The US Justice Department has released more than 300,000 pages of records from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to pressure from politicians who forced their disclosure with a new law.
The release follows months of political wrangling amid rebellion by some of US President Donald Trump's staunchest supporters over his administration's reluctance to make public all records tied to probes into Epstein.
It was not immediately clear how substantive the new materials were, given that many Epstein-related documents have previously been made public since his 2019 death in jail, which was ruled a suicide.
The files included several photos of former Democratic president Bill Clinton, which could conflict with US Justice Department policy not to release material related to ongoing investigations.
Mr Trump, a Republican, has ordered the Justice Department to investigate Mr Clinton's ties to Epstein, in what critics viewed as an effort to shift the focus away from his own relationship with Epstein.
In one image, Mr Clinton can be seen in a swimming pool with Epstein's partner and co-defendant, Ghislaine Maxwell, and another person whose face is blocked out. Mr Clinton, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has previously expressed regret for socialising with Epstein and has said he was not aware of any criminal activity.
The Justice Department added a note to the webpage where it posted links to the documents that said "all reasonable efforts have been made" to redact victims' personal information, but warned that some could be disclosed inadvertently.
In a letter to Congress, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department had released hundreds of thousands of pages of material and was still reviewing other documents for potential release. He said he thought it would take an additional two weeks to review the rest of the material.
There are more than 1,200 names identified as victims or their relatives in the files, he added.
Mr Trump had initially urged fellow Republicans in Congress to oppose the new law, warning that releasing potentially sensitive internal investigative records could set a dangerous precedent.
But many Trump voters accused his administration of covering up Epstein's ties to powerful figures and obscuring details surrounding his death in a Manhattan jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking and abusing underage girls.
Mr Trump, who promised on the 2024 election campaign trail to declassify the government's Epstein files if elected, has been seeking to move beyond the affair so that he can concentrate on a more pressing concern for Americans - the cost of living - ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections.
Just 44% of American adults who identify as Republicans approve of Mr Trump's handling of the Epstein issue, compared to his 82% overall approval rating among the group, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
"By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee's subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have," the White House said in a statement this evening.
Last month, Democrats in the House of Representatives released thousands of emails obtained from Epstein's estate, including one in which Epstein wrote that Mr Trump "knew about the girls," without clarifying what that meant. Mr Trump, in response, accused Democrats of promoting the "Epstein hoax" as a distraction.
House Republicans released more emails the same day, including one saying Mr Trump visited Epstein's house many times but "never got a massage".
Two days after those disclosures, Mr Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate Epstein's connections to Mr Clinton and JPMorgan bank. The following week, despite White House pressure to delay the vote, US politicians voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill forcing the release of the Justice Department records, which Mr Trump then signed into law.
Mr Trump was once friendly with Epstein until they had a falling out in the mid-2000s, before Epstein's first conviction in 2008.
Mr Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein's sex trafficking.
The law ordering the files' release allowed the Justice Department to withhold personal information about Epstein's victims as well as material that would jeopardise an active investigation.
Previous disclosures of Epstein records have revealed that even after his 2008 conviction he continued corresponding with high-profile figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Mr Clinton's former treasury secretary Larry Summers, PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Britain's former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal title over revelations about his links to Epstein.
Spokespeople and lawyers for Mr Bannon, Mr Thiel and Mr Mountbatten-Windsor have not responded to Reuters' requests for comment about their interactions with Epstein.
Mr Summers stepped back from positions at Harvard University, Open AI and other institutions and said he was deeply ashamed of his actions after documents released by House Democrats in November showed that Mr Summers corresponded with Epstein up through 2019, even seeking relationship advice from him.
JPMorgan paid some of Epstein's victims $290m in 2023 to settle claims that it had overlooked his sex trafficking. The bank kept Epstein on as a client for five years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor in 2008.
