Newly released Epstein files spotlight Trump’s past jet trips with Maxwell

Prosecutor’s email claims Trump flew on Epstein’s jet eight times in the 1990s, some with Ghislaine Maxwell on board.

A new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files that have been released contains numerous references to United States President Donald Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on his then friend’s private jet.

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 the new batch of documents about Epstein released on Tuesday.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3‘Slap in the face’: Epstein victims slam release of heavily-redacted files
• list 2 of 3Epstein files: Whose names and photos are in the latest document drop?
• list 3 of 3House Democrats release latest Epstein images as DOJ deadline looms

In an email dated January 7, 2020, the unidentified prosecutor wrote that flight records showed 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 on board.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping late financier Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

In a social media post in 2024, Trump said he “was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island”. There was no allegation in the prosecutor’s email that Trump had committed any crime. The White House did not immediately respond to a request by the Reuters news agency for comment on the email.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a statement on Tuesday saying some documents included “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump and had been submitted to the FBI after the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, but it did not provide further details.

“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,” the DOJ said in a social media post.

The Trump administration had fought against the release of the Epstein-related documents and has been accused of subverting the law passed in November when a tranche of documents released last week included heavy redactions. The latest release includes about 8,000 files, which include video and audio recordings and 30,000 pages of documents.

Many names and details in the recent release are redacted. Some of the redactions appear to obscure the names of prosecutors and government officials, going beyond an exemption in the Epstein files law that allows for limited redactions to protect details about Epstein’s victims.

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

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

Some videos were said to show the inside of a federal detention centre where Epstein died in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide, but speculation around the circumstances of his death has continued to swirl.

Trump has played down the significance of the Epstein files, stating on Monday that they were being used by his political rivals to “deflect against tremendous success” by his administration.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll suggested 52 percent of people in the US disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, while 23 percent approve. About 70 percent said they believed the government is hiding details about Epstein’s relationships with powerful associates who may have participated in sex trafficking of teenage girls.

Democratic lawmakers and a handful of Republicans have continued to push for the release of further materials. Trump’s right-wing base has been divided over his handling of Epstein-related documents, which members of his administration had promised to release before entering the White House.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie accused Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday of “working fervently to redact, omit and delete Epstein files she is legally required to release under our bill”.