Trump claims Epstein files are faked, but many documents have been public for years
Despite recent claims by President Donald Trump that former Biden officials doctored files related to Jeffrey Epstein, many of the documents -- including those mentioning Trump and several prominent Democrats -- have been public for years.
The president, in a phone interview on conservative network Real America's Voice on Wednesday, alleged without providing evidence that Democrats and former officials doctored files relating to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
"But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years. I can imagine what they put into files, just like they did with the others," Trump said. "I mean, the Steele dossier was a total fake, right? It took two years to figure that out for the people, and all of the things that you mentioned were fake."
The civil defamation lawsuit that is the primary basis of speculative theories about Epstein's "client list" was filed by accuser Virginia Giuffre against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015, and was settled in 2017.
A substantial portion of the record of the defamation case was sealed during the litigation for the purpose of protecting the privacy of third parties who were named in the papers and depositions but were not directly involved in the case or who were facing untested allegations of wrongdoing.
The Miami Herald intervened in the settled lawsuit in 2018 to unseal records. Unsealing began on Aug. 9, 2019, the day prior to Epstein's death by suicide in a Manhattan jail and continued in stages for the next 4.5 years. The final release of documents was in early 2024.
No substantive new filings were filed in the case after May 2017, other than motions related to unsealing the record.
Other files that mention Trump, including some flight logs from Epstein's pilot and Epstein's address book, which had multiple numbers for Trump and other members of his family, have been public for much longer than that. Some date back to civil litigation against Epstein following his first arrest in 2006.
Trump's name was also included on additional flight logs of Epstein's planes that were made public in 2021 during Maxwell's criminal trial.
None of the documents made public as part of those civil lawsuits or Maxwell's trial contain allegations of wrongdoing by Trump.
The names of several prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, also appear in the already-public files in various contexts. Clinton was not accused of any wrongdoing and has said through spokespersons that he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes. Others mentioned in the files have also denied wrongdoing.
Much like now, there was rampant speculation in advance of the unsealing of records from that case that these documents were finally going to reveal the so-called client list.
What it revealed was Giuffre alleging that Epstein and Maxwell abused her and sent her to be abused by several prominent men. The records also showed Maxwell and all the accused men denying the allegations. Because that case was settled, none of it was ever tested at trial.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and other offenses in connection with Epstein.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday defended the administration's handling of the Epstein files, continually directing questions about any further action on the Epstein case to the Department of Justice, claiming Trump didn't have knowledge or an understanding of what hasn't been released yet.
Leavitt said Trump is not in favor of recommending a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.
