Epstein files

in 2013In 1996, Maria Farmer reported to the FBI that Epstein had "stolen" naked photos she had of her underage siblings, but says that she did not hear back. The Florida Palm Beach Police Department began investigating Epstein after a woman reported that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been taken to Epstein's home and paid to strip and massage Epstein. Following an investigation, the FBI identified at least 35 girls with a similar history between 2002 and 2005. Epstein was indicted and pleaded guilty to soliciting a 17 year old minor for prostitution in 2008. He was registered as a sex offender and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He died of suicide in prison while awaiting trial. Under Trump's second administration, FBI investigators did not find evidence for the specific allegation of a "ring" in which Epstein "lent out" girls, nor evidence of a "client list". ==Contents==

2007 draft indictment The FBI began investigating Epstein in 2006, following reports that he had been paying underage girls for sex in his Florida mansion. In 2007, federal prosecutors prepared a draft indictment consisting of 32 counts against Epstein and two of his employees for enticement of minors and sex trafficking. Ultimately, U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta signed off on a deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution; Epstein instead pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18 and received an 18-month jail sentence. No charges were presented against his employees. It described many crimes that were ultimately not prosecuted in favor of Epstein's plea deal. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York produced an 86-page memo called "Investigation into Potential Co-Conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein" that was sent to US Attorney Geoffrey Berman on December 19, 2019. The memo contains statements of 24 women who reported being abused by Epstein as minors and 14 who reported being abused by Epstein as adults. One of the women told prosecutors that Epstein had told her to give massages to two men in 2011 or 2012, and that one of the men tried to sexually assault her and the other man "forced her to touch his genitals and then raped [her]." The FBI has not commented on whether or not the men were investigated. Investigation documents One document detailed a diagram of Epstein's inner circle, including Maxwell, his lawyer Darren Indyke, and his accountant Richard Kahn. The document listed other close associates including Epstein's personal chef, pilots, and Peter Listerman, a model scout described in the file as a "subject/witness" and model "matchmaker". UK government leaks The files contain market sensitive and secret information stemming from the heart of the UK Government, which appears to have been sent to Epstein by Peter Mandelson. One email sent to Epstein from a redacted address in August 2009, appeared to reveal Prime Minister Gordon Brown's pseudonym, "John Pond", along with Brown's secure email address. Epstein's death The released files included emails between investigators regarding Epstein's death, including an investigator's observation that his final communication did not appear to be a suicide note. Multiple investigations have determined that Epstein's death was a suicide. Kahn sat for a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on March 11, 2026. == Redaction failures ==

Faulty redaction techniques in the December 2025 release allowed members of the public to recover blacked-out content, revealing information that officials had intended to withhold from public viewing. At least 550 pages in the initial December release were entirely blacked out, including a 255-page series of consecutive documents and a 119-page grand jury transcript. Among the recovered content was an unverified FBI tip alleging that Trump had witnessed the killing and disposal of an infant born to a 13-year-old trafficking victim. The January 2026 release drew further criticism over redaction failures. The Justice Department published dozens of unredacted nude images showing young women or possibly teenagers with their faces visible; the images were largely removed after The New York Times began notifying the department. Attorneys for survivors said the names of victims who had never been publicly linked to Epstein appeared unredacted in the files. A Wall Street Journal review found that at least 43 victims' full names were exposed, including more than two dozen who were minors when they were abused; some names appeared over 100 times, and home addresses were visible in keyword searches. Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson, attorneys who had provided the Justice Department with a list of 350 victims on December 4 to ensure their names would be redacted, said the department failed to perform a basic keyword search to verify its redaction process; Edwards said there were "literally thousands of mistakes". Department officials acknowledged that many records in the files were duplicates; reviewers appeared to have applied different standards when redacting names and other identifying information, with some documents showing a name left exposed in one copy but redacted in another. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the department's procedures, saying redaction errors affected "about .001%" of all materials and that the department moved quickly to fix mistakes when notified. == Position of Trump administration ==

During the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign, Donald Trump and his allies pledged to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein held by the federal government. Trump stated in interviews that he would "probably" make additional Epstein records public, After taking office, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in February 2025 that she was reviewing Epstein-related material at President Trump's direction, Reporting by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times subsequently revealed that Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared in the files alongside "unverified hearsay", and that officials had advised against public disclosure. Trump characterized the files as falsified documents created by political opponents On November 19, 2025, Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed to mandate release of DOJ records related to Epstein. The signing took place without reporters present. Their relationship cooled in the early 2000s, with commonly cited reasons including disputes over employees and a 2004 real estate deal in Palm Beach, Florida, in which Trump outbid Epstein on an oceanfront mansion. In 2003, Trump contributed a letter to a bound album of birthday greetings given to Epstein on his 50th birthday; The Wall Street Journal reported the letter contained suggestive content, which Trump denied writing. In October 2007, Trump revoked Epstein's membership at Mar-a-Lago. Campaign promises (2024) During the Biden administration, Trump allies, including Kash Patel, promoted claims that the FBI was withholding an Epstein "client list" and urged its release. In a speech at the Turning Point Action convention in June 2024, Donald Trump Jr. accused the Biden administration of keeping the list secret to protect pedophiles; in October, JD Vance said "we need to release the Epstein list". rarely mentioned the Epstein files during this period; yet, he did not refute his allies' claims. On two occasions during his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged to release the Epstein files. In a June 2024 interview with Fox News, when asked whether he would declassify them, Trump responded, "Yeah, yeah, I would." The clip was shared by an official Trump campaign account on Twitter. The unedited answer aired later shows Trump saying he was not sure he would because "you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there, because it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world". In a September 2024 interview with Lex Fridman, Trump stated he would have "no problem" releasing additional Epstein files and would "probably" make the client list public. On February 27, she released documents that contained no significant new information. Faced with outcry from a disappointed public, Bondi demanded that FBI Director Kash Patel provide the extensive material she had originally requested from him. Michael Seidel, the section chief of the FBI's Record/Information Dissemination Section, objected to Bondi's order and was forced to resign. In the documents, the FBI found dozens of high-profile names, including Trump's. A unit of FOIA officers, citing exemptions in FOIA law, redacted Trump's name because, although he was then a sitting president, he had been a private citizen when the 2006 federal investigation into Epstein began. According to Politico, "[f]ollowing the reported briefing in May, Trump appears to have sought to narrow the government's public disclosures to avoid releasing information." On May 18, Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino told Fox News that Epstein had died by suicide. On June 6, the Joe Rogan Experience aired an interview with Kash Patel, who said of the Epstein matter, "We've reviewed all the information, and the American public is going to get as much as we can release. He killed himself. ... Do you really think I wouldn't give that [video evidence] to you, if it existed?" The DOJ publicly released the memo on July 7, stating it "did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties" and would not release further Epstein-related documents. When asked what Bondi had meant in February when she said Epstein material was "on her desk", White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Bondi had been referring to "the entirety of all of the paperwork" related to Epstein's crimes rather than any specific client list; Bondi offered a similar clarification at a cabinet meeting the following day. The administration's position drew criticism from across the political spectrum. Democratic representatives challenged the findings, Podcaster Joe Rogan called the administration's reversal a "line in the sand", particularly for supporters who had backed Trump based on promised transparency. At a July 9 White House meeting that included Bondi, Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, and chief of staff Susie Wiles, Bongino and Patel were reportedly confronted over the memo; Bongino subsequently considered resigning. On August 18, Bondi and Patel announced that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey would share the deputy FBI director role with Bongino, with Bailey sworn in on September 15. Some figures supported the administration's account that further disclosure was unnecessary, including Epstein's former attorney David Schoen, who had helped negotiate a 2008 plea deal. Beginning in mid-July, Trump characterized the Epstein files as falsified documents created by political opponents including the Biden administration, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. On July 16, the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, the federal prosecutor who had prosecuted Epstein; she is the daughter of James Comey, whom Trump had fired as FBI Director in 2017. On July 17, the day The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had written a letter included in a book celebrating Epstein's 50th birthday 22 years earlier, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed Bondi to seek court approval to release "any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony", calling the ongoing attention a "SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats". Bondi replied that she was "ready to move the court tomorrow". Legal observers noted the transcripts were not expected to contain significant new information. The following day, Trump sued the Journal—including two reporters, owner Rupert Murdoch, and parent companies Dow Jones and News Corp—for defamation and libel. The Justice Department's requests to unseal grand jury materials were denied by federal judges. On July 23, Judge Robin Rosenberg ruled she could not grant a request for Florida grand jury documents based solely on "extensive public interest" outside of a legal proceeding, ordering instead that a new case be opened. Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys opposed disclosure, calling it "a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy" given Maxwell's remaining "legal options" and "due process rights". On August 8, the DOJ expanded its request to include grand jury exhibits in both the Maxwell and Epstein cases. Judge Paul Engelmayer denied the Maxwell request on August 11, ruling that the administration's "entire premise—that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes, or the Government's investigation into them—is demonstrably false"; he characterized the government's public explanations as "disingenuous". Judge Richard Berman later denied a similar request for Epstein case materials. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell on July 24 and 25 at the U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee. The Justice Department released the interview transcript and audio recording on August 22. Maxwell, having been sentenced to 20 years, was incarcerated at FCI Tallahassee at the time of the interviews. She was given limited immunity in the interviews, meaning that her answers to her interviewers' questions cannot be used against her. Blanche is Trump's personal lawyer and his political appointee. The previous year, Blanche had referred to Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, as a "friend". Maxwell told Blanche: "I certainly never witnessed the President in any of I don't recall ever seeing him in his [Epstein's] house, for instance. I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way. The President was never inappropriate with anybody." CNN noted that Maxwell lied about her own crimes and the crimes of Epstein in the interview, and that she appeared to be attempting to flatter Trump with statements such as "I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now" and "I like him, and I've always liked him." Regarding Maxwell's credibility during the two-day interview, Blanche told CNN on September 17 it would be "impossible" for him to assess it, since "to determine whether a witness is credible takes weeks and weeks and weeks". He added: "It's really up to the American people to determine if they believe that her answers were credible". George Conway remarked that "Todd Blanche's questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell was either (a) completely incompetent; or (b) intentionally crafted not to elicit facts incriminating Trump." Blanche responded: "When I interviewed Maxwell, law enforcement didn't have the materials Epstein's estate hid for years and only just provided to Congress." On July 25, when a CNN reporter asked Trump whether he planned to pardon Maxwell, he answered noncommittally: "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about." to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, in Bryan, Texas, a minimum security facility with dormitory-style housing generally considered less unpleasant than other federal prisons. In November, she was reportedly receiving special privileges and planning to apply for commutation of her sentence; the whistleblower was fired from the prison. Annie Farmer, who has made accusations against Epstein and Maxwell, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins: "Even learning that the DOJ would be meeting with her [Maxwell] was extremely disturbing. ... with this prison transfer, I think it again feels like she is getting preferential treatment ... and it's really worrying to us about what might be coming next." On August 23, Giuffre's family responded to the transcript of the Maxwell–Blanche interview, telling CBS that Maxwell's statements were "in direct contradiction" with her "conviction for child sex trafficking" and that Blanche had "never challenged [her] about her court-proven lies". The family said that the Justice Department had thereby communicated "that child sex trafficking is acceptable and will be rewarded". On September 4, 2025, political activist James O'Keefe, founder of the far-right group Project Veritas, posted a secret recording with DOJ acting Deputy Chief of Special Operations Joseph Schnitt. In the recording, Schnitt acknowledges the existence of the Epstein files, saying there are "thousands and thousands of pages of files" and that "they'll redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files". Schnitt stated that Maxwell's transfer to a minimum-security prison was "against [Federal Bureau of Prisons] policy because she's a convicted sex offender" and that "they're offering her something to keep her mouth shut". He also described Bondi as "a yes person" and that she "wants whatever Trump wants". In response to the recording, Schnitt stated that he had no idea he was being recorded, and said he met the undercover O'Keefe reporter on Hinge. He said his comments were based on what he "learned in the media" and not from the DOJ. == Congressional action ==

, demanding the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. 427 for, 1 against, 5 not voting. On November 18, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Epstein Files Transparency Act in a 427–1 vote. Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana cast the only dissenting vote. Later the same day, the Senate unanimously voted to pass the same version of the bill, sending it to Trump's desk the next morning. Victim advocacy and early pressure Victims of Epstein and their advocates pressed Congress to compel disclosure of federal records. Virginia Giuffre's brothers, Sky Roberts and Danny Wilson, and Giuffre's sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, told reporters in July 2025 that they wanted relevant documents to be released. Amanda Roberts added that Giuffre also said she wanted documents to be released, and that Virginia would have been in favor of "transparency and justice". Virginia Giuffre died by suicide earlier in the year. On September 3, 2025, survivors spoke publicly outside the U.S. Capitol, demanding that Attorney General Bondi release all the files. Frustrated with decades of lack of accountability, some survivors announced plans to compile their own internal list of Epstein's associates if officials continued to withhold information. A month later, accuser Annie Farmer told CNN that creating and releasing their own list was "not the most effective way of us moving forward as a group". In July, Democratic representatives Jamie Raskin and 15 colleagues sent a letter to Bondi accusing the Justice Department of withholding documents to protect Trump. Representatives Ro Khanna and Marc Veasey introduced separate measures to force the House to vote on requiring release of all Epstein-related records held by the Justice Department. Khanna's measure failed 211–210 along party lines. Oversight hearings and subpoenas testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, where he is questioned on the Epstein files, September 17, 2025 In July 2025, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell, and issued subpoenas for documents to Bill Clinton, former Justice Department officials, and the Justice Department itself in August. The committee demanded that the Justice Department provide the Epstein files by August 19. On August 18, officials informed the committee they would begin providing records on August 22. Beginning in September, the committee released batches of documents it had received from the Justice Department and, in response to a subpoena, from the Epstein estate. These releases included portions of Epstein's contact records, correspondence, and photographs. FBI Director Kash Patel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 16 and the House Judiciary Committee the following day. Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 7 and the House Judiciary Committee on October 9. Discharge petition and party defections In September 2025, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ro Khanna of California pursued a discharge petition to force the House to vote on legislation requiring the Justice Department to release the files. Trump and Republican leaders launched a pressure campaign against the effort, with one anonymous official calling signing the petition a "very hostile act to the administration". Despite administration opposition, several Republicans broke with party leadership to sign the petition. Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene joined Massie within days. The remaining 214 signatures came from Democrats, with the final signatures provided by Representatives James Walkinshaw and Adelita Grijalva after they won special elections to Congress in late September. As the petition neared completion, Trump summoned Representative Lauren Boebert to the White House. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the meeting had taken place. On October 8, Representative Eric Swalwell stated that "a lot of House Republicans" had privately told him they did not intend to keep defending Trump on the issue, with one saying "this Epstein bomb is about to drop." Representative Khanna predicted that 40–50 Republicans might vote for release, and Massie similarly anticipated that Republican support could "snowball". Upon receiving the final signature on November 12, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the full House would vote the following week on releasing the Epstein files. Trump's advisors privately informed him that he had lost the issue and that release of the files appeared inevitable. On November 16, Trump publicly reversed his stance, writing on Truth Social that "House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files." Epstein's brother, Mark Epstein, stated on November 17 that "a pretty good source" had told him there was "a facility in Winchester, Virginia, where they're scrubbing the files to take Republican names out", which he said explained the sudden shift in tone about the release. Passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act On November 18, 2025, the House voted 217 to 210 to approve a procedural rule that killed the discharge petition but guaranteed a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Several lawmakers criticized the handling of the files, with Representative Jamie Raskin accusing the Department of Justice of obscuring information through unexplained redactions after reviewing the materials. == Chronology of releases and disclosures ==

Documents related to Epstein and his associates became public through a combination of court-ordered unsealings, congressional releases, Justice Department disclosures, journalistic investigations, and inadvertent leaks. Court documents from the Ghislaine Maxwell defamation case were unsealed in January 2024, though they contained little information not already publicly known. followed by over 3 million pages on January 30, 2026. 2024 Maxwell case unsealing (right) meeting Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the White House on September 29, 1993|300x300px In December 2023, New York judge Loretta Preska ordered the unsealing of documents from the 2015 defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, with a January 1, 2024, deadline for appeals. The court documents released in January 2024 contained little information not already publicly known. Most were mentioned in passing and not accused of any wrongdoing. Model scout Jean-Luc Brunel, accused of sexual abuse by one of Epstein's victims, Bloomberg News release (September 2025) In September 2025, Bloomberg News independently obtained approximately 18,700 emails from one of Epstein's personal Yahoo accounts, jeeproject@yahoo.com, spanning from 2002 through 2022. The outlet used cryptographic verification, metadata analysis, and corroboration with external sources to authenticate the cache; four independent experts reviewed the methodology and found no meaningful evidence of fabrication. The emails documented Epstein's relationships with academics at Harvard University and other institutions. Correspondence showed researchers, including psychologist Stephen Kosslyn and geneticist George Church, proposing Epstein-funded projects such as a "pleasure genome initiative" exploring neural correlates of pleasure and a genetics-and-brain laboratory to study "far-out ideas such as life extension". On September 2, the committee released 33,295 pages of Epstein files, though most of the information was already publicly known or available. On September 26, committee Democrats released six pages showing that Epstein had meetings with financier Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Steve Bannon.On October 17, the committee released 8,500 pages from the Epstein estate. These showed that Matthew Menchel, the chief criminal prosecutor at the Miami U.S. Attorney's office who was behind Epstein's 2007 plea deal, had apparently had personal meetings with Epstein in 2011, 2013, and 2017. On November 12, committee Democrats released three Epstein emails pertaining to Trump, including a 2011 exchange with Maxwell in which Epstein referred to Trump as "the dog that hasn't barked" because Trump had "spent hours at my house" with a victim. Hours later, committee Republicans released 20,000 additional pages from Epstein's estate; Trump was mentioned over a thousand times, though none of Epstein's emails were sent directly to Trump or his staff. On November 14, Zeteo published a searchable version of the 26,039 documents. In December, the committee released images from Epstein's estate. On December 3, it released photos and videos from Epstein's private island, including one showing first names written on a telephone's speed dial. On December 12, it released photos of people including Trump, Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. On December 18, it released additional photos including Noam Chomsky and Bill Gates. Department of Justice releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act December 2025 release The DOJ released an initial batch of heavily redacted files on December 19, 2025, the deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Faulty redaction techniques in the digital files allowed members of the public to recover blacked-out content, revealing information officials had intended to withhold, including details about the trafficking ring's members and methods. By early January 2026, less than one percent of the files had been publicly released, according to a DOJ letter to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer. January 2026 release On January 30, 2026, the DOJ released over 3 million pages of documents, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos related to Epstein. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the release brought the department into compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and would be the final major release. Federal prosecutors had initially identified six million pages as potentially responsive to the disclosure law, but the DOJ released only half that amount, stating officials had erred on the side of "over-collection". The DOJ noted that the release may contain "fake or falsely submitted" material, and in its accompanying statement described certain claims against President Trump as "unfounded and false". The DOJ has admitted some failures to redact information related to victims' identities, and has reported remedying some released files. Similarly, the DOJ has admitted to redacting the names of individuals who seem to not fall under the qualification of the Act, after congressmembers were given access to view the unredacted files on a government server. After the DOJ announced it would allow individual representatives to view files on the server, pressure from Thomas Massie on why certain names were redacted caused the DOJ to unredact the name of Les Wexner, a prominent businessman listed as a co-conspirator on FBI documents. On February 10, 2026, Ro Khanna listed Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as one of six men whose names had been redacted from the Epstein files but whom Khanna had been able to identify after spending two hours viewing unredacted files. Due to the process used by the DOJ to convert emails into the PDF format, the released files contain numerous encoding artifacts, such as the = sign. Independent online databases In November 2025, artist Riley Walz and Kino AI co-founder Luke Igel launched Jmail, a browser-based archive of the Epstein files browsable using the interfaces of various popular apps, with the goal of making the files easier to access and browse. As of February 19, 2026, Jmail has archived a total of 1,412,250 files and 2,474,242 pages; with 1,401,320 documents as released by the DOJ, and 8,624 documents from the House Oversight Committee. In February 2025, a data engineer using the pseudonym "Eric Keller" launched EpsteinExposed, an online database that shows the relationships between people named in the DOJ-released files, court filings, FBI disclosures, and congressional investigations. As of March 2026, the database has indexed 2.15 million documents and catalogued 1,500 people. == Potential additional unreleased documents ==

The Epstein list in Riyadh, c. 2016–2017 Claims surrounding the existence of a "client list" first surfaced in the immediate aftermath of Epstein's death, later reaching heightened prominence in 2025 following a now-deleted tweet from former White House senior advisor and Department of Government Efficiency associate Elon Musk alleging that United States president Donald Trump was "in the Epstein files". The Trump administration's DOJ released a memo on July 7, 2025, which stated the list did not exist and "no credible evidence [was] found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties." The memo was met with skepticism from political commentators across the political spectrum, such as Alex Jones and John Oliver. The same memo also affirmed that Epstein's death was a suicide. A second book of contacts, sometimes referred to as "Epstein's other little black book", was published by Business Insider in 2021, and is dated October 1997. According to investigative reporter Julie K. Brown, Epstein's then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell compiled the directory, which included celebrities as well as Epstein's gardeners, hairdresser, barbers, and electrician. Brown said that "the so-called list is really a red herring" and that "every time Epstein or Maxwell met somebody important, they would get their contact information, and they would put it in this file ... So it was pretty clear that this was not a black book in the sense that these were all his clients. It was just a phone directory." ==Reaction and fallout==

The release of the documents has resulted in numerous resignations, investigations, and formal inquiries worldwide related to figures and organizations implicated in the Epstein files. Miroslav Lajčák, a national security advisor for Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and a former president of the United Nations General Assembly, resigned on January 31, 2026, following a joint statement from opposition politicians calling for his departure and mounting pressure from the media; Fico agreed to and accepted the resignation. Lajčák acknowledged that the communication was a "mistake" and "unacceptable" stating: "When I read those messages today, I feel like a fool. It was a private conversation. At the very least, I made a poor judgment. I am paying the price for it." (right) and Peter Mandelson in February 2026. The release of documents detailing Mandelson's ties to Epstein led to political pressure on Starmer's leadership. On February 1, 2026, British life peer Peter Mandelson resigned his membership of the Labour Party to avoid causing it "further embarrassment" for being linked in the files. On February 3, Mandelson announced his resignation from the House of Lords, effective on the next day; Downing Street Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, would also resign after taking "full responsibility" for advising Mandelson's appointment. On February 1, 2026, the US–Ireland Alliance decided to rename a scholarship that had been known as the "George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program" based on allegations, which Mitchell denied, that he along with Epstein and Maxwell abused Virginia Giuffre. The disclosures revived questions about whether the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, should cooperate with U.S. authorities. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested on February 1 that Mountbatten-Windsor should tell American investigators what he knows about Epstein's activities. Also on February 2, protests were held outside of Gracie Mansion after the files revealed that Mira Nair, the mother of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, had been in contact with Epstein's Ghislaine Maxwell per an email from 2009. During the protest, some protesters shouted "shame!" into a megaphone while others were heard shouting, "you lied to us." A group of Epstein accusers released a statement criticizing the disclosure, saying the documents made it too easy to identify victims while "Epstein's enablers continue to benefit from secrecy." Representative Ro Khanna indicated that he and Representative Thomas Massie would consider contempt or impeachment proceedings against senior officials if compliance with the transparency law did not improve. David A. Ross resigned as chair of the School of Visual Arts. The documents included a draft statement from the US Department of Justice noting Epstein's death on August 9, the day before his actual death. When questioned, the DOJ said it was an "unfortunate typo." In the United States, the disclosures also prompted scrutiny of academic institutions. Seventy faculty members at Barnard College, affiliated with Columbia University, signed a letter calling for an investigation into a trustee whose name appeared in the Epstein files. Harvard University announced that it was reviewing the former university president's ties to Epstein. Government investigations Several countries announced investigations following revelations that their nationals may have been victimized by Epstein or his associates. On February 3, 2026, Turkish prosecutors reviewed newly released Epstein files as part of an investigation into allegations that he trafficked Turkish children. The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office had launched the inquiry in December 2025 after opposition Iyi Party MP Turhan Çömez highlighted a reference in the files, which reportedly alleged that Epstein transported minor girls from Turkey, the Czech Republic, Asia, and other countries. Also on February 3, Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda called for a law enforcement investigation into potential human trafficking, which Lithuanian prosecutors subsequently announced, after the country's media reported that the names of several Lithuanian models and arts figures are in the files. On February 5, the president of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, called for an investigation after the Latvian public broadcaster reported the Epstein documents included passport data and travel details for several Latvian women; the Latvian State Police announced an investigation involving prosecutors and the Organised Crime Bureau into "the possible recruitment of Latvian nationals for sexual exploitation in the United States". On February 6, Norway reportedly planned to open an inquiry, backed by parliament, into its foreign ministry, after several officials appeared in the files, including former foreign ministers Thorbjørn Jagland and Børge Brende, and diplomat Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen. On February 19, British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, son of Queen Elizabeth II and former Duke of York, upon suspicion of misconduct in public office from his relationships with Jeffrey Epstein. 10 hours later, he was released from custody, though still "under investigation". Mountbatten-Windsor is the first member of the House of Windsor to be arrested throughout its history, and by extension, the first member of a British royal family to be arrested in 379 years. This was followed by the arrest of British politician Peter Mandelson outside of his home on February 23, also for misconduct in public office, In an interview released March 17, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said there was no new evidence to be used in prosecutions. On April 29, 2026, former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who previously declined to testify before the U.S. House Oversight Committee with regards to her handling of the Epstein files, now agreed to do so, with her scheduled testimony set to take place on May 29, 2026. Public opinion was a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein network investigation. in March 2026 promote the theory that the US-Israel air strikes were a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein network investigation. A December 2025 Reuters poll found that 23% of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the Epstein case. A January 2026 CNN poll found that 49% of Americans were dissatisfied with how much of the Epstein files "the federal government has released so far", while 6% were satisfied; two-thirds of respondents said the government was deliberately withholding information. In Russia, the Kremlin has pointed to various revelations in the files as supposed proof of the West's moral decline; Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, "Now we know how the Western elite treat children, including their own." Significant global coverage of the Epstein files has continued in early 2026. With both reporting and opinion articles released by news agencies such as Al Jazeera, BBC, and Le Monde, there is substantial global interest in the case. Given the nature of the crimes either committed by or for which they were accused, the relationship with either Maxwell and Epstein has been met with public discontent among voters in other countries, most notably Europe and the United Kingdom. Epstein class As a result of negative public opinion towards the release of the Epstein files, a political neologism has emerged called the "Epstein class". It has been used in contemporary public discourse to denote perceived wealthy, powerful, well-connected individuals or dynasties, viewed as operating with impunity from legal and moral accountability, especially in relation to Jeffrey Epstein. They are seen as part of the ruling class and the transnational capitalist class who own capital in multiple countries. Its use has been largely spearheaded by United States House representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie as well as United States senator Jon Ossoff. ==See also==