epstein

WASHINGTON — Former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finalized an agreement with House Republicans on Tuesday to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein this month, bowing to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote against them.

Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 26 and Bill Clinton will appear Feb. 27. It will mark the first time that lawmakers have compelled a former president to testify.

The arrangement comes after months of negotiating between the two sides as Republicans sought to make the Clintons, both Democrats, a focal point in a House committee’s investigation into Epstein, a convicted sex offender who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019, and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend.

“We look forward to now questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors,” Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

The negotiation with the Clintons

For months, the Clintons resisted subpoenas from the committee, but House Republicans — with support from a few Democrats — had advanced criminal contempt of Congress charges to a potential vote this week. It threatened the Clintons with the potential for substantial fines and even prison time if they had been convicted.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that any efforts to hold them in contempt of Congress were “on pause.”

Even as the Clintons bowed to the pressure, the negotiating between GOP lawmakers and attorneys for the Clintons was marked by distrust as they wrangled over the details of the deposition. They agreed to have the closed-door depositions transcribed and recorded on video, Comer said.

The belligerence is likely to only grow as Republicans relish the opportunity to grill longtime political foes under oath.

Comer told the Associated Press that Republicans, in their inquiry with the Clintons, were “trying to figure out how Jeffrey Epstein was able to surround himself with all these rich and powerful people.”

Comer, a Kentucky Republican, also said that the Clintons had expressed a desire to make the proceedings public, but that he would insist on closed-door testimony with a later release of a transcript of the interviews. He added that he was open to holding a later public hearing if the Clintons wanted it.

How Clinton knew Epstein

Clinton, like a number of other high-powered men including President Trump, had a well-documented relationship with Epstein in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Neither Trump nor Clinton has been credibly accused of wrongdoing in their interactions with the late financier.

Both Clintons have said they had no knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing underage girls before prosecutors brought charges against him.

The Clintons argued that the subpoenas for their testimony were invalid and offered to submit sworn declarations on their limited knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. But as Comer threatened to proceed with contempt of Congress charges, they began looking for an offramp.

Both Clintons have remained highly critical of how Comer has handled the Epstein investigation and argue that he is more focused on bringing them in for testimony rather than holding the Trump administration accountable for how it has handled the release of its files on Epstein.

However, as Comer advanced the contempt charges out of the House Oversight Committee last month, he found a number of Democrats willing to help. A younger generation of more progressive Democrats showed they had few connections with the Clintons, who led the Democratic Party for decades, and were more eager to show voters that they would stand for transparency in the Epstein investigation.

Nine Democrats out of 21 on the Oversight panel voted to advance charges against Bill Clinton, and three Democrats joined with Republicans to support the charges against Hillary Clinton. As the vote loomed this week, House Democratic leaders also made it clear that they would not expend much political capital to rally votes against the contempt resolutions.

That left the Clintons with little choice but to agree to testify or face one of the most severe punishments Congress can give.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

Police are looking into allegations Peter Mandelson may have passed sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein.

British politician Peter Mandelson is stepping down from the United Kingdom’s upper house of Parliament amid renewed scrutiny and the prospect of a criminal review into his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The speaker of the House of Lords, Michael Forsyth, said on Tuesday that Mandelson, 72, had notified the chamber of his intention to resign. Forsyth said the move would come into effect on Wednesday.

Mandelson, a former UK ambassador to the United States and longtime senior figure in the country’s Labour Party, has come under intense pressure following the release of a new tranche of US government documents related to Epstein.

The material includes emails from Mandelson to Epstein sharing political insights, including market-sensitive information during the 2008 financial crisis that critics say may have broken the law.

British police have said they are assessing reports of possible misconduct “to determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation”.

The files also include bank documents suggesting Epstein transferred tens of thousands of dollars to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva. Mandelson has said he does not recall such transactions and will examine the documents.

Additional material includes emails suggesting a friendly relationship between the two men after Epstein’s 2008 convictions for sex offences, as well as an image showing Mandelson in his underwear beside a woman whose face was obscured by US authorities.

Mandelson told the BBC that he “cannot place the location or the woman, and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.

Starmer says he’s ‘appalled’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday told his cabinet he was “appalled by the information” regarding Mandelson and was concerned more details would come to light, according to a Downing Street readout of a cabinet meeting.

Starmer also said he has ordered the civil service to conduct an “urgent” review of all of Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein while he was in government.

“The alleged passing on of emails of highly sensitive government business was disgraceful,” the prime minister said, adding he was not yet “reassured that the totality of information had yet emerged” regarding Mandelson’s links with Epstein.

Mandelson, who was sacked from his post as British ambassador to the US in September following earlier revelations about his Epstein ties, quit the Labour Party on Sunday to avoid what he called “further embarrassment”.

In an interview with The Times conducted late last month and published on Tuesday, Mandelson described Epstein as a “master manipulator,” adding: “I’ve had a lot of bad luck, no doubt some of it of my own making.”

Feb. 3 (UPI) — House Republicans gave former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a deadline of noon Tuesday to clarify the terms under which they plan to testify in an investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The former first couple agreed Monday evening to testify in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee probe. Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and the Clintons have repeatedly butted heads as they negotiate the details of the testimony.

The Clintons have “been so dishonest about the negotiation process, and their attorneys have been so dishonest about the negotiation process,” Comer told The Hill on Tuesday.

“We sent the terms, which are the basic standard terms of a congressional deposition … They have to sign it, and then if they sign it, then we agree to terms, and we’ll be deposing the Clintons in the month.”

Angel Urena, a spokesperson for former President Clinton, called Comer disingenuous amid the negotiations Monday.

The Clintons “negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” Urena said in a post on X. “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said if the Clintons don’t sign the terms by the noon deadline, Republicans will move forward with holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.

“We’re holding off until noon,” Johnson said. “They have a deadline until noon to work out the details, and if it’s not done satisfactorily, then we’ll proceed with the contempt.”

Republican leader Steve Scalise said Republicans would hold a contempt vote Wednesday if need be.

Unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations told Politico and The Hill that the committee wants the Clintons to accept the terms under which they were initially subpoenaed in the case — transcribed, filmed depositions with no time limits.

Bill Clinton, however, seeks to narrow the focus of the testimony to “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein.” He also didn’t want a transcribed interview, but instead a deposition under oath, and sought a 4-hour time limit.

Hillary Clinton sought a secondary sworn declaration instead of appearing in person for a deposition.

The committee issued subpoenas in August compelling the Clintons to testify. Bill Clinton is a former associate of the late Epstein but said he broke off relations with the disgraced financier in the early 2000s before his crimes became publicly known. Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t recall ever speaking with Epstein.

Democrats have accused the Republican-led committee of trying to focus on the Clintons as part of President Donald Trump‘s pursuit of investigations of political rivals and to deflect from Epstein’s relationships with notable Republicans, including the sitting president.

Controversial director Brett Ratner, whose documentary “Melania,” about the first lady, premiered last week, found himself in the headlines once again over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

A photograph, part of the trove of files released Friday in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Epstein, shows Ratner sitting on a couch with his arms wrapped around a woman, whose identity is concealed. She is sitting next to Epstein and a second woman, who is also redacted in the photo and is sitting at the far end of the couch next to the disgraced financier. It is unclear where the photo was taken or when.

The filmmaker is among several prominent individuals from the worlds of entertainment, technology, politics and business — including L.A. Olympics boss Casey Wasserman — who have turned up among the millions of files that the Justice Department has released.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in Manhattan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Ratner’s name also surfaces in a number of emails contained in the released files in which Epstein discusses his attempts to connect with the director and descriptions in which their social circles overlap.

It is not the first time Ratner turned up in Epstein’s orbit. In December, his photo appeared in an earlier batch of files the department released.

In the undated photograph, Ratner is seen seated, hugging a shirtless Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and an Epstein associate.

Brunel died of an apparent suicide in 2022 in a French prison while awaiting trial on charges that he had raped a minor.

Ratner has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

A spokesperson for the director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During a Monday appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Ratner said that the recently released photograph was taken about 20 years ago. He said that the woman he is hugging was his then-fiancée, whom he declined to name, and that she had invited him to an event where the picture was taken.

“I’ve never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and never in contact with him after,” he said on the show.

Among the emails in which Ratner is mentioned, in December 2010, Epstein discusses a dinner he is having at “7:30” in which he says that he has invited Ratner but has not yet heard back.

In December 2010, it was widely reported that Epstein hosted a dinner at his Manhattan townhouse just months after he finished serving a prison sentence and house arrest for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The dinner was attended by a number of boldfaced names including Woody Allen and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew.

A year later, Epstein’s assistant appears to email Ratner saying, “Jeffrey would like to speak with you regarding [redacted] could you please give us a call.” It is unclear whether Ratner followed up.

In another heavily redacted email from 2018, Epstein writes to someone saying: “Hi I’m Jeffrey. brett Ratner thought we should meet.” He follows up with a second email asking whether Ratner had spoken to this person yet.

During the Cannes film festival in 2012, celebrity superpublicist and ubiquitous presence on the awards circuit Peggy Siegal emailed Epstein that she was sitting with Ratner about to watch a Roman Polanski documentary, adding that “Brett says ‘hi’ and he loves you!”

In other gossipy emails Siegal sent to Epstein, she cites Ratner in her listing of which power brokers and celebrities are in attendance at various parties and who is staying on whose yacht in St. Barts (Ratner, she wrote, was staying with his business partner, the Australian billionaire James Packer).

Siegal’s relationship with the convicted pedophile came under renewed scrutiny in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, particularly as she helped facilitate his return to society following his prison sentence.

“Had I known that he had been accused of abusing underage girls, I would not have maintained a friendship with him,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.

Siegal could not be immediately reached for comment.

On Nov. 1, 2017 — the day The Times published its investigation in which six women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct — Epstein emailed lawyer Reid Weingarten: “brett ratner now oy.”

Ratner’s career was derailed nine years ago after The Times published detailed allegations against the director made by multiple women who accused him of harassment, groping and forced oral sex. Actor Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner masturbated in front of her when she delivered a meal to his trailer on the set of the 2004 film “After the Sunset.”

At the time, the director’s attorney Martin Singer rejected the women’s claims, saying that his client “vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him.”

Ratner’s agents at WME dropped him, as did his publicist, and projects were put on hold. Ratner parted ways with Warner Bros.

“I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved,” he said in a statement.

In 2020, Ratner became embroiled in another Hollywood sex scandal, involving British actor Charlotte Kirk.

In a sworn court declaration, Kirk said she was victimized by then-Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara, Ratner, Packer and Millennium Films CEO Avi Lerner, stating that the men “coerced me into engaging in ‘commercial sex’ for them and their business associates.”

Singer, who represented the men, “categorically and vehemently” denied any wrongdoing on the part of his clients.

“Melania” is the first film Ratner has directed since he was largely exiled from Hollywood. The documentary has received harsh reviews from critics, who have also questioned the $75 million Amazon paid to distribute and market the movie. However, during its opening weekend, it grossed a better-than-expected $7.1 million at the box office.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says ex-envoy Peter Mandelson should no longer hold a seat in the upper house of parliament.

Police in the United Kingdom have announced they are reviewing allegations of misconduct in public office following revelations that London’s former ambassador to Washington leaked confidential government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The announcement by the Metropolitan Police on Monday came after investigative files released by United States authorities revealed that Peter Mandelson shared government plans with Epstein while serving as a UK minister.

Mandelson, who served as business secretary under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, told Epstein about asset sales and tax changes under consideration by London in 2009, as well as plans for the 500 billion euro ($590bn) bailout of the single currency in 2010, according to emails released by the US Department of Justice on Friday.

“Following this release and subsequent media reporting, the Met has received a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in public office. The reports will all be reviewed to determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation,” Metropolitan Police Commander Ella Marriott said in a statement.

“As with any matter, if new and relevant information is brought to our attention we will assess it, and investigate as appropriate,” Marriott added.

The Metropolitan Police did not name Mandelson, but its statement came after the leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party said he had written to the police commissioner urging him to investigate the former ambassador for alleged misconduct in public office.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced an inquiry into Mandelson’s ties to Epstein.

Starmer, who sacked Mandelson as London’s top diplomat in Washington last year after the emergence of correspondence detailing his ties to Epstein, also said the former minister should lose his lifelong appointment to the UK’s upper house of parliament.

On Sunday, Mandelson resigned from the governing Labour Party, whose return to electoral dominance he helped to engineer in the 1990s, citing his wish to avoid causing further embarrassment to his colleagues.

In further fallout in the UK on Monday, the charity launched by Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, announced that it would close “for the foreseeable future” amid revelations about her friendly relationship with Epstein.

“Our chair Sarah Ferguson and the board of trustees have agreed that with regret the charity will shortly close for the foreseeable future,” a spokesman said in a statement, without elaborating on the reasons for the closure.

Separately on Monday, the US Justice Department said it had removed thousands of Epstein-related files from the internet after lawyers representing some of his alleged victims said their identities had been exposed due to insufficient redactions in the latest release of documents.

The Clintons agree to testify in congressional probe of high-society sex offender Jeffrey Epstein amid contempt threat.

Former ‍United States President Bill ‍Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, will testify in a congressional investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson for the ex-president said.

The ⁠decision by the Clintons announced on Monday could head off a planned vote in the Republican-led ​House of Representatives to hold the high-profile Democratic Party veterans in contempt for refusing to appear before lawmakers, which could lead to criminal charges.

“The former President and former ‌Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone,” the Clintons’ deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said ‌in a post on social media.

Urena posted the announcement above a House Oversight Committee statement from earlier on Monday that accused the Clintons of “defying lawful subpoenas” and of “trying to dodge contempt by requesting special treatment”.

“The Clintons are not above the law,” the Oversight Committee said.

Last week, the Oversight Committee recommended the couple be held in contempt for refusing ‍to testify about ⁠their relationship with Epstein.

The Clintons had offered to cooperate with the committee’s probe into Epstein, but refused to appear in person, saying the investigation was a partisan exercise aimed at protecting President Donald Trump, who was a longtime friend of Epstein.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson welcomed the news from the Clintons, but ‌did not say whether the chamber ⁠would drop its planned contempt vote.

“That’s a good development,” he said. “We expect everyone to comply with Congress’s subpoenas.”

Democrats say the House probe is being weaponised to attack political opponents of Trump – who has not been called to testify despite being long associated with Epstein – rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of investigative files linked to Epstein, but pressure from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base and some Republican lawmakers forced the president to order the release of millions of documents in the case.

Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several ‌times in the early 2000s after leaving office. He has expressed regret about the relationship and said he knew nothing about  Epstein’s criminal activity.

Hillary Clinton said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane and never visited his private island.

The Epstein affair continues to cast a long shadow over US politics, and now, the United Kingdom’s, entangling prominent figures including the disgraced former-prince Andrew and ex-UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson.

UK police said on Monday they are reviewing reports of alleged misconduct involving Mandelson, whose name surfaced more than 5,000 times in the US Justice Department files on Epstein.

The veteran British politician was fired as ambassador to the US last ‍year after emails came to light that showed him calling Epstein “my best pal” and advising him on seeking early release from prison.

Mandelson has apologised to Epstein’s victims and denied wrongdoing.

But in an email to a “Ferg” in 2011, Epstein writes: “of course you can have mothers army, it was always for you„ Im not sure how to transfer it, but rest assured , it is your in its entirety, I will ask how the transfer is accomplished, we just want to be careful that there is no downside at the moment to have a transaction between you and I.”

WASHINGTON — The Republican chair of a House Committee rejected an offer Monday from former President Clinton to conduct a transcribed interview for a House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, pushing the threat to hold both Clintons in contempt of Congress closer toward a vote.

The impasse comes as the full House is headed toward potential votes this week on criminal contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons. If passed, the charges threaten Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with substantial fines and even incarceration if they are convicted.

Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said on social media that he would insist on both Clintons sitting for a sworn deposition before the committee in order to fulfill the panel’s subpoenas. A letter from the committee to attorneys for the Clintons indicates that they had offered for Bill Clinton to conduct a transcribed interview on “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein” and for Hillary Clinton to submit a sworn declaration.

“The Clintons do not get to dictate the terms of lawful subpoenas,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said.

The Republican-controlled Oversight panel had advanced criminal contempt of Congress charges last month. Nine of the committee’s 21 Democrats joined Republicans in support of the charges against Bill Clinton as they argued for full transparency in the Epstein investigation. Three Democrats also supported the charges against Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein has re-emerged as a focal point for Republicans amid the push for a reckoning over Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 in a New York jail cell as he faced sex trafficking charges.

Clinton, like a bevy of other high-powered men, had a well-documented relationship with Epstein in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He has not been accused of wrongdoing in his interactions with the late financier.

After Bill and Hillary Clinton were both subpoenaed in August by the House Oversight Committee, their attorney had tried to argue against the validity of the subpoena. However, as Comer threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings, they started negotiating toward a compromise.

Still, the Clintons remained highly critical of Comer’s decision, saying that he was bringing politics into the investigation while failing to hold the Trump administration accountable for delays in producing the Department of Justice’s case files on Epstein.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

New Delhi, India – The latest release of documents related to the US Justice Department investigation into the crimes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has set off political infernos around the globe for featuring the names of world leaders.

The tranche of files, which includes more than three million pages of documents, was released on Friday. This is the largest release since US President Donald Trump’s administration passed a law last year to force the release of the documents.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of sex offences but avoided federal charges – which could have seen him face life in prison – by doing a deal with prosecutors. Instead, he received an 18-month prison sentence, which allowed him to go on “work release” to his office for 12 hours a day, six days a week. He was released on probation after 13 months.

In 2019, he was arrested again on charges including the sex trafficking of minors. But he died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 before his trial could commence.

With this latest disclosure of documents and emails linked to the cases against him, yet more has been revealed about the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with wealthy and powerful figures from the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, Slovakia and India.

Simply being named in Epstein documents or emails does not mean a person is guilty of criminal wrongdoing, and, so far, no charges have been brought against individuals named in connection with the sex offender.

However, the new documents show communications between high-profile figures in the US, including Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and business tycoons such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

Here is what we know about some of the powerful men (and one woman) from other countries who have featured in these documents.

Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister

Documents released on Friday reveal conversations between Anil Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance Group who is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Epstein. All the conversations took place in the years following Epstein’s first conviction for sex offences in 2008.

The two emailed each other about a range of issues, from sizing up incoming US ambassadors to India to setting up meetings for Modi with top US officials.

Ambani is the elder brother of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who is also close to PM Modi.

On March 16, 2017, two months after Trump was sworn in for his first term as president of the US, Ambani sent an iMessage to Epstein, saying “Leadership” was asking for his help to connect with senior figures in Trump’s circle, including Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon.

Ambani also asked for advice from Epstein about a possible visit by Modi to meet Trump “in may (sic)”, before setting up a call in the messages.

In another iMessage exchange two weeks later, on March 29, Epstein wrote to Ambani: “Discussions re israel strategy dominating modi dates (sic).” Two days later, Ambani informed Epstein that Modi would visit Israel in July and asked the disgraced financier: “who do u know fir track 2”.

On June 26, Modi met Trump in Washington on his first visit since Trump became president.

Then, on July 6, 2017, Modi became the first-ever Indian prime minister to visit Israel. He snubbed the Palestinian Authority, prompting condemnation from Palestinian officials.

That year, New Delhi became the largest buyer of Israeli weapons, amounting to $715m worth of purchases. The defence partnership between the two countries has since continued despite Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

This marked a sharp change from India’s history of advocating for the Palestinian cause. It only opened up formal diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992. Before that, Indian citizens had been barred by India from travelling to Israel since the country’s creation in 1948.

After Modi’s visit on July 6, Epstein emailed an unidentified individual he referred to as “Jabor Y”, saying: “The Indian Prime minister modi took advice. and danced and sang in israel for the benefit of the US president. they had met a few weeks ago.. IT WORKED. !”

Ambani Reliance Defence Ltd also entered a joint venture with an Israeli state defence group last year in a deal valued at $10bn over a decade.

Shortly after Modi’s visit to Israel, Larry Summers, former Harvard University president and former secretary of the US Treasury, asked Epstein if he still thought Trump was a better president than rival candidate Hillary Clinton would have been. Epstein responded affirmatively, stating, “yes, defintley India israel. for example great and all his doing (sic).”

In another conversation revealed in the latest document drop, Epstein offered to arrange a meeting between Modi and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon just hours after Modi had won a thumping majority in the Indian national election in 2019.

In an iMessage to Bannon on May 19, 2019, Epstein wrote, “modi sending someone to see me on thurs,” referring to Ambani.

That Thursday, May 23, Epstein met Ambani in New York and his calendar for that day shows no other meeting scheduled.

After the meeting with Ambani, Epstein wrote to Bannon: “really interesting modi meeting. He won [the 2019 parliamentary elections] with HUGE mandate. His guy said that no one in wash speaks to him however his main enemy is CHINA!   And their proxy in the region pakistan. They will host the g20 in 22.. Totally buys into your vision.”

Epstein then messaged Ambani: “I think mr modi might enjoy meeting steve bannon, you all share the china problem.” And Ambani wrote back: “sure.”

Epstein then wrote back to Bannon: “modi on board.”

It is not immediately clear if Ambani was authorised to approve such decisions on behalf of the Indian government. There is no public record either of a meeting between Bannon and Indian officials that summer.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Indian politician

Another major Indian name featured in the Epstein files is Hardeep Singh Puri, who retired from the Indian Foreign Service to join Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.

In the documents are email exchanges between Puri and Epstein that began in June 2014, with the sex offender writing to Puri about Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, and arranging a visit by Hoffman to India.

Following an exchange of emails, Puri wrote a detailed pitch for investment opportunities in India to Epstein and Hoffman, laying out economic plans in India under the newly elected Modi government, and urging Hoffman to visit. Documents also show Puri met Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse on at least three occasions: February 4, 2015; January 6, 2016; and May 19, 2017.

Puri told Indian media on Sunday that his visits and interactions with Epstein were strictly business-related.

In December 2014, Puri wrote to Epstein again by email. “Please let me know when you are back from your exotic island,” he wrote, asking to set up a meeting in which Puri could give Epstein some books to “excite an interest in India”.

How has the Indian government responded?

India has dismissed the references to Modi in the Epstein files.

“Beyond the fact of the prime minister’s official visit to Israel in July 2017, the rest of the allusions in the email are little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Saturday.

However, the opposition, led by the Congress Party, has demanded answers about the latest disclosures – particularly those relating to Israel relations.

The Congress Party’s general secretary in charge of organisation, KC Venugopal, wrote in a post on X: “The reports of the new batch of Epstein Files are a huge wake-up call about the kind of monsters who have access to PM Modi, and how susceptible he is to foreign manipulation. The Congress demands that the Prime Minister personally come clean on these disturbing disclosures that raise serious questions.”

Kevin Rudd, former Australian prime minister

Australian diplomat Kevin Rudd, who served as the country’s prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and again in 2013, has also been named in the Epstein files.

Rudd’s name appeared on Epstein’s daily meeting schedule for June 8, 2014, at 4:30pm. On that day, Epstein flew to New York from his private island, Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands, for several meetings, including with Rudd.

Rudd, who is currently serving as Australia’s ambassador to the US, claims he did not visit Epstein and denies any friendship with him.

But the newly released files show that two days before the scheduled appointment, Epstein emailed his assistant, Lesley Groff, on June 6, 2014 to ask for non-vegetarian food to be made available at the upcoming Sunday lunch “as now kevin rudd is also coming”. Rudd was not in government at the time.

Just seconds later, Epstein follows up in another email to Groff: “Kevin Rudd might also stop by former prime minister austrailia [sic].”

Peter Mandelson, UK politician

The name of Peter Mandelson, a former UK cabinet minister and life peer, had appeared in tranches of Epstein files previously made public. But he resigned from his membership of the UK’s ruling Labour Party on Sunday after yet more links to Epstein surfaced in the latest dump.

Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last year over his connections to Epstein.

The latest documents reveal that Epstein made $75,000 in payments to Mandelson in three separate transactions in 2003 and 2004.

In his resignation letter to Labour’s general secretary, Mandelson wrote: “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.”

He said he had “no recollection” of the payments, however.

The latest documents also show that Mandelson discussed with Epstein by email a campaign against Rudd’s proposed mining tax, which would have taxed “super profits” reaped by mining companies at 40 percent, while Rudd was still prime minister.

Mette-Marit, Norway’s crown princess

The latest disclosures from the US Justice Department have embroiled Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, in the Epstein scandal, as they reveal her years of extensive contact with the sex offender.

Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne, appears nearly 1,000 times in the Epstein files, with scores of emails sent between the two.

In the emails, Mette-Marit told Epstein, “you tickle my brain”, and called him “soft hearted” and “such a sweetheart”. In another, she thanked Epstein for flowers he had sent when she was feeling unwell, signing off with “Love, Mm”.

In 2012, Mette-Marit told Epstein he was “very charming” and asked if it was “inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old sons wallpaper?”

The revelations come at a tricky time for Norway’s royal family, with Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Hoiby – who was born before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon – set to go on trial for rape later this week. Hoiby has been accused of 38 crimes, including the rapes of four women as well as assault and drug offences.

Miroslav Lajcak, Slovakian national security adviser

The new tranche of Espstein files has also prompted the resignation of Slovakia’s national security adviser, Miroslav Lajcak.

Photos and emails released with the documents reveal that he met with Epstein several years after the sex offender was released from jail and exchanged text messages about women in 2018 during his second spell as foreign minister.

On Sunday, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico accepted Lajcak’s resignation, and wrote on Facebook that the government was losing “an incredible source of experience and knowledge in foreign policy”, adding that the former minister had “categorically denied and rejected” the allegations made against him.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke the comedian made while hosting Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

“It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$,” Trump said Sunday night in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

Trump frequently pursues lawsuits against critics and media organizations over comments he says damaged his reputation, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to silence dissent.

Noah, a South African comedian who has hosted the Grammy Awards since 2021, attracted the ire of the American president with a joke about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

After awarding singer Billie Eilish the song of the year award, Noah remarked: “That is a Grammy every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

There is no verified evidence that either president visited Epstein’s Little Saint James Island, which has been linked to sex crimes committed by Epstein against minors.

“Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!” Trump said in his statement.

“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.”

Trump and Epstein, who died in jail by apparent suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking charges, were friends dating back to the 1980s. The American president said in July that they had a falling out in the early 2000s after Epstein “stole” spa staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort including Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April.

On Friday, the Justice Department released millions of pages from its investigation into Epstein. Included in the documents were unverified claims and allegations submitted to the FBI that mention Trump in connection with alleged sex crimes involving minors.

Trump has denied wrongdoing. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that allegations included in the documents against Trump and others were “very quickly determined to not be credible.”

According to the Daily Telegraph, Lord Mandelson is set to be summoned to US Congress to give evidence about his links to Epstein. Sources close to the House Oversight Committee, which the paper says has “spearheaded” the release of the Epstein files, say they are “poised to issue” Lord Mandelson with a demand to testify in Washington DC. The committee cannot compel testimony from foreigners, as the paper notes.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Peter Mandelson says he is stepping down to avoid causing further embarrassment to the governing party.

Peter Mandelson, the United Kingdom’s former ambassador to the United States, has resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party following further revelations of his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, UK media have reported.

Mandelson, who was removed as London’s top representative in Washington last year after the emergence of emails detailing his associations with Epstein, said he had resigned to avoid causing further embarrassment to the governing party, the reports said on Sunday.

“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this,” Mandelson said in a letter reported by the BBC and The Guardian.

Mandelson said he believed that reports over the weekend that he had received several payments from Epstein in the early 2000s were false, but that he needed to investigate them, the reports said.

“While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party,” Mandelson said, according to the reports.

More to follow…

Email sent to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 outlines what the sender described as financial and legal opportunities in Libya.

A newly released document shows that an associate of late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had outlined plans to pursue access to Libya’s frozen state assets, including seeking potential support from former British and Israeli intelligence officials.

The tranche of documents released by the United States Department of Justice on Friday included an email sent to Epstein that outlines what the sender described as financial and legal opportunities linked to political and economic uncertainty in Libya at the time.

The email dated July 2011 was sent several months after a NATO-backed uprising against then Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi began. Gaddafi was killed by Libyan rebels in October of the same year.

According to the email, about $80bn in Libyan funds were believed to be frozen internationally, including roughly $32.4bn in the US.

“And it is estimated that the real number is somewhere between three to four times this number in sovereign, stolen and misappropriated assets,” the email states, adding that “if we can identify/recover 5 percent to 10 percent of these monies and receive 10 percent to 25 percent as compensation we are talking about billions of dollars”.

The sender also said certain former members of Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6 and Israel’s external intelligence agency, Mossad, had expressed a willingness to assist in efforts to identify and recover “stolen assets”.

The email also referenced expectations that Libya would need to spend at least $100bn in the future on reconstruction and economic recovery.

“But the real carrot is if we can become their go-to guys because they plan to spend at least $100 billion next year to rebuild their country and jump start the economy,” the email said.

The email characterised Libya as a country with significant energy reserves and strong literacy rates, factors it said could be advantageous for financial and legal initiatives.

It also stated that discussions had been held with some international law firms about working on a contingency-fee basis.

MILAN, Italy — Two years before the Los Angeles Olympics, the United States is already dominating the narrative in the run-up to the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

International Olympic Committee officials, including President Kirsty Coventry, couldn’t avoid questions relating to ICE and the Jeffrey Epstein files at a news conference in Milan, Italy, on Sunday.

Coventry tried to fend them off by saying it was not the IOC’s place to comment on the issues, but when pressed remarked it was “sad” that such stories were deflecting attention away from the upcoming Olympics.

“I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad, right? But we’ve learned over the many years … there’s always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games,” Coventry said. “Whether it has been Zika, COVID, there has always been something.

“But what is keeping my faith alive is that when that opening ceremony happens and those athletes start competing, suddenly the world remembers the magic and the spirit that the Games have and they get to suddenly remember what’s actually important and they get to be inspired, and so we’re really looking forward to that.”

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Milan to protest the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics, although agents would be stationed in a control room and not operating on the streets.

Meanwhile, the latest collection of government files released on Epstein includes emails from 2003 between Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, and Epstein’s one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“From all the information that we have and I believe that the U.S. authorities, as the other authorities, have made all the clarifications needed, so from our side that’s not for us to further comment on that part of the security. But we’re really looking forward to the Games,” Coventry said when asked about the presence of ICE agents in Milan.

She was even less responsive when asked about Wasserman.

“We didn’t discuss it yesterday and I believe Mr. Wasserman has put out his statement and we now have nothing further to add,” said Coventry, who was elected just over 10 months ago as the first female IOC president.

The upcoming Olympics run from Friday through Feb. 22. U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead an American delegation to the Milan-Cortina Games and attend the opening ceremony.

Matar writes for the Associated Press.

Files published by the US Department of Justice included flirtatious emails between Casey Wasserman and Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics chief Casey Wasserman has ‍apologised for communicating with ‍convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, after the publication of a series of personal emails between the two.

New files related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s former boyfriend, published by the United States Department of Justice on ⁠Friday, included flirtatious email exchanges between Wasserman, who was married at the time, and Maxwell dating ​from 2003.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in ‍2021 by a jury in New York on charges including sex trafficking of a minor. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

“I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Wasserman said in a ‍statement on Sunday.

“I ⁠am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”

Maxwell was arrested in 2020 after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004.

“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” said Wasserman, adding that it took place before her and Epstein’s crimes “came to light”.

The International Olympic Committee, which works very closely with Wasserman in preparation for the Summer Olympic Games, refused ​to comment on the matter.

“I believe Mr Wasserman has put out his ‌statement and we have nothing further to add,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said in a press conference before the start of next week’s Milano-Cortina Olympics.

Asked whether the Wasserman emails were a distraction shortly before the Milano Games, Coventry said ‌there had been past Olympics that were dogged by stories prior to their start, such as the Zika virus before the Rio de Janeiro ‌2016 Olympics.

“Anything that is distracting from these Games is sad,” ⁠Coventry said.

“But we have learned over the many years … there has always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games. What is keeping my faith alive is when the opening ceremony happens … suddenly the world remembers ‌the magic and spirit the Games have,” she said.

Wasserman is a sports and entertainment executive who has been leading the LA28 Olympic project from the bidding phase and currently serves as chairman of ‍the organising committee, which is due to deliver a progress report to the IOC session on Tuesday.

The 2028 Summer Olympics were awarded to the city in 2017.

Starmer says Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should testify before US Congress about his past dealings with the late convicted sex offender.

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a former prince, should cooperate with authorities in the United States investigating the Jeffrey Epstein files and activities.

Speaking on Saturday to reporters at the end of a visit to Japan, Starmer said, “Anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that.”

“You can’t be victim-centred if you’re not prepared to do that,” he added, according to remarks carried by Sky News. “Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority.”

Asked whether Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, should issue an apology, Starmer said the matter was “for Andrew” to decide.

His comments came as the US Justice Department said it would be releasing more than three million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under a law intended to reveal most of the material it had collected during two decades of investigations involving the wealthy financier, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The disclosures have revived questions about whether the former British prince, who was stripped of his title last year over his friendship with Epstein, should cooperate with the US authorities in their investigation.

Mountbatten-Windsor – who has long denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein – has so far ignored a request from members of the US House Oversight Committee for a “transcribed interview” about his “longstanding friendship” with the billionaire.

The files have also prompted the resignation of Slovak official Miroslav Lajcak, who once had a yearlong term as president of the United Nations General Assembly.

Lajcak was not accused of wrongdoing but left his position after emails showed that Epstein had invited him to dinner and other meetings in 2018.

The newly released files also show Epstein’s email correspondence with Steve Bannon, one-time adviser to US President Donald Trump; New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and other prominent contacts in political, business and philanthropic circles, such as billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

The files show a March 2018 email from Epstein’s office to former Obama White House general counsel Kathy Ruemmler, inviting her to a get-together with Epstein, Lajcak and Bannon. Lajcak said his contacts with Epstein were part of his diplomatic duties.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is facing criticism over how it handled the latest disclosure.

One group of Epstein accusers said in a statement that the new documents made it too easy to identify those he abused, but not those who might have been involved in Epstein’s criminal activity.

“As survivors, we should never be the ones named, scrutinised, and retraumatised while Epstein’s enablers continue to benefit from secrecy,” it said.

The Sunday Telegraph says the King paid a surprise visit to joggers at a Parkrun event on his Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. “Yes, it really IS His Majesty,” is the Sunday Mirror’s headline, above a photo of the King, laughing beside one of the organisers, who’s holding up a sign to that effect. Joggers “lapped up” the joke, it says.

NEW YORK — Newly disclosed U.S. government files on Jeffrey Epstein have prompted the resignation of a top official in Slovakia and revived calls in Britain for former Prince Andrew to share what he knows with authorities about Epstein’s links to powerful individuals around the world.

The fallout comes a day after the Justice Department began releasing a massive trove of files that offers more details about Epstein’s interactions with the rich and famous after he served time for sex crimes in Florida.

The prime minister of Slovakia accepted the resignation Saturday of his national security advisor, Miroslav Lajcak, the country’s former foreign minister who once had a yearlong term as president of the U.N. General Assembly. Lajcak wasn’t accused of wrongdoing but left his position after photos and emails revealed he had met with Epstein in the years after the disgraced financier was released from jail.

The disclosures also have revived questions about whether longtime Epstein friend Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, should cooperate with U.S. authorities investigating Epstein.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday suggested Mountbatten-Windsor should tell American investigators whatever he knows about Epstein’s activities. The former prince has so far ignored a request from members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee for a “transcribed interview” about his “long-standing friendship” with Epstein.

President Trump’s Justice Department said Friday it had released more than 3 million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under a law intended to reveal the material it collected during two decades of investigations of Epstein, once a close friend of Trump.

The files, posted to the department’s website, included documents involving Epstein’s friendship with Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein’s email correspondence with longtime Trump advisor and former White House aide Stephen K. Bannon, New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and other prominent contacts with people in political, business and philanthropic circles, including billionaires Elon Musk — another former Trump advisor — and Bill Gates.

Other documents offered a window into various investigations, including ones that led to sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019 and his accomplice and longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell in 2021, and an earlier inquiry that found evidence of Epstein abusing underage girls but never led to federal charges.

Slovakian official resigns

Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister, said Saturday that he had accepted Lajcak’s resignation.

Lajcak hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, but emails showed that Epstein had invited him to dinner and other meetings in 2018.

The records also include a March 2018 email from Epstein’s office to former Obama White House general counsel Kathy Ruemmler, inviting her to a get-together with Epstein, Lajcak and Bannon, the conservative activist who was Trump’s White House strategist in 2017.

Lajcak said his contacts with Epstein were part of his diplomatic duties. Pressure mounted for his ouster from opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico’s governing coalition.

Draft indictment detailed Epstein’s abuse

The FBI started investigating Epstein in July 2006 and agents expected him to be indicted in May 2007, according to the newly released records. A prosecutor wrote up a proposed indictment after multiple underage girls told police and the FBI that they had been paid to give Epstein sexualized massages.

The draft indicated prosecutors were preparing to charge not just Epstein but also three people who worked for him as personal assistants.

According to interview notes released Friday, an employee at Epstein’s Florida estate told the FBI in 2007 that Epstein once had him buy flowers and deliver them to a student at Royal Palm Beach High School to commemorate her performance in a school play.

The employee, whose name was blacked out, said some of his duties were fanning $100 bills on a table near Epstein’s bed, placing a gun between the mattresses in his bedroom and cleaning up after Epstein’s frequent massages with young girls, including disposing of used condoms.

Ultimately, the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alexander Acosta, signed off on a deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution. Epstein pleaded guilty instead to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18 and got an 18-month jail sentence. Acosta was Trump’s first Labor secretary in his first White House term.

Epstein offers to set Andrew up on a date

The records have thousands of references to Trump, including emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles, commented on his policies or gossiped about him and his family.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s name appears at least several hundred times, including in Epstein’s private emails. In a 2010 exchange, Epstein appeared to set him up for a date.

“I have a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with,” Epstein wrote.

Mountbatten-Windsor replied that he “would be delighted to see her.”

Epstein, whose emails often contain typographical errors, wrote later in the exchange: “She 26, russian, clevere beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email.”

Concerns over how Justice Department handled records

The Justice Department is facing criticism over how it handled the latest disclosure.

One group of Epstein accusers said in a statement that the new documents made it too easy to identify those he abused but not those who might have been involved in Epstein’s criminal activity.

“As survivors, we should never be the ones named, scrutinized, and retraumatized while Epstein’s enablers continue to benefit from secrecy,” it said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, pressed the department to let lawmakers review unredacted versions of the files as soon as Sunday. He said in a statement that Congress must assess whether the redactions were lawful or improperly shielded people from scrutiny.

Department officials have acknowledged that many records in its files are duplicates, and it was clear from the documents that reviewers took different degrees of care or exercised different standards while blacking out names and other identifying information.

There were multiple documents where a name was left exposed in one copy but redacted in another.

Epstein’s ties to powerful on display

The released records reinforced that Epstein was, at least before he ran into legal trouble, friendly with Trump and former President Clinton. None of Epstein’s victims who have gone public has accused Trump or Clinton of wrongdoing. Both men said they had no knowledge Epstein was abusing underage girls.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019, a month after being indicted.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of Epstein’s underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. She was recently relocated to a less-restrictive lockup in Texas, which has drawn additional criticism of the Trump administration.

U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse. One victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, sued Mountbatten-Windsor, saying she had sexual encounters with him starting at age 17. The now-former prince denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Giuffre died by suicide last year at age 41.

The Associated Press is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from Versant, CBS and NBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.

Sisak, Kirka and Finley write for the Associated Press and reported from New York, London and Washington. AP journalists from around the country contributed to this report.

The latest cache of investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein released Friday include personal emails exchanged more than 20 years ago between Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 Olympics organizing committee, and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former romantic partner.

In emails sent in March and April 2003, Wasserman — who was married at the time — writes about wanting to see Maxwell in a tight leather outfit, she offers to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild,” and the pair discuss how much they miss each other, according to files released and posted online by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Representatives for Wasserman did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Friday.

In an email sent on March 14, 2003, Maxwell describes a “tight leather flying outfit” she wore recently and said she was thinking of Wasserman in inappropriate moments. He wrote back, “I think of you all the time … So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”

She then promises him, “Casey — I will be coming back to NY tom late afternoon. I shall be wearing a tight leather flying suit …”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

The exchange, part of a trove of documents about Epstein released on Friday, reveal that Wasserman was at one time friendly with Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and the abuse of minors in partnership with Epstein.

Other documents show that Wasserman and his then wife flew on Epstein’s private jet in September 2002 alongside Maxwell, Epstein, former President Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey and several others as part of a 10-day trip to explore the problems of HIV in Africa. (That trip had been documented in a 2003 Vanity Fair story).

During her trial, federal prosecutors established that Maxwell and Epstein — who died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019 — were engaged in a sex-trafficking scheme involving minors from the late 1990s through the early 2000s.

In an April 2, 2003, email to Wasserman, Maxwell offers to “continue the massage concept into your bed … and then again in the morning … not sure if or when we would stop.”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

Later that day she writes, “Umm — all that rubbing — are you sure you can take it? The thought frankly is leaving me a little breathless. There are a few spots that apparently drive a man wild — I suppose I could practice them on you and you could let me know if they work or not?”

A few days later, Maxwell tells Wasserman that “JE” says she should pick a week to go to Los Angeles and look at properties they can rent in Malibu that summer and offers to bring Wasserman something from Paris.

Wasserman wrote back, “I think you picking a week to be in LA is a really good idea … The only thing i want from paris is you”

The pair continue their exchange on April 6, with Maxwell then offering to bring him food from London such as KitKats, cheddar and baked beans to which he says, “Among all my desires, that combination is pretty low on the list … xoxo”

She asks him what combination would do it for him and he says “You, me, and not else much …”

Wasserman then explains the concept of June gloom, California’s famous seasonal fog, and Maxwell inquires whether it would be foggy enough “so that you can float naked down the beach and no one can see you unless they are close up?”

He responds, “or something like that …”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

Wasserman, a UCLA alumnus, is the grandson of Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman. He built his own fortune through his sports marketing and talent agency Wasserman, which represents more than 30 No. 1 overall picks in major sports leagues including the MLB, NFL, NBA and WNBA. In 2023, the agency acquired Brillstein Entertainment Partners, a management production company that represents stars such as Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt and launched hit shows that included “The Sopranos.”

Wasserman was recruited by former Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 to help Los Angeles win its Olympic host bid. While Garcetti completed his mayoral term and faded from the Olympic spotlight, Wasserman remains the face of the city’s push to host a successful Games in 2028. He has led every major Olympic update presented to the IOC and met multiple times with President Trump to secure his support.

Wasserman is expected to join an LA28 delegation in Italy for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the final Games before L.A.

Epstein, 66, was once a well-connected financial consultant who rubbed shoulders with many prominent politicians and celebrities, including Trump and Clinton. He was arrested and taken into federal custody in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

The indictment alleged that, between 2002 and 2005, Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls at his homes in Manhattan, N.Y., and Palm Beach, Fla., and other locations, by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him for cash. It also alleged Epstein paid several of his victims to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts.

The latest documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted after months of public and political pressure and requires the government to open its files on the late financier and Maxwell. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest disclosure, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The arrest of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, in connection with an anti-ICE protest that interrupted a church service in Minnesota, is a test for the American people. Well, some of us. Many of us already didn’t like what we saw happening across the country. Many believed the un-American threats during the campaign and voted against this regime in 2024.

So this is a test for the Americans who — after seeing law enforcement seemingly use a 5-year-old as bait and shoot Renee Good and Alex Pretti to death — still said they’re on board with everything.

The voters who agreed with Donald Trump when he said “they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime” back in 2015, and were OK with him 10 years later, popping up in the Epstein files and pardoning criminals — including a corrupt former Latin American leader who took bribes to let 400 tons of cocaine be smuggled into the U.S.

This isn’t a test for the voters whose biggest concern was the price of groceries or border security. This is a test for the voters who used that rhetoric about groceries and the border as cover for their unsavory feelings about immigrants. The same feelings that greeted other groups — the Jews, the Italians, the Irish — when they first came to this land. The ethnicity may be different, the conspiracy theories may be new, but at the end of the day, it’s the same old predictable story.

So, if you’re the type to cast a ballot just to own the libs, the arrest of journalists is a test for you.

On Jan. 18, protesters — believing one of the pastors at Cities Church in St. Paul was also the acting field director of the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office — entered the building and disrupted a service. The only reason anyone outside of St. Paul knew any of this is that we have freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Because people like Lemon and Fort had the courage to be there, knowing they had 250 years of American tradition backing up their right to do their jobs. That’s the point of the 1st Amendment.

Remember, if we don’t have journalists like Fort and my friend Lemon — people who are willing to do the work required to document history, or read legislation, or hold elected officials accountable — then you no longer have freedom of the press. You have state-controlled media by way of oligarchy. That may feel good to some factions now, but the problem with “now” is that it never lasts. The Constitution, though, has a real opportunity to stick around. But it needs constant protection.

In the old days, the ultra-rich used to buy local media companies to make money or for prestige in the community. Now it feels as if many owners’ goal is to control and curb journalism. Once the free press is in a cage, free speech has little room to fly. That is the byproduct of this wave of media consolidation, whether the billionaires who are engaged in these acquisitions planned to do that or not.

In addition, historically journalism has been under attack by governments not because it was a threat to society, but because it threatens those who want to control society. The reason most presidents spar with journalists is that they want to control the narrative.

But it appears the current president wants to control reality.

The impulse to rewrite reality is why Trump established Truth Social. It’s why the administration posts AI-generated images and doctored photos.

The sense that the president can create his own truth is why one day, the administration can defend the 2nd Amendment, and the next, suggest that legally carrying a weapon is a fatal mistake. After all, if he is free to trample the 1st Amendment, what’s the problem with kicking the 2nd around whenever he needs to?

Trampling the rights of the people: that is the test — for the rapidly dwindling minority of Americans who still stand behind Trump. He’s experimenting to see if enough of his supporters will accept having their rights taken away so long as the theft appears not to hurt them.

For the many Americans who have never voted for Trump, the arrests of Lemon and Fort are not a total shock. We have seen the “Trump 2028” hats and take this thinly veiled threat against the 22nd Amendment seriously.

But for the Americans who vehemently denounced President Obama for wearing a tan suit, where exactly is “arresting journalists for doing their job” on the threat-to-democracy scale? And why do you think Trump is doing this now?

Nearly a year ago, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said she had the Epstein client list on her desk for review. Then the administration waffled and refused to turn over its files. On Friday, it finally did release 3 million pages of documents.

And on Thursday night, knowing that release was imminent, the Justice Department just happened to arrest journalists.

That doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

It doesn’t even feel like politics. It all feels like a test democracy desperately needs America to pass.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

The United States Justice Department has released a massive new tranche of investigative files related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

At a news conference on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

He said the release means the department has met a legal requirement passed by Congress last year.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” Blanche said.

But the administration of President Donald Trump has faced scrutiny over the pacing of the files’ release and redactions within the published documents.

Trump himself has been confronted with questions about his past relationship with Epstein, who cultivated a roster of influential contacts.

On Friday, Blanche dismissed rumours that the Justice Department had sought to protect powerful individuals, including Trump.

While Trump has acknowledged a years-long friendship with with the financier, he has denied any knowledge of the underage sex-trafficking ring that prosecutors say Epstein led.

“There’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information ‌of men that we know about, that we’re covering up, or that we’re not we’re choosing not to prosecute,” Blanche said. “That is not the case.”

The Justice Department had initially missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress to release all the files.

The publication is the result of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was published in November with bipartisan support to force the release of all federal documents pertaining to Epstein.

In response to the law, the Justice Department said it had tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needs to be blacked out to protect the identities of sexual abuse victims.

Blanche said the department withheld any materials that could jeopardise ongoing investigations or expose potential victims.

All women in the Epstein files other than Ghislaine Maxwell — an ex-girlfriend who was also convicted of child sex trafficking — have been obscured from the videos and images being released on Friday, according to Blanche.

In the past, some of Epstein’s victims have slammed the department’s redactions and withholdings as excessive, with critics pointing out that previously published documents were among the files blacked out.

In December, the Justice Department released an initial batch of Epstein-related documents, though it fell short of the full publication mandated by November’s law.

That release, however, included previously unreleased flight logs showing that Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s. Those trips appeared to happen before Trump has said the pair had a falling out.

The recent releases also contain images showing prominent individuals like tech billionaire Bill Gates, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, director Woody Allen and former US President Bill Clinton socialising with Epstein, sometimes on his private island.

To date, none of the individuals depicted in the releases have been charged with any crimes, outside of Maxwell.

Following her conviction in 2021, she is serving a 20-year prison sentence, though she has continued to deny any wrongdoing.

Epstein died from of apparent suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

He had previously been convicted of state sex-offender charges in Florida in 2008 as part of a plea deal that was widely slammed for its leniency. He spent a total of 13 months in custody.

One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, also filed lawsuits against him, accusing him of arranging sexual encounters with politicians, business titans, academics and other influential figures while she was underage.

All of the men identified by Giuffre, who died in April 2025 in Australia, have denied the allegations.

Among the people she accused was Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, who denied the clams but settled a lawsuit filed by Giuffre for an undisclosed sum.

In October, his brother, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his royal titles as a result of the controversy.

NEW YORK — The Justice Department on Friday released many more records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, resuming disclosures under a law intended to reveal what the government knew about the millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with the rich and powerful.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest Epstein disclosure, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files, posted to the department’s website, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release of documents in December.

They were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his accomplice, confidant and longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a news conference announcing the disclosure.

After missing a Dec. 19 deadline set by Congress to release all of the files, the Justice Department said it tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needs to be redacted, or blacked out, to protect the identities of victims of sexual abuse.

Among the materials being withheld is information that could jeopardize any ongoing investigation or expose the identities of personal details about potential victims. All women other than Maxwell have been redacted from videos and images being released Friday, Blanche said.

The number of documents subject to review has ballooned to roughly six million, including duplicates, the department said.

The Justice Department released tens of thousands of pages of documents just before Christmas, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs and court records. Many of them were either already public or heavily blacked out.

Those records included previously released flight logs showing that President Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, before they had a falling out, and several photographs of former President Clinton. Neither Trump, a Republican, nor Clinton, a Democrat, has been publicly accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they had no knowledge he was abusing underage girls.

Also released last month were transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who said they were paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In 2008 and 2009, Epstein served jail time in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. At the time, investigators had gathered evidence that Epstein had sexually abused underage girls at his home in Palm Beach, but the U.S. attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him in exchange for his guilty plea to lesser state charges.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence at a prison camp in Texas, after being moved there from a higher-security federal prison in Florida. She denies any wrongdoing.

U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse of girls, but one of his victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused him in lawsuits of having arranged for her to have sexual encounters at age 17 and 18 with numerous politicians, business titans, noted academics and others, all of whom denied her allegations.

Among the people she accused was Britain’s Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after the scandal led to him being stripped of his royal titles. Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Giuffre died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia last year at age 41.

Tucker, Sisak and Richer write for the Associated Press. Tucker and Richer reported from Washington.