apparent outdoor tropical location with British billionaire Richard Branson, who is holding up a notebook with unidentifiable writing on it.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
In one photo, Epstein is seen wearing a Harvard University sweatshirt standing next to attorney Alan Dershowitz.
Photo: U.S. House Oversight Committee
This post has been updated throughout.
Nia Prater,Chas Danner
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Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers abruptly went on leave Wednesday from teaching at Harvard University, where he once served as president, over recently released emails showing he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Summers’ spokesperson said.
Summers had canceled his public commitments amid the fallout of the emails being made public and earlier Wednesday severed ties with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Harvard had reopened an investigation into connections between him and Epstein, but Summers had said he would continue teaching economics classes at the school.
That changed Wednesday evening with the news that he will step away from teaching classes as well as his position as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government with the Harvard Kennedy School.
“Mr. Summers has decided it’s in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as Director as Harvard undertakes its review,” Summers spokesperson Steven Goldberg said, adding that his co-teachers would finish the classes.
Summers has not been scheduled to teach next semester, according to Goldberg.
A Harvard spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press that Summers had let the university know about his decision. Summers decision to go on leave was first reported by The Harvard Crimson.
Harvard did not mention Summers by name in its decision to restart an investigation, but the move follows the release of emails showing that he was friendly with Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008.
By Wednesday, the once highly regarded economics expert had been facing increased scrutiny over choosing to stay in the teaching role. Some students even filmed his appearance in shock as he appeared before a class of undergraduates on Tuesday while stressing he thought it was important to continue teaching.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said in a social media post on Wednesday night that Summers “cozied up to the rich and powerful — including a convicted sex offender. He cannot be trusted in positions of influence.”
The emails include messages in which Summers appeared to be getting advice from Epstein about pursuing a romantic relationship with someone who viewed him as an “economic mentor.”
“im a pretty good wing man , no?” Epstein wrote on Nov. 30, 2018.
The next day, Summers told Epstein he had texted the woman, telling her he “had something brief to say to her.”
“Am I thanking her or being sorry re my being married. I think the former,” he wrote.
Summers’ wife, Elisa New, also emailed Epstein multiple times, including a 2015 message in which she thanked him for arranging financial support for a poetry project she directs. The gift he arranged “changed everything for me,” she wrote.
“It really means a lot to me, all financial help aside, Jeffrey, that you are rooting for me and thinking about me,” she wrote.
New, an English professor emerita at Harvard, did not respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
An earlier review completed in 2020 found that Epstein visited Harvard’s campus more than 40 times after his 2008 sex-crimes conviction and was given his own office and unfettered access to a research center he helped establish. The professor who provided the office was later barred from starting new research or advising students for at least two years.
On Tuesday, Summers appeared before his class at Harvard, where he teaches “The Political Economy of Globalization” to undergraduates with Robert Lawrence, a professor with the Harvard Kennedy School.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein and that I’ve said that I’m going to step back from public activities for a while. But I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations,” he said.
Summers’ remarks were captured on video by several students, but no one appeared to publicly respond to his comments.
Epstein, who authorities said died by suicide in 2019, was a convicted sex offender infamous for his connections to wealthy and powerful people, making him a fixture of outrage and conspiracy theories about wrongdoing among American elites.
Summers served as treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Harvard’s president for five years from 2001 to 2006. When asked about the emails last week, Summers issued a statement saying he has “great regrets in my life” and that his association with Epstein was a “major error in judgement.”
Other organizations that confirmed the end of their affiliations with Summers included the Center for American Progress, the Center for Global Development and the Budget Lab at Yale University. Bloomberg TV said Summers’ withdrawal from public commitments included his role as a paid contributor, and the New York Times said it will not renew his contract as a contributing opinion writer.
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This story has been corrected to show that Summers is a former treasury secretary, not treasurer; to show that Summers’ statement about stepping back from public commitments was issued late Monday, not Tuesday; and to show that the school is known as the Harvard Kennedy School, not Kennedy Harvard School.
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Associated Press journalist Hallie Golden contributed to this report.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday on a bill that, if passed, would force the Department of Justice to release all files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. CBS News’ Natalie Brand and Taurean Small report.
Reid Hoffman has spent years trying to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, having apologized repeatedly for his former ties to the disgraced financier. Now, the LinkedIn cofounder and prominent Democratic donor has been thrown into a widening political storm—one fueled by the release of emails between him and Epstein in the late 2010s and President Donald Trump’s efforts to scrutinize Democrats named in the Epstein files after newly released documents revealed seemingly extensive ties between Epstein and Trump that appear to challenge the president’s account of their relationship.
Trump has emphatically and consistently denied any wrongdoing, knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation, or involvement with the allegations mentioned in newly released emails
The controversy has escalated rapidly in recent days, as Trump ordered a Justice Department investigation into Hoffman, several other high-profile figures, and institutions like JPMorgan Chase, and then abruptly reversed his stance and spoke out in favor of releasing the full trove of Epstein files. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed on Nov. 13 that she would launch the probe. The move was widely interpreted as a political counteroffensive designed to deflect attention from Trump’s own ties to Epstein—ties that the 20,000 newly released documents described in detail.
Bondi has attempted to further connect Hoffman to Epstein in the past. During her contentious Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on October 7, she repeatedly invoked Hoffman’s name when questioned about Epstein and Trump and called him “one of Epstein’s closest confidants.” Hoffman has repeatedly denied any such allegations.
On November 14, Hoffman hit back, taking to X to demand “Trump should release all of the Epstein files: every person and every document in the files.” The LinkedIn co-founder accused Trump’s probe of being “nothing more than political persecution and slander” and claimed he was never a client of Epstein’s nor did he engage with him in any capacity other than fundraising.
In a Sunday evening Truth Social post, however, the president doubled down. He said calls to release the entire cache of Epstein files were a “Democrat Hoax” and declared, “The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on ‘Epstein,’ are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!”
A White House spokesperson reiterated some of Trump’s claims, telling Fortune, “By releasing tens of thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have. The Democrat Party did nothing about Epstein for years; they are only pretending to care about these victims now as they attempt to score political points against President Trump.”
Hoffman did not respond to a Fortune request for comment regarding his ties to Epstein. JPMorgan Chase, Clinton, and Summers also did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.
Summers apologized for his relationship with Epstein in a statement to the Harvard Crimson, writing, “I have great regrets in my life. As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”
A spokesperson for Clinton refuted the Trump administration’s claims in a post on X. “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else,” they wrote.
JPMorgan Chase, which previously settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit with Epstein victims, responded to Trump’s probe in a statement to CNN: “The government had information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks. We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts. We ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.” (The bank did, however, continue to bank Epstein even after his 2008 solicitation of a minor conviction, working with him until 2013.)
The relationship between Hoffman and Epstein began through Joi Ito, who served as director of the MIT Media Lab. According to multiple reports, Hoffman first encountered Epstein when he helped solicit donations for the MIT Media Lab from the convicted sex offender. In July 2013, Epstein met with Hoffman and others at MIT’s campus. At this time, Epstein was already a registered sex offender, following his 2008 guilty plea to soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida.
Hoffman then visited Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, in 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ito was also present during this trip, which was described as being for the purpose of raising funds for MIT. According to Ito’s statement to the Journal, Hoffman participated in a “fundraising event” on the island “at my request.” Documents also indicated that Hoffman and Ito were planning another visit to Epstein’s island later in 2014, with plans to travel from Palm Beach to the island for a weekend and then onward to Boston.
Documents obtained by the Journal in 2023 also note that Hoffman planned to stay overnight at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on December 4, 2014, followed by a “breakfast party” the next morning that was expected to include both Epstein and Bill Gates. Whether this visit actually occurred remains unclear.
The last known in-person meeting between Epstein and Hoffman occurred in 2015, when Hoffman hosted a dinner attended by Epstein along with several Silicon Valley luminaries, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel. Hoffman has stated that he invited Epstein to this gathering based on assurances from Joi Ito that Epstein had been vetted and cleared by MIT’s approval process.
In 2023, Hoffman claimed the 2015 dinner was the last time he interacted with Epstein. Unsealed emails reviewed by Fortune, however, show that Epstein wrote to Hoffman at least once in 2017. This correspondence appears to be related to potential fundraising efforts intended to offset cuts Trump wanted to make to federal spending in his first term in office.
In an email to Hoffman dated March 16, 2017 and reproduced here with the original typos and other errors, Epstein says, “a HUGE donor advised fund is an elegant solution to the cuts trump proposes to what some consider critical programs. you could organzie a huge public charity that would continue the work of many worthwhile orgs. not my thing but structurally beautiful. its the wealthiest now stepping into a quasi govt funding. national endowment for arts. climate science, as extraordinary amounts of wealth have moved into private hands. elons and jeff space goals should be mirrored with many other former govt ones. hope to see you soon.”
The newly released emails do not show whether Hoffman ever replied.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on further sex trafficking charges in 2019.
MIT’s external investigation report, released in January 2020, also described Hoffman’s timeline. The report revealed that in July 2016, Ito sought advice from Hoffman about whether to allow Epstein to attend a Media Lab conference with “lots of people” who may “see him and maybe know he’s involved.” The report did not disclose whether Hoffman offered any advice or what it was.
While Elon Musk accused Hoffman of being a client of Epstein’s in 2024, no evidence of that genre of relationship has actually emerged. Hoffman has also vehemently denied any such characterization.
Hoffman has issued several public apologies and statements regarding his interactions with Epstein. After scandal over MIT’s Epstein connections erupted publicly in September 2019, Hoffman apologized in a statement to Axios: “By agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful.” He reiterated this position in 2023 to the Journal, stating, “It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors.”
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a measure that would compel the DOJ to make all Epstein files publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format” within 30 days.
Lily Mae Lazarus
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In recent days, as the U.S. House of Representatives approached a potential vote about releasing the Epstein files, President Donald Trump pivoted on the hot button topic.
Trump and members of his administration had sought to undermine efforts to release the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And Trump has been dismissive of the push to make the files public, calling the case “pretty boring stuff” in July and repeatedly referring to it as a Democratic “hoax.”
Then, on Nov. 16, he told House Republicans to vote in favor of the release.
His shift came after lawmakers cleared a significant hurdle Nov. 12, netting 218 signatures on a petition to force a vote on a bill to release the files within 30 days. The House is expected to vote on that bill this week. Previously, it was considered unlikely the legislation would pass in the Senate; it remains to be seen whether Trump’s latest statement will cause senators to reconsider.
Epstein moved in the same social circles as Trump in the 1990s, including attending parties at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private Palm Beach, Florida, club. The two were photographed together in social settings multiple times. They later had a falling out, a rift that some reporters dated to late 2007.
Palm Beach County prosecutors investigated Epstein after reports that a 14-year-old girl was molested at his mansion. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges related to soliciting prostitution from someone under 18. He received preferential treatment during the criminal investigation and served about a year in jail, largely on work release.
In 2018, the Miami Herald published an extensive investigation into the case, and the next year, Epstein was arrested on federal charges for recruiting dozens of underage girls to his New York City mansion and Palm Beach estate from 2002 to 2005 to engage in sex acts for money. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, and investigators concluded he died by suicide.
We asked the White House why Trump changed his stance on releasing the files. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files for years — by releasing tens of thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request” and calling for investigations into “Epstein’s Democrat friends.”
Here’s what Trump has said in 2024 and 2025 about releasing the Epstein files.
RELATED: Trump said Obama and Biden ‘made up’ Epstein files, but neither were in office when FBI investigated
In June 2024, “Fox and Friends” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy asked Trump if he would declassify various files, including those related to 9/11 and former President John F. Kennedy.
“Would you declassify the Epstein files?” Campos-Duffy said.
“Yeah, yeah, I would,” Trump said.
The clip spread on social media, and Trump’s campaign account also shared it.
During the same interview, Trump also said, “I guess I would.” He added, “You don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there because there is a lot of phony stuff with that whole world, but I think I would.”
On a September 2024 episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, during a discussion about releasing some of the Epstein documents, Trump said, “Yeah, I’d certainly take a look at it.” He added that he’d be “inclined” to do it and said, “I’d have no problem with it.”
Early in the second Trump administration, Trump officials— including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, who became the FBI director — said they supported releasing the files.
In late February at a White House event, Bondi released what she called the “first phase” of “declassified Epstein files” to conservative influencers. It largely consisted of documents that had already been made public.
In a July 12 Truth Social post, Trump expressed frustration about the Epstein files. Speaking to reporters July 15 on the White House lawn, Trump said the files “were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama. They were made up by Biden.” We rated that claim Pants on Fire.
Trump said the FBI should focus on investigating other issues such as voter fraud and that his administration should “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
In a July 16 interview with Real America’s Voice, a conservative outlet, Trump said, “I think in the case of Epstein, they’ve already looked at it and they are looking at it and I think all they have to do is put out anything credible. But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years.”
On Aug. 22, a reporter asked Trump if he was in favor of releasing the files.
“I’m in support of keeping it open,” he said. “Innocent people shouldn’t be hurt, but I’m in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn’t care less. You got a lot of people that could be mentioned in those files that don’t deserve to be, people — because he knew everybody in Palm Beach. I don’t know anything about that, but I have said to Pam (Bondi) and everybody else, give them everything you can give them because it’s a Democrat hoax.”
On Sept. 3, a reporter asked Trump a question about efforts to release the Epstein files and if the Justice Department was protecting any friends or donors.
Trump said it was a “Democrat hoax that never ends” and “we’ve given thousands of pages of files.”
Trump came out in support of releasing the files after it became clear the House was headed in that direction.
The House Oversight Committee on Nov. 12 released about 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate.
Trump directed prosecutors to investigate Democrats and told Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the files.
Trump has often noted Epstein’s ties to former President Bill Clinton. In a Nov. 14 Truth Social post, Trump asked the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s involvement with Clinton.
Typically, prosecutors do not release files during an ongoing investigation, so Trump’s announcement raised questions about whether the Justice Department will withhold certain files even if Congress votes to release them.
When a reporter asked Trump on Nov. 14 about releasing the files, he said, “I don’t care about it, released or not.”
Two days later, in a Nov. 16 post, Trump said, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’’
RELATED: The Epstein files, Trump and Congress: What happens next?
RELATED: Timeline: What the Trump administration has said about Epstein files release
When then-President Bill Clinton and real estate mogul Donald Trump crossed paths at the 2000 U.S. Open in New York, White House photographer William Vasta snapped a picture as the men smiled widely side-by-side in a half embrace.
He caught them in mid-motion, with Trump’s right arm extended toward Clinton, as if he were coming in for a full hug or finishing a handshake. In the frame, Trump’s right hand hangs near Clinton’s crotch.
Fast-forward 25 years. Trump is now president and artificial intelligence is muddying reality. A video using the image shows Trump repeatedly patting Clinton’s crotch and stomach as both men laugh. But Vasta told PolitiFact the video isn’t authentic.
“It’s totally fake,” he said. “From what I remember, no one touched anything.”
Vasta said the Sept. 9, 2000, still image showed the two men posing for pictures in a private suite at the tennis tournament. They might just have shaken hands or they might have been arranging themselves for a group photo.
But the scene in this video is fabricated.
“It’s easy to misinterpret what is happening in a still image,” Vasta said.
(Screenshot from TikTok)
The video made rounds after newly released documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein included an email exchange in which Epstein’s brother mentioned someone called “Bubba.” Some speculated it was a reference to Clinton, whose nickname is Bubba, but Epstein’s brother told The Advocate that’s wrong.
Vasta said the video “clearly is a derivative” of his still images. The video’s lighting matches Vasta’s personal lighting style for still photography, he said. Both the photo and the video show the same shadow Trump’s hat casts on his face, for example.
But in 2000, it was common for indoor videographers to use direct lighting, Vasta said, which means the lighting then captured on video wouldn’t show the same lighting as his photographs from that day.
At the time, video was still a nascent medium and even the White House videography team had limited access, Vasta said. He said he doesn’t remember any videographers in the suite and noted that still photography cameras didn’t have video functionality back then.
Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence, analyzed the video and concluded it was AI generated based on the real photograph of Trump and Clinton.
“The most prominent sign is the static start artifact where the video begins with a perfectly realistic high quality frame that suddenly animates with unnatural motion which is a hallmark of image to video AI tools,” Rege said.
During the short clip, the woman standing behind Trump disappears or fades into the scenery, he said. Inconsistent background images strongly signal AI use.
Rege also ran the video through Attestiv, a forensic analysis tool designed to detect media manipulation. For that clip, the tool reported an AI suspicion rating of nearly 100%, he said.
The Clinton Presidential Library released the U.S. Open photos in 2016 in response to a Politico Freedom of Information Act request as Trump sought the presidency against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Politico reported that the photos underscored “just how chummy Trump once was with the president and his wife Hillary.”
The publication didn’t report that the photos showed Trump groping the commander-in-chief. Videos that show Trump touching Clinton’s crotch are AI generated. Claims that they’re authentic videos are False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
RELATED: The Epstein files, Trump and Congress: What happens next?
Acceding to President Donald Trumps demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epsteins ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton. Political Science Prof. at Menlo College, Melissa Michelson, says this is a deflection on Trumps part that may backfire.
NEW YORK – Acceding to President Donald Trump‘s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.
Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.
Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.
Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”
“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”
In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
The president’s demand for an investigation – and Bondi’s quick acquiescence – is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.
It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein – though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson, Patricia Wexler, said the company regretted associating with Epstein “but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”
“The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” she said. The company agreed previously to pay millions of dollars to Epstein’s victims, who had sued arguing that the bank ignored red flags about criminal activity.
Clinton has acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. He also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims.
Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña posted on X Friday: “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, but was spared a long jail term when the U.S. attorney in Florida agreed not to prosecute him over allegations that he had paid many other children for sexual acts. After serving about a year in jail and a work release program, Epstein resumed his business and social life until federal prosecutors in New York revived the case in 2019. Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Summers and Hoffman had nothing to do with either case, but both were friendly with Epstein and exchanged emails with him. Those messages were among the documents released this week, along with other correspondence Epstein had with friends and business associates in the years before his death.
Nothing in the messages suggested any wrongdoing on the men’s part, other than associating with someone who had been accused of sex crimes against children.
Summers, who served in Clinton’s cabinet and is a former Harvard University president, previously said in a statement that he has “great regrets in my life” and that “my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”
Messages seeking comment were left for Hoffman through his investment firm, Greylock. Hoffman bankrolled writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump.
After Epstein’s sex trafficking arrest in 2019, Hoffman said he’d only had a few interactions with Epstein, all related to his fundraising for MIT’s Media Lab. He nevertheless apologized, saying that “by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice.”
Bondi, in her post, praised Clayton as “one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country” and said the Justice Department “will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”
Trump called Clayton “a great man, a great attorney,” though he said Bondi chose him for the job.
Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, took over in April as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York – the same office that indicted Epstein and won a sex trafficking conviction against Epstein’s longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell , in 2021.
Trump suggested while campaigning last year that he’d seek to open up the government’s case files on Epstein, but changed course in recent months, blaming Democrats and painting the matter as a “hoax” amid questions about what knowledge he may have had about Epstein’s yearslong exploitation of underage girls.
On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three Epstein email exchanges that referenced Trump, including one from 2019 in which Epstein said the president “knew about the girls” and asked Maxwell to stop.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to smear Trump.
Soon after, Republicans on the committee disclosed a far bigger trove of Epstein’s email correspondence, including messages he sent to longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon and to Britain’s former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with one of Epstein’s victims, who said she had been paid to have sex with the prince.
The House is speeding toward a vote next week to force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein.
“I don’t care about it, release or not,” Trump said Friday. “If you’re going to do it, then you have to go into Epstein’s friends,” he added, naming Clinton and Hoffman.
Still, he said: “This is a Democrat hoax. And a couple, a few Republicans have gone along with it because they’re weak and ineffective.”
President Donald Trump moved aggressively to deflect scrutiny on Friday after a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein’s private emails — released this week by the House Oversight Committee — resurfaced his own long-scrutinized relationship with the disgraced financier.
Hours after the documents circulated widely online, Trump took to Truth Social with a sweeping demand: he said he will ask Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s ties to “Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions,” claiming that “all arrows point to the Democrats.”
Bondi quickly agreed, posting on X Friday afternoon that she had assigned Attorney Jay Clayton to the case. Clayton is a high-profile figure among Republicans, having chaired the SEC during Trump’s first term and now acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Clinton has strongly denied that he had knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. In the emails, Epstein mentioned several times that Clinton was “never on the island.” However, the two knew each other in the early 2000s. Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On the other hand, Summers had a seemingly close and unusually personal relationship with the disgraced financier who at times acted as his informal relationship coach. Newly released emails from 2017 to 2019 show the former Treasury secretary corresponding with Epstein regularly, sometimes multiple times a day, seeking advice about his interactions with a woman in London.
In one exchange, Summers lamented that the woman had grown distant: “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy.’ I said awfully coy u are,” he wrote. Epstein replied within minutes, offering reassurance and strategy: “she’s smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy … annoyed shows caring, no whining showed strength.”
Other emails show Summers forwarding Epstein notes from the woman and asking whether he should respond. “Think no response for a while probably appropriate,” Summers wrote in one case. Epstein encouraged the silence, replying, “She’s already begining to sound needy 🙂 nice.”
Summers has previously said he regrets his past ties to Epstein. Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, billionaire investor and major Democratic donor, had an established relationship with Epstein, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Schedules show Epstein planned multiple trips with him—including two visits to Epstein’s island, Little St. James in 2014—and arranged for Hoffman to stay overnight at his Manhattan townhouse before attending a “breakfast party” with Bill Gates and others the next morning.
Hoffman now says he deeply regrets the interactions. “It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,” he told the Journal. “Ultimately I made the mistake, and I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”
Hoffman could not be reached for comment.
Trump’s inclusion of JPMorgan comes after the bank paid out more than $450 million in 2023 across multiple settlements related to its historic relationship with Epstein — including a $290 million agreement with a class of victims and a $75 million deal with the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bank has repeatedly said it “deeply regrets any association” with Epstein and would not have kept him as a client had it known of his crimes.
JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The release of the files — which Trump framed as an effort to expose an “Epstein Hoax” that he claims Democrats are weaponizing to distract from the shutdown– show Epstein repeatedly discussing Trump. They contradict Trump’s own account of their split, and Epstein offers his private, often caustic assessments of the man who would become president.
Across messages with lawyers, acquaintances, reporters, academics, and political figures, Epstein invoked Trump constantly, often bragging that he possessed insider insight into Trump’s private world. In one 2017 exchange, Epstein dismissed him sharply: “your world does not understand how dumb he really is. he will blame everyone around him.” A year later, he described Trump as “evil beyond belief, mad… nuts!!!”
The emails also directly challenge one of Trump’s most frequently repeated claims: that he expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for inappropriate behavior.
In a 2019 message to author Michael Wolff, Epstein flatly rejected the story: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever.”In another email, Epstein claimed a woman who worked at the club had been involved with him and wrote, “Trump knew of it, and came to my house many times during that period.” The documents do not substantiate these assertions, and the White House has denied them.
One of the most explosive lines appears in a 2011 note to Ghislaine Maxwell: “that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.” During a press conference, the White House pointed to the testimony of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who committed suicide earlier this year and said Trump did not participate “in anything.”
Epstein also imagined himself as holding leverage over Trump. In a December 2018 exchange, after someone suggested Trump’s critics were simply trying to “take down” the president, Epstein replied: “yes thx. its wild. because i am the one able to take him down.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Eva Roytburg
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Upon navigating to WhiteHouse.gov, the official website for the happenings and history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, users are met with a banner at the top of the page, “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government,” it reads, with an active timer tick-tick-ticking away, counting, to the second, how long the shutdown has been going on.
Of an estimated 1.4 million government workers, roughly half are considered essential workers, and are currently performing their jobs without pay, while the other half have been furloughed. The government isn’t working at capacity, and the executive branch would like you to know exactly who they’d like to blame.
Apparently, online trolling falls under the “essential” category, as a longstanding page about the White House grounds’ history was updated recently with renderings and statements about Donald Trump’s demolition and rebuild of the East Wing to make way for a very large ballroom, as well as a timeline of “major events” in the building’s history.
The events highlighted on the page make sense at first, beginning with George Washington selecting the future site of the White House in 1791, the 1814 burning of the building and subsequent rebuilding, and so on. It’s mostly porticos and additions from there, welcoming the Rose Garden and the Briefing Room to the party, until you scroll to 1998, when the definition of “major events” takes an abrupt turn in the first entry after Richard Nixon’s bowling alley addition in 1973.
“Bill Clinton Scandal: President Bill Clinton‘s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations,” the caption beneath an archival photo of Clinton and Lewinsky in the Oval Office reads. “The Oval Office trysts fueled impeachment for obstruction.”
The next entry takes us to 2012’s “Muslim Brotherhood Visit,” describing President Barack Obama (informally referred to only as “Obama”) hosting members of “a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas” and describes it as a terrorist organization.
Lest you think the timeline is all scandal, users next see a recap of the biggest, most memorable headline to come out of 2020. If you think that’s the Covid-19 pandemic, try again. Of course, it’s Melania Trump’s South Lawn tennis pavilion, which “unifies the tennis court, Children’s Garden, and Kitchen Garden, enhancing recreational opportunities for First Families.” If that’s not major, it’s hard to say what is.
Kase Wickman
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In her posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre recounts being groomed as a teenager and sexually exploited by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — writing that the abuse included rape by an unnamed prime minister and encounters with powerful men such as former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump.
The book, “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” was released Tuesday and garnered global attention. While it made no explicit allegations against Clinton or Trump, Giuffre did chronicle meetings with both in contexts not related to Epstein’s alleged crimes.
The story Giuffre recounts of how she was sucked into Epstein and Maxwell’s high-powered orbit begins when her father helped get her a job at Mar-a-Lago, where he worked as a maintenance worker. Giuffrie’s discussions of Trump in the book largely place him as a background figure during her early days at Mar-a-Lago, where she eventually met Maxwell in the summer of 2000.
Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, had her memoir released posthumously. (Cassie Basford)
“It couldn’t have been more than a few days before my dad said he wanted to introduce me to Mr. Trump himself. They weren’t friends, exactly. But Dad worked hard, and Trump liked that—I’d seen photos of them posing together, shaking hands,” Giuffre writes. “Trump couldn’t have been friendlier, telling me it was fantastic that I was there. ‘Do you like kids?’ he asked. ‘Do you babysit at all?’ He explained that he owned several houses next to the resort that he lent to friends, many of whom had children that needed tending.”
Giuffre also recounts how Epstein and Trump’s relationship eventually broke down, an explanation for which differs from the one Trump has publicly provided. Giuffre said Trump withdrew Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago after hitting the teenage daughter of another guest, but Trump has publicly said that a spat about Epstein coaxing his Mar-a-Lago spa employees was what led to the end of their relationship.
Giuffre, working an entry-level position at the resort’s spa, recounted how Maxwell sought to hire her as a masseuse despite her lack of experience. Before she knew it, Giuffre was traveling alongside Epstein and Maxwell around the world performing sexual favors. According to Giuffre, it was difficult to reconcile the fact that her abusers commanded so much respect from such powerful figures.
“This was a man who displayed framed photographs of himself with the Dalai Lama, with the pope, and with members of the British royal family. A photo in his Palm Beach house showed Epstein posing behind the podium of the White House briefing room,” Giuffre writes. “This was a man who’d had former president Bill Clinton over for dinner (I was at the table that night) and who’d hosted Al and Tipper Gore as well (again, I was there).”
PRINCE ANDREW VIEWED SEX WITH TEENAGE VIRGINIA GIUFFRE AS HIS ‘BIRTHRIGHT’, NEW MEMOIR CLAIMS
“Maxwell was proud of her friendships with famous people, especially men,” Giuffre added in the memoir. “[Maxwell] loved to talk about how easily she could get former president Bill Clinton on the phone.” According to Giuffre, Epstein and Maxwell visited the White House together during Clinton’s tenure in the Oval Office. In the book, Giuffre also recalled how Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane in 2002, but she was not present for that trip.
Bill Clinton was among the high-powered people in disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit, according to a new memoir released by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre. (Photos by: Alex Kent and Rick Friedman/Getty Images)
“On September 21, Epstein and Maxwell were leaving New York on an extended trip to Africa. Marcinkova was flying with them on Epstein’s Boeing 727, as were several high-profile guests: the actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey and former president Clinton, not to mention six U.S. Secret Service agents. (Clinton has said the trip was a humanitarian mission that included stops related to the work of his foundation.)” Giuffre wrote.
However, despite naming Clinton in the book about her experience being sex trafficked by Epstein, Giuffre lamented the media’s propensity to connect the former president to Epstein’s crimes. “Right away, the article noted that I had never been ‘lent out’ to the former president. But I guess the Mail found it newsworthy simply that I’d witnessed Epstein and Clinton together,” she writes.
Among the various trafficking incidents Giuffre talked about in her book, which do directly involve powerful people from Epstein and Maxwell’s orbit, was a brutal rape by an unnamed former prime minister on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2002. According to Giuffre’s account of the incident, she was ordered by Epstein to have sex with the prime minister, who choked her nearly to unconsciousness and mocked her fear of the situation. Giuffre said that upon returning to Epstein after the incident, she begged not to be sent back to the prime minister, but Epstein told her the brutality was just part of the job.
According to Giuffre, this horrific incident was a turning point for her.
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Virginia Giuffre holds a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Before the Prime Minister’s attack, Epstein had me fooled. I thought that Epstein’s predilection for childlike girls was a sickness, but that, in his twisted way, he meant well. After the attack, I couldn’t stay a fool. Having been treated so brutally and then seeing Epstein’s callous reaction to how terrorized I felt, I had to accept that Epstein meted out praise merely as a manipulation to keep me subservient. Epstein cared only about Epstein,” Giuffre writes in her memoir. “At that point, I hit bottom. I now knew I wouldn’t survive. I saw only two possible options: either someone Epstein trafficked me to would kill me or I would take my own life.”
Giuffre would eventually die by suicide in April, roughly six months before the release of her memoir.
Several homeowners insurance companies that had either left the state or limited policies are coming back or committing to staying in California’s market, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of insurance said on Wednesday. The development comes about nine months after Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the department overhauled California’s insurance regulations after several companies had either dropped policies or limited them in the state. KCRA 3 was the first to report the update on Wednesday, after Gov. Newsom appeared to tell Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative that a handful of companies were coming back to the state. Newsom made the remarks in New York after Clinton asked Newsom what he thought should be done about the situation, which Newsom called one of the most pressing global issues. “We just had four of our admitted market come back,” Newsom told Clinton. “In the last two days or so we had our fourth come back in. We had a lot of folks who were leaving the market, they simply said it was too expensive and the losses are too significant.”Following the remarks, KCRA 3 asked the California Department of Insurance to confirm. A spokesman for the department said the governor’s remarks were accurate and provided a list of the companies that were committing to staying in California. The spokesman noted the list includes three of the state’s largest insurers. The five companies listed are Mercury, CSAA, USAA, Pacific Specialty and California Casualty. After this story first published Wednesday, both USAA and Mercury clarified in separate statements to KCRA 3 the company never stopped writing coverage in the state. A spokesman for Mercury would not say if the state leaders mischaracterized the situation but said they had “simplified” it.The new rules that lured the companies to return or do more business in the state allow insurance companies to consider new factors when they set premiums, including the likelihood of a catastrophe and the cost insurance companies pay to insure themselves, also known as reinsurance. In exchange, the companies have promised to provide more coverage in high-wildfire risk parts of California. State leaders have also been pushing to bring companies back into the market to reduce the number of properties relying on California’s FAIR plan, the state’s insurance of last resort. The plan provides insurance to those who can’t get private insurance and has been facing significant financial challenges as it takes on more claims. “The Sustainable Insurance Strategy helps restore stability and access to California’s homeowners insurance market,” said Mark Pitchford, the Chief Operating Officer at California Casualty Group in a press release Wednesday. “We appreciate all the work being done by the Commissioner and the Department to make coverage more accessible to homeowners across the state.”All five insurers have requested rate increases of 6.9%, according to Michael Soller, a spokesman for the California Department of Insurance. Soller noted the rate increase is identical to thousands approved under past insurance commissioners, but with a promise to remain and grow in the state. “This is a far cry from what has happened in the past, when insurance companies increased their rates and dropped policies,” Soller told KCRA 3 in an email. “Under Commissioner Lara’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, we are seeing initial signs of market improvement despite the devastating L.A. wildfires. We won’t declare victory prematurely. We will thoroughly review companies’ rate filings to make sure consumers do not pay more than is required.” Speaking with Clinton, the governor acknowledged the new rules will allow for more rapid rate increases.”I think this issue requires leadership at the national level, it is under resourced, under focused. It’s a challenge for me, a challenge for Ron DeSantis, for governors in most states but it’s not top of mind and I think we need to be more focused on it,” Newsom said. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Several homeowners insurance companies that had either left the state or limited policies are coming back or committing to staying in California’s market, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of insurance said on Wednesday.
The development comes about nine months after Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the department overhauled California’s insurance regulations after several companies had either dropped policies or limited them in the state.
KCRA 3 was the first to report the update on Wednesday, after Gov. Newsom appeared to tell Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative that a handful of companies were coming back to the state. Newsom made the remarks in New York after Clinton asked Newsom what he thought should be done about the situation, which Newsom called one of the most pressing global issues.
“We just had four of our admitted market come back,” Newsom told Clinton. “In the last two days or so we had our fourth come back in. We had a lot of folks who were leaving the market, they simply said it was too expensive and the losses are too significant.”
Following the remarks, KCRA 3 asked the California Department of Insurance to confirm. A spokesman for the department said the governor’s remarks were accurate and provided a list of the companies that were committing to staying in California. The spokesman noted the list includes three of the state’s largest insurers. The five companies listed are Mercury, CSAA, USAA, Pacific Specialty and California Casualty.
After this story first published Wednesday, both USAA and Mercury clarified in separate statements to KCRA 3 the company never stopped writing coverage in the state.
A spokesman for Mercury would not say if the state leaders mischaracterized the situation but said they had “simplified” it.
The new rules that lured the companies to return or do more business in the state allow insurance companies to consider new factors when they set premiums, including the likelihood of a catastrophe and the cost insurance companies pay to insure themselves, also known as reinsurance. In exchange, the companies have promised to provide more coverage in high-wildfire risk parts of California.
State leaders have also been pushing to bring companies back into the market to reduce the number of properties relying on California’s FAIR plan, the state’s insurance of last resort. The plan provides insurance to those who can’t get private insurance and has been facing significant financial challenges as it takes on more claims.
“The Sustainable Insurance Strategy helps restore stability and access to California’s homeowners insurance market,” said Mark Pitchford, the Chief Operating Officer at California Casualty Group in a press release Wednesday. “We appreciate all the work being done by the Commissioner and the Department to make coverage more accessible to homeowners across the state.”
All five insurers have requested rate increases of 6.9%, according to Michael Soller, a spokesman for the California Department of Insurance. Soller noted the rate increase is identical to thousands approved under past insurance commissioners, but with a promise to remain and grow in the state.
“This is a far cry from what has happened in the past, when insurance companies increased their rates and dropped policies,” Soller told KCRA 3 in an email. “Under Commissioner Lara’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, we are seeing initial signs of market improvement despite the devastating L.A. wildfires. We won’t declare victory prematurely. We will thoroughly review companies’ rate filings to make sure consumers do not pay more than is required.”
Speaking with Clinton, the governor acknowledged the new rules will allow for more rapid rate increases.
“I think this issue requires leadership at the national level, it is under resourced, under focused. It’s a challenge for me, a challenge for Ron DeSantis, for governors in most states but it’s not top of mind and I think we need to be more focused on it,” Newsom said.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
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Top Democrats stretching from former President Barack Obama to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi resisted giving former Vice President Kamala Harris their full public endorsements in the immediate fallout of then-President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, according to Harris’ memoir detailing her 107-day presidential campaign against President Donald Trump.
Harris recounted that after Biden dropped out of the race via a message posted to X on the afternoon of July 21, 2024, she made phone calls to top Democrats to feel out their endorsements. A handful offered their support right off the bat, she said, with former President Bill Clinton, for example, telling Harris he was “relieved” that Biden dropped out and called on her to, “Send me anywhere. Make this your own campaign.”
Others, however, never got back to her or resisted offering her their support when she initially asked.
Harris shared her “notes of the calls” in her book, “107 Days,” which hit bookshelves Tuesday.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters after delivering remarks at a church service at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, Nov. 3, 2024, in Detroit. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)
“Saddle up! Joe did what I hoped he would do. But you have to earn it,” Obama said when Harris spoke to him, according to the book. “Michelle and I are supportive but not going to put a finger on the scale right now. Let Joe have his moment. Think through timing.”
Pelosi said the nomination process should have included a primary style process, “not an anointment.”
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“I’m so sad about Joe. It’s so tragic. My heart is broken. But now it’s you! It’s important there’s a process, we have a great bench. We should have some kind of primary, not an anointment,” she told Harris, according to the former VP’s notes of the conversations.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a rally at Cheyenne High School on October 19, 2024 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who has found himself in Trump’s political crosshairs in 2025, reportedly told Harris: “You’ve been loyal. I respect that.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly advised Harris avoid an overwhelming focus on abortion in his response to Harris.
BIDEN TEAM IS READY TO DROP DIRT ON HARRIS IF SHE COMES AFTER HIM, MARK HALPERIN SAYS
“I supported Joe because he was the strongest voice for the working class,” he said, according to the memoir. “Please focus on the working class, not just on abortion.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025 in Sacramento, California. Newsom’s office said Trump is ‘attacking kids’ safety and health’ when asked about inclusion of high school trans athlete AB Hernandez. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A trio of high-profile Democrat governors also resisted giving Harris their endorsement, either ghosting Harris or noting concerns of timing over their endorsement.
“Hiking. Will call back. (He never did.)” Harris wrote of her conversation with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the top leader of her home state.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker cited the Democratic National Committee, which was held in Chicago that year, as to why he could not offer her an endorsement.
“As governor of Illinois, I’m the convention host. I can’t commit,” Pritzker said.
KAMALA HARRIS TO PUBLISH BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF FAILED 2024 CAMPAIGN
“I believe you’ll win, but I need to let the dust settle, talk to my colleagues before I make a public statement,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, according to Harris’ memoir.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, watches as President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as well as jailed Kremlin critics in the largest prisoner exchange with the West in decades, in return for a prized assassin sought by President Vladimir Putin. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris said she went from “call to call with the clarity that comes when stakes are high, stress is through the roof, and there’s zero ambiguity.”
“Some people I called would offer me support and then ask, ‘What do you think the process should be?’” she continued, before bucking any floated ideas of a primary race.
“If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them,” she said. “How much more time would it have taken to pull that off?”
Other high-profile Democrats offered their full endorsements to Harris, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who offered to hop on an Amtrak ride to help her out.
“We’re thrilled the president endorsed you. We’ll do whatever we can—we’ll jump on a plane, we’ll get on Amtrak. I want to be part of your war council,” Hillary Clinton told Harris, according to Harris’ memoir.
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Harris’ highly anticipated book follows a handful of other political memoirs on the wild 2024 election race, which was underscored by mounting concerns over Biden’s mental acuity before he ultimately dropped out of the race — leaving Harris with just more than 100 days of campaigning to defeat Trump.
The former vice president is set to begin a book tour across the nation upon the release of the memoir.
Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning reached out to the respective offices of the top Democrats cited in the book for comment, including Newsom, Barack Obama, Pelosi, Whitmer, Sanders and Pritzker.
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Charlie Sheen claimed that former U.S. President Bill Clinton once tried to make a move on his girlfriend in the 1980s.
In his new memoir “The Book of Sheen,” the 60-year-old actor recalled meeting the 79-year-old politician, who was then the governor of Arkansas, while Sheen was filming the 1987 movie “Three for the Road” in the state’s capital city of Little Rock.
Sheen wrote that he and his co-stars Alan Ruck and Kerri Green were part of a small group from the film who were invited to the governor’s mansion for a photo op. At the time, Sheen was dating actress Dolly Fox, who joined them for the outing.
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“It was pretty surreal as Governor Clinton gave me a pair of red and-white Razorback shoes, intentionally tacky and modeled after the mascot of Arkansas’ sports teams,” Sheen remembered.
Charlie Sheen alleged that Bill Clinton tried to hit on his girlfriend Dolly Fox in the 1980s. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Sheen recalled being informed by Ruck, with whom he had co-starred in 1986’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” that Clinton had allegedly shown interest in Fox.
“I was answering a reporter’s questions when Ruck overheard Clinton whisper to one of his aides: ‘Find out what you can about the brunette.’ The brunette was Dolly, and to this day Alan swears it was an exact quote,’” Sheen claimed.
“I felt bad for Dolly to be objectified and skeeved-out like that, but still had to take some pride in ‘Bubba’ fancying my gal,” the “Two and a Half Men” star wrote of the alleged interaction.
“Alan gave Dolly the rundown in the bar later on that same night,” he continued. “To her credit, she laughed and was actually flattered.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Clinton and Ruck’s representatives for comment.
Sheen recalled bringing Fox to the governor’s mansion in Arkansas while he was filming 1987’s “Three for the Road.” (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Clinton has been married to former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, 77, since 1975. The couple share daughter Chelsea Clinton, 45.
In the mid-1990s, Clinton, who was president at the time, had an affair with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky. After their relationship came to light in 1998, Clinton initially denied the affair.
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Later, under oath and with physical evidence including Lewinsky’s infamous blue dress, he admitted to an “inappropriate relationship.” The scandal led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, but he was acquitted by the Senate and finished his term.
In his memoir, Sheen referenced the affair and claimed that the alleged incident involving Fox was indicative that Clinton’s “behavior” preceded the highly-publicized scandal.
“Clearly the behavior that transformed a harmless intern a few years later into a household name had been in play long before her blue dress became famous,” he alleged. “It was quite the moment in time to be ringside for that slice of creepy history.”
Clinton was the governor of Arkansas before becoming president. (Getty Images)
Sheen wrote that he recounted the story during a stint in rehab while the Clinton-Lewinsky impeachment proceedings were being televised from late 1998 to early 1999.
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“Years later in rehab, while watching the Lewinsky hearings play out, I shared the Clinton–Dolly story with my fellow ’habbers,” he recalled. “I was still pretty faded on detox meds and no one believed me.”
“I literally said out loud to the group huddled around the TV, ‘It’s kool, I’ll put it in a book one day and you can all go f— yourselves.’ (And here we are.),” Sheen added.
The “Anger Management” star recalled that “Little Rock was the beginning of the end for me and Dolly, and it had nothing to do with the governor.” Sheen wrote that he and Fox had a “peaceful” split after she “found out about a few of my indiscretions.”
Sheen’s memoir was released on Sept. 9. (Michael Buckner)
Sheen has been married three times. He and his first wife, Donna Peele, tied the knot in 1995 but divorced less than a year later. Sheen and Denise Richards were married from 2002 to 2006, and they share daughters Sami, 21, and Lola, 20.
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The Emmy Award winner wed Brooke Mueller in 2008, but they split in 2011. The two are parents to 16-year-old sons Bob and Max.
In “The Book of Sheen,” Sheen detailed other encounters with famous figures as well as his childhood in Hollywood, his career highs and lows, his marriages, his struggles with substance abuse and sex addiction and his path to sobriety.
“The Book of Sheen,” was published Sept. 9 and his documentary series “aka Charlie Sheen” began streaming on Netflix Sept. 10.
Thanks to Arizona’s importance as a swing state in the upcoming presidential election, Phoenix has become a popular spot for political visits. The Valley has seen multiple rallies and speeches from Vice President Kamala Harris on her quest to become president and members of her party have stopped by to encourage voters…
Tirion Boan
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