Trump flew on Epstein jet eight times in the 1990s, according to prosecutor email

Summary

• Newly released documents show Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein's jet "many more times" than reported, including flights with Ghislaine Maxwell.
• Trump previously denied being on Epstein's plane or island, but flight logs indicate eight flights in the 1990s, sometimes with a young woman.
• The DOJ released the files under a new law, noting some documents contain "untrue and sensationalist claims" found to be "unfounded and false".

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump flew on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported,” according to an email from a New York prosecutor that forms part of a new batch of documents
about Epstein that were released on Dec 23 by the US Justice Department.

In an email dated Jan 7, 2020, the unidentified prosecutor wrote that flight records showed Mr Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet eight times during the 1990s. Among those were at least four flights on which Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was also aboard. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping late financier Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

In a social media post in 2024, Mr Trump said he “was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island.”

There was no allegation in the prosecutor’s email that Mr Trump had committed any crime.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the email.

On one flight, the only three passengers were Epstein, Mr Trump and a 20-year-old woman whose name was redacted.

“On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case,” the document stated.

The Department of Justice posted a statement on X saying: “Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponised against President Trump already.

“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” it said.

The latest release of Epstein files includes around 30,000 pages of documents, with many redactions, and dozens of video clips, including several purporting to be shot inside a federal detention centre. Epstein was found dead in 2019 in a New York jail. His death was ruled a suicide.

In another email, an unidentified person wrote in 2021 that they had recently been looking through data the government obtained from former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s cellphone and found an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The government redacted parts of the message indicating who sent and received it.

Another file in the government’s release included a grainy photo of Mr Trump seated next to Maxwell. It matches an image of the two at a New York fashion show in 2000.

The disclosures included a scattering of other records that reference Mr Trump, though they give little indication that the government considered them to be credible.

Among them was an image of a card
purporting to be from Epstein to Larry Nassar, a former gymnastics doctor who was convicted of sexually abusing girls
under his care. A handwritten message in the card referenced Mr Trump without using his name.

Reuters could not determine whether the card is authentic.

The postmark on the envelope is from Virginia, not New York where Epstein was jailed, and the return address does not include Epstein’s inmate number, which federal prisons generally require be included on outgoing letters.

According to another document released on Dec 23, the FBI requested a handwriting analysis of the card, though whether it was conducted or its results were unclear.

The government on Dec 23 also released a video that purports to show Epstein kneeling inside his jail cell, but a Reuters examination found it appears to be a computer-generated clip that first surfaced on social media in 2020, a year after his death. It was submitted to the Justice Department by a person who said it purported to show Epstein’s suicide, according to an email also released on Dec 23.

Transparency law

The Trump administration last week published a large cache of Epstein files
in an attempt to comply with a new law forcing disclosure on the politically fraught topic.

However, the releases on Dec 19 and 20 contained extensive redactions, angering some Republicans and doing little to defuse a scandal threatening the party ahead of 2026 midterm elections.

On Dec 22, Mr Trump downplayed the importance of the Epstein files. Speaking to reporters, he said the material was “just used to deflect against tremendous success” by him and his fellow Republicans.

The new transparency law, overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November, mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite Mr Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who helped spearhead the law requiring the files’ release, responded late on Dec 22 to Mr Trump’s comments expressing dislike for the release of Epstein documents.

The Kentucky Republican wrote on X: “Trump is blaming me for a bill he eventually signed, while defending his banker friends, Bill Clinton, and ‘innocent’ visitors to rape island. Meanwhile (Attorney-General Pam) Bondi is working fervently to redact, omit, and delete Epstein files she is legally required to release under our bill.” REUTERS