A cache of new pictures from the Epstein files have been released – with more set to follow in the coming weeks.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has made public never-before-seen photos of the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the celebrities with whom he socialised.
The release of new material from the top-secret files comes after it was revealed on Tuesday that some of the convicted sex offender’s alleged victims were trafficked on nearly 90 flights to and from the UK between the early 1990s and 2018.
Celebrities – including pop stars, politicians and businessmen – have been pictured in the DOJ’s release of new Epstein documents.
Here are the key takeaways.
Donald Trump not mentioned much
Before the publication of new files on Friday, one of the big questions was over how far Donald Trump would feature in them.
The files have been a political problem for the US President – as many of his supporters and Republicans in Congress have demanded their release.
Before Epstein’s 2008 conviction, he and Trump were friends.
The pair socialised frequently in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Prior to Epstein’s trial they fell out in the mid-2000s, Trump previously said.
Therefore there was a notable lack of mentions of the US President in Friday’s release of documents.
According to Reuters, a single photo of Epstein appearing to hold a cheque with Trump’s name on it was found in the files.
Another photo – taken at Epstein’s home in Manhattan, New York – shows a copy of the US President’s 1997 book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback, on a bookshelf.
Trump’s name also appeared in lists of passengers who flew on Epstein’s private jet.
These were included in a group of documents the DOJ published earlier this year in February.
Trump and several members of his family were also seen in Epstein’s contact book made public during Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 trial.
The US President has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when the pair socialised and any wrongdoing with regard to their previous friendship.
Bill Clinton pictured numerous times
Former US president Bill Clinton was mentioned and pictured a number of times in the files released on Friday.
Photos showed him swimming in a pool with Maxwell as well as being in a hot tub.
He was also seen sat in a chair while woman, whose face is redacted, was sitting on the armrest and had her arms around his shoulders.
A photo of a painting depicting Clinton in a blue dress hangining in Epstein’s home in New York was also seen.
Clinton has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when the pair socialised.
He said he wishes they had never met.
Responding on Friday, Clinton’s chief of staff, Angel Urena, said the images of him were ‘grainy 20-plus-year-old photos’ adding that he knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes when they socialised.
Urena said: ‘This isn’t about Bill Clinton.’
Who else was pictured?
Other famous faces included in Friday’s release of new images from the Epstein files were singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
Clinton was seen smiling at the camera while his arm was around Jackson.
Jackson and Epstein were pictured together looking towards the camera in an undisclosed location.
Another celebrity from the music industry was The Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger.
He was seen with Clinton and a woman whose face was redacted.
Sir Richard Branson also posed for a photo with Epstein with two women behind them.
Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador in the US after his links to Epstein were unearthed earlier this year, was photographed with Epstein.
The paedophile blowed out candles on a large birthday cake as Mandelson sat next to him with a glass of red wine.
Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of the disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was also seen sitting on a sofa with a woman whose identity was redacted.
Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed lying across women at a black-tie event as Maxwell stood smiling behind them.
And actor Kevin Spacey posed for a photo with Maxwell, Clinton and three others in the Churchill War Rooms in London.
Other celebrities included the magician David Copperfield who posed with Maxwell, both wearing bath robes, smiling at the camera and holding what appears to be packets of sweets.
Most of the photos have been released without captions or context and individuals’ presence in them is no suggestion or proof of any wrongdoing.
Lots of redactions – and accusations of law-breaking
Many of the photographs revealing the celebrities who had socialised with Epstein feature the redacted faces of other people in the pictures.
A large number of the files were also blacked out by the DOJ – including a 119-page document which appeared to contain grand jury testimony.
And three more documents, of 100 pages, were entirely redacted.
This has led to accusations that the department broke the law.
The DOJ said it will publish more documents over the course of the next two weeks despite the deadline being Friday, December 19.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, told Fox News on the morning of the deadline: ‘I expect we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr Epstein.’
But Blanche said he did not expect the DOJ to release all the files in the department’s possession.
He added: ‘I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks, so today several hundred thousand and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.
‘There’s a lot of eyes looking at these and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim.’
However some Democrats have slammed the DOJ’s failure to publish all the Epstein files yesterday.
Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator, called on the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to explain to Congress why they had not been made public yet.
And the senior Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said ‘this set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence’.
House Republican Thomas Massie, who helped push through the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said that ‘this set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence’.
And top legislators threatened legal action ‘in the face of this violation of federal law’.
The delay in publishing all the documents on Epstein goes against the legislation layed out by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed on November 18, 2025.
The law requires the attorney general ‘to release all documents and records in possession of the Department of Justice relating to Jeffrey Epstein, and for other purposes’.
It states: ‘Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act, the attorney general shall… make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices, that relate to [the Epstein files].’
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