The Georgia congresswoman said she graduated from university in 1996, the same year Maria Farmer complained to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein’s interest in “child pornography”.
“For 30+ years they covered it all up,” Taylor Green said. “Trump called me a traitor for refusing to take my name of (sic) the discharge petition,” she added, referencing her efforts in Congress to force the release of the files.
“I couldn’t be more proud I stayed on.”
Taylor Greene announced in November that she was leaving Congress following her clash with Trump.
Trump takes the stage in North Carolina — with no mention of Epstein
At a rally in North Carolina on Friday night, President Trump touted his performance on the economy in front of a cheering crowd of his supporters.
In the early stages of the rally he made no mention of Epstein, a subject that has proven stubbornly difficult to dismiss since he returned to office.
Friday’s release of the documents is sure to keep the topic in the headlines.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general, flew with Trump on Air Force One to the event in North Carolina.
As the second-ranking official at the Department of Justice, Blanche has overseen the review of the Epstein files and defended the administration’s handling of the case.
Democrats hit out at redacted Epstein files
Members of Congress who introduced the petition that sparked the Epstein Transparency Act reacted with scorn on Friday, saying the “document dump does not comply with” law to compel a full release of the Epstein files.
“The justice department’s document dump this afternoon does not comply with Thomas Massie and my Epstein Transparency Act,” Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who co-wrote the law with Massie, said in a video statement posted on social media.
“They released one document from a New York grand jury of a 119 pages totally blacked out! This despite a New York judge ordering them to release that document, and our law requires them to explain redactions,” he said. “There’s not a single explanation for why that entire document was redacted.”
“We have not seen the draft indictment,” Khanna added, “that implicates other rich and powerful men who were on Epstein’s rape island, who either watched the abuse of young girls or participated in the abuse of young girls.”
He added he was exploring ways to find the justice department in contempt of Congress, “or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice”.
Trump refuses to discuss Epstein files
President Trump refused to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein while departing the White House for a rally in North Carolina on Friday evening.
The Epstein scandal has proven difficult for the president to shake during his second term and the latest release of files has placed the focus back on their former friendship.
Trump has dismissed bad headlines as a Democrat-orchestrated hoax.
He has been active across social media on Friday, posting about military strikes in Syria, a TV news presenter he likes and alleged fraud in Minnesota.
The Associated Press said he declined to speak on the subject when leaving the White House on Friday.
Bill Clinton responds to Epstein files
A spokesperson for Bill Clinton has released a statement, saying the former president did not have a relationship with Epstein when details of his crimes emerged.
In a post on X, Angel Ureña wrote: “The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton.
“This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever.”
Ureña said the justice department “can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” insisting that he was in the “first” camp of those who cut off relations with the late paedophile before his crimes came to light.
‘DoJ has only released 10 per cent of what it has on Epstein’
Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, claimed that the Justice Department has only released 10 per cent of the Epstein files in its possession.
“And of that 10 per cent 5 per cent of that has already been released and the other 5 per cent is highly redacted,” he told CNN.
‘Epstein threatened photographer who refused to take pictures of young girls’
A woman who worked for Jeffrey Epstein said she felt “vindicated” after files released by the Department of Justice showed she had warned about his behaviour in 1996.
Epstein threatened to burn down the home of a photographer after asking her to take pictures of young girls at a swimming pool, according to an FBI document.
The woman was Maria Farmer, she confirmed to The New York Times. She said for years she complained about Epstein in 1996 but the FBI had never confirmed her claim.
A document now shows Farmer was telling the truth.
It says that Farmer, whose name is redacted, told agents in Miami that she had taken pictures of two young girls aged 12 and 14 for her artwork.
Epstein stole the photographs and negatives, the woman said, and may have sold them.
“Epstein at one time requested [Redacted] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools,” the document states.
‘Epstein didn’t want dark girls or adult women,’ documents allege
Jeffrey Epstein complained about being supplied with women over 18 instead of minors, a law enforcement document claims.
A handwritten document dated from May 2019 and heavily redacted includes handwritten notes from an unidentified witness.
Among the notes includes a line that states: “Desperate time running out of girls”. Another line reads: “JE: ‘What doing, why bringing me dark girl.’”
JE — presumably Epstein — “didn’t want Spanish or dark girl,” the notes claim.
Another line claims that a witness whose initials are redacted saw “him asking for ID to girl wanted make sure under 18 b/c he wasn’t believing them b/c” another person whose name was redacted “messed up by bringing more older girls”.
Sarah Ferguson pictured in files
Sarah Ferguson, who has faced criticism over the links she and her former husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had with Epstein, has been pictured in the file release.
Photographs show her with women whose faces have been redacted.
Ferguson has always denied any wrongdoing, as has Andrew, and has said that she regrets her association with him.
‘Epstein brought girl, 14, to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago’
President Trump was allegedly introduced to a 14-year-old girl by Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago, according to court documents released among the files.
The girl, referred to as “Jane Doe”, alleges she met Trump in the 1990s.
“During one of Doe’s encounters with Epstein, he took her to Mar-a-Lago where he introduced her to its owner, Donald J Trump. Introducing 14-year-old Doe to Donald J Trump, Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to Doe, ‘This is a good one, right?’
“Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and Doe felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why,” the court documents allege.
The victims alleges she was groomed by Epstein over the course of many years and raped by Epstein at his New York townhouse in 1997, according to the lawsuit filed against Epstein’s estate in 2020.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Clinton pictures will raise questions about his relationship with Epstein
The former US president Bill Clinton features multiple times in the files and the disclosures will raise further questions about his relationship with Epstein.
In one undated image Clinton, wearing a blue shirt and dark jacket, has his arm around a blonde woman in a white vest. Her face is redacted.
In another Clinton, now wearing a red shirt, is smiling alongside a group that includes Ghislaine Maxwell in what appears to be the Churchill War Rooms.
A third image shows Clinton swimming in a pool with a woman. Another image, shared on X by Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, shows Clinton lounging in a hot tub next to a person whose face is redacted with a black box.
Clinton, 79, has previously denied any wrongdoing and a spokesperson has said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s “terrible crimes”.
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Ghislaine Maxwell in Churchill War Rooms
Maxwell appeared to pay a visit to Sir Winston Churchill’s War Rooms with Bill Clinton and the actor Kevin Spacey. They are pictured gathered around a desk in the cabinet room, where Churchill directed Britain’s WW2 operations.
Each of them is wearing the same outfits they were pictured in when they posed on thrones in Buckingham Palace during a 2002 visit to the UK.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. Spacey’s name first appeared in a release of Epstein files in 2024 but he has not been accused of wrongdoing.
In July, Spacey called for the files to be made public, writing on X: “Release the Epstein files. All of them. For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can’t come soon enough. I hate to make this about me — but the media already has.”
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Richard Branson with Epstein
Sir Richard Branson appears in a picture with Epstein in the latest trove of released documents.
Wearing a white T-shirt and swimming shorts, the billionaire Branson, 75, poses in a tropical setting with Epstein.
Two women in the background of the photograph have their faces redacted.
Branson has appeared in pictures with Epstein in earlier releases. He has previously denied any wrongdoing and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his behalf.
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Lord Mandelson’s dinner with Epstein
Lord Mandelson, who was sacked from his job as the UK’s ambassador to Washington in September over his ties to Epstein, is pictured at a dinner with the sex offender.
Mandelson, in a jacket and shirt, is seated at a table with Epstein, who is wearing a grey hoodie.
A waiter is serving a sizable cake topped with candles, suggesting a celebration of some sort.
Mandelson was sacked when leaked emails revealed that he told Epstein in 2008 that he should “fight for early release” while he was awaiting sentencing for a child sex offence.
In 2023 it emerged that a JP Morgan report suggested Mandelson had stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan home after he had been convicted of sexual offences against children.
Mandelson has said he never witnessed any wrongdoing by Epstein and that he regrets his relationship with the financier.
‘Clueless little girl’
A birthday book featuring collages of Jeffrey Epstein has been pictured in the release. It includes photographs of women in strapless tops, shorts and vest tops with their faces blacked out.
The book opens with speech bubbles, saying next to the women: “once upon a time … there was a clueless little girl …” and “how do I look?”.
It continues: “What is he doing?! HE WOULDN’T.”
An image that appears to be of Epstein replies: “Mmm … elastic.”
Andrew pictured lying across laps of five women
Images released in the files document how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor opened up British high society to Epstein and Maxwell, who are seen enjoying hunting trips at Balmoral and on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
Andrew is shown in one photo lying across the laps of five women, their faces redacted with black squares, with Maxwell standing behind them.
He has denied allegations of any wrongdoing.
Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and Diana Ross seen in photographs
Several celebrities have cropped up in the newly released images. One shows Clinton alongside the singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. It is not clear when the image was taken.
Another photo shows Sir Mick Jagger seated next to Clinton at a dinner also attended by Maxwell.
The Rolling Stones singer, 82, posed for a picture with the former US president and a woman whose face is redacted.
Jagger, Jackson and Ross have not been accused of wrongdoing.
Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Ghislaine Maxwell, Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Jagger, Clinton and an unknown woman
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Epstein with Michael Jackson
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Epstein’s townhouse pictured
Hundreds of photographs of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse are among the releases. The photographs may have been taken when the authorities raided the house following his arrest in July of 2019.
Among them is a picture that appears to show a massage table, before a wall decorated with nude photographs of young women, their faces redacted.
A shot of a hallway shows a large painting of a woman with short dark hair standing naked, her hands behind her back, before traffic cones and a blue tripod stamped “police department”.
Bill Clinton seen in hot tub with blacked-out figure
Some of the images show the former president Bill Clinton in a hot tub, and separately a swimming pool with a woman that appears to be Ghislaine Maxwell.
Clinton’s office has previously acknowledged his meetings and trips with Epstein but asserted that he “knows nothing about the terrible crimes” Epstein committed and had never visited Epstein’s island or homes in New Mexico and Palm Beach.
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Clinton swimming with a woman that appears to be Maxwell
REUTERS/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Epstein and Maxwell in Queen’s box at Ascot
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell can be seen in the Queen’s box at Royal Ascot and on the steps of 10 Downing Street in photographs released by the Justice Department.
The documents shed light on the connections and high society life the pair enjoyed during visits to Britain, facilitated by their close friend Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Epstein and Maxwell were invited into the Royal Box as personal guests of Andrew on June 22, 2000, during Ladies’ Day. The event was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother.
Andrew confirmed during a BBC Newsnight interview that Epstein was his guest, not a guest of the Royal Family. Andrew described Epstein as a “plus one” to Maxwell.
In another, undated photograph, Maxwell is seen posing outside No 10.
White House: Trump is doing the most for Epstein’s victims
The White House said on Friday that the release of the Epstein files proved the administration was the “most transparent in history”.
“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, co-operating 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,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.
DoJ: Trump’s name was not redacted
There has not been an order to redact President Trump’s name from the Epstein files, the deputy attorney-general Todd Blanche has said.
“There’s no effort to hold anything back because there’s the name Donald J Trump, or anybody else’s name — Bill Clinton’s name, Reid Hoffman’s name. There’s no effort to hold back or not hold back because of that,” Blanche told ABC News on Friday.
Blanche also said that he could say for certain no such order was given, as he would have been the person to do so.
“I would give the order,” he said. “President Trump has certainly said from the beginning that he expects all files that can be released to be released and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Files are heavily redacted
Reporters, politicians and members of the public trawling through the vast collection of documents are encountering a persistent problem — many are heavily redacted.
Some pages are entirely concealed with black blocks. Social media has been flooded with users sharing screenshots of documents that are unreadable due to the redactions.
The search function also appears to be not working. Searching with “Trump”, for example, brings up no results.
At least some of the redactions are to protect victims of Epstein, officials have said.
‘This is not a full release,’ says top Democrat
Robert Garcia, the California congressman and top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said it is “clear that this is not a full release”.
“Our entire team has begun a major review,” he said. “We will keep the American people updated — but it’s clear that this is not a full release. We will continue to provide updates.”
Files that are yet to be released must still be redacted, the deputy attorney-general Todd Blanche said on Friday.
“I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks,” he told Fox News. “So today, several hundred thousand, and then, over the next couple of weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”
What kind of files did the DoJ release?
The documents just released by the justice department were divided into four categories: court records, DoJ disclosures, House committee disclosures and Freedom of Information Act records.
Each category has its own webpage on the DoJ website and is broken down into subsections with individual documents listed underneath.
Have all the Epstein files been published?
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general in the US Justice Department said earlier on Friday that there would be a delay in releasing many of the documents from the Epstein files.
Failing to release the full files would see the department run afoul of a law which gave the department 30 days to share the files with Congress.
Blanche attributed the delay to the need to redact names or identifying information about witnesses, which he said was proving to be a lengthy undertaking.
Documents span many investigations and more than a decade
The files released today combine a pair of federal investigations into Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations in Florida and New York, spanning more than a decade.
They are expected to include documents on his associates, including high-profile public figures, and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. They may also contain FBI reports, transcripts of witness interviews, photographs, videos and some material that may already be public, such as flight logs from Epstein’s private Boeing 727-100 aircraft, nicknamed the “Lolita Express”.
Police began investigating Epstein in Florida in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. He pleaded guilty to a lesser prostitution charge. In 2019, police in New York revived the case and charged Epstein with sex trafficking, alleging he sexually abused dozens of girls. He killed himself in jail a month after his arrest.
The US Justice Department has released thousands of files relating to the convicted paedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein files were expected to be made up of some 300 gigabytes of data, video footage, audio clips, photographs and documents — the equivalent of streaming about 100 high-definition films or hundreds of thousands of pictures.
They have been published “in a searchable and downloadable format”.
Follow for more as our reporters bring you exactly what the files contain.