Washington, December 25: President Donald Trump flew on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet eight times during the 1990s, according to an email from a New York prosecutor that is part of a newly released batch of Epstein-related documents published by the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday.
In the email, dated Jan. 7, 2020, the unidentified prosecutor said flight records showed Trump had travelled on Epstein’s aircraft “many more times than previously has been reported.” At least four of those flights included Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
There was no allegation in the email that Trump committed any crime. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a 2024 social media post, Trump said he “was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island.” Trump has acknowledged knowing Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s but has said their relationship ended in the mid-2000s and that he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal activities.
One flight described in the newly released records listed only three passengers: Epstein, Trump and a 20-year-old woman whose name was redacted. On two other flights, the prosecutor wrote, women who could have been potential witnesses in Maxwell’s criminal case were among the passengers.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of procuring a minor for prostitution and was later charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking in 2019. He was found dead in a New York jail later that year in a death ruled a suicide.
The Justice Department said some of the documents released include “untrue and sensationalist claims” submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election and said allegations against Trump contained in the files were unfounded.
“Out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” the department said in a statement posted on X.
The latest release includes about 30,000 pages of documents, many heavily redacted, as well as dozens of video clips. Among them is a grainy photograph showing Trump seated next to Maxwell at a New York fashion show in 2000, matching a previously known image.
Other records referencing Trump include FBI tip-line calls and unverified claims, with no indication investigators found them credible. One card purportedly from Epstein referencing Trump and addressed to former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was later labeled a fake by the Justice Department.
The government also released a video purporting to show Epstein inside his jail cell, but a Reuters examination found the clip appears to be computer-generated and previously circulated on social media in 2020.
The disclosures were made under a new transparency law passed overwhelmingly by Congress last month mandating the release of Epstein-related files, despite months of resistance from Trump.
The initial releases, made last week, drew criticism from some Republicans over extensive redactions and failed to quell political controversy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump on Monday dismissed the significance of the Epstein files, saying they were being used to deflect attention from Republican achievements.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who helped spearhead the transparency law, accused the administration of failing to fully comply with the legislation, alleging ongoing efforts to redact or withhold material required to be released.
