The United States Department of Justice released a batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking investigation, including photos and records showing Bill Clinton, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Michael Jackson in social settings with Epstein, CNN reported.
The files, made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, are heavily redacted to protect victims and ongoing investigations.
Some of the material was already made public, but other documents are 'very likely to have never seen the light of day before', CNN reported.
The released materials included multiple pages and large datasets.
Some notable revelations include former US President Bill Clinton, swimming with Ghislaine Maxwell and relaxing in a hot tub with an unidentified person; Michael Jackson posing with Epstein and Clinton.
Other prominent figures, Mick Jagger, Woody Allen, and Noam Chomsky, are also featured in the released documents.
However, US President Donald Trump's name is rarely mentioned in the batch of files released on Friday, based on a preliminary New York Times scan of thousands of documents and hundreds of photographs.
Trump and Financier Jeffrey Epstein were close friends for years, The Times has reported, and Trump's initial refusal to release federal files related to investigations into Epstein sparked speculation about whether those files featured Trump.
His allies have previously confirmed that his name appears in the files about Epstein.
The files that The Times initially reviewed on Friday were heavily redacted. Those that were visible included scattered references to or images of Trump.
Written references to Trump came up in Epstein's address book and flight logs, as well as a message book in which Epstein's assistants let him know about missed phone calls. Versions of those documents were already public.
Trump's name also comes up in interviews with Maxwell, transcripts that the Justice Department had previously made public and rereleased on Friday.
In a 2016 deposition, Alan Dershowitz, who served as one of Epstein's criminal defense lawyers, said that he had seen Trump at Epstein's home. He didn't provide specifics.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed his relationship with Epstein, including by saying that he cut ties with Epstein in the early 2000s after Epstein recruited one of his employees from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The scarce mentions of Trump are in stark contrast to references to Clinton.
Todd Blanche, a top Justice Department official, said on Friday that the administration would continue to release a large volume of Epstein documents in the weeks ahead after those files had been reviewed to redact references to possible victims of Epstein, a convicted sex offender, as reported by New York Times.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement slamming Blanche for saying the department will release some of the files at a later date, despite Friday's deadline.
Trump signed into law a legislation passed by Congress in November that mandated the release of all non-exempt information from the files by December 19, CNN reported.
The DOJ's redactions of the files are extensive, and the reasons for them extend beyond what the law requires. In some cases, entire pages are redacted. To comply with the law, several redactions had to be made, according to the DOJ.
Blanche said, "Any material that contained personally identifiable information of victims, child sexual abuse materials, classified national defence or foreign policy information, or would jeopardise an active investigation."
Among the thousands of documents released as part of the Epstein files is a photo of pop icon Michael Jackson standing next to Epstein.
The two are seen standing in front of a painting of what appears to be a naked woman. It is unclear when or where the photo was taken.
Another photo released shows President Bill Clinton with his arm around Jackson. A woman whose identity is redacted and Supreme's singer Diana Ross are to their right. Epstein is not pictured, as per CNN.
Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
His death was ruled a suicide by hanging, but many questions and conspiracy theories surround the circumstances of his death.
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