On January 30, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released over three million pages of new documents tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
In addition to the documents, which included many emails to and from Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, the release contained 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.
With such a vast amount of materials supplied, many novel and notable alleged details have emerged about Epstein and those connected to him. Due to the volume and abstract nature of the source materials, many of these storylines were not widely reported on by mainstream media.
Here are some that have surfaced on social media or stray reports over the past few days, but have not been covered widely by mainstream media outlets:
- Epstein Tells Steve Bannon President Trump Was Having Affair With Staffer
- Epstein Wanted Brett Kavanaugh to be Named to the Supreme Court
- NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Mother’s Ties to Epstein
- Bill Gates’ Alleged STD Contraction From ‘Russian Girls’
- Epstein’s Anecdote About ‘Right Wing Guys’ Being ‘Anti-Semitic’
- Epstein Says He’s Not a Mossad Agent
- Did Epstein Say Robert Maxwell Worked for Mossad?
- Epstein and the Rothschilds Sought to Capitalize on ‘Upheaval’ in Ukraine
- Lord Peter Mandelson Allegedly Disclosed Sensitive UK/EU Gov’t Info to Epstein
- Epstein Really Loved Steak and Muffins and the DOJ Is Quietly Updating Some Redactions
Epstein Tells Steve Bannon President Trump Was Having Affair With Staffer
In a December 2018 iMessage conversation that appears to be between Epstein and Steve Bannon (Right), Epstein suggested to Bannon that then-President Trump was having an affair with his Personal Secretary, Madeleine Westerhout.
Epstein jokingly monikered “Donalds new friend” Westerhout as “Kneepads,” adding that she was “Doing gods work.” After Bannon replied, “LMAO,” he added, “Hes much more calm, but the sight of him in the residence in his undies is hard to fathom . Ill give you details when I see you .”
Later in the conversation, Bannon said Trump was “staying away from family” during the 2018 holiday season.
“Thats for Madeline 🙂,” Epstein replied, prompting a “Woah!!!” from Bannon. “Wake up dude,” Epstein added.
In August 2019, when Westerhout was fired from her Oval Office job, Politico (Lean Left) reported that it was because she bragged about having a better relationship with Trump than his daughters did.
Though the sender’s identity is redacted, at the time, Bannon and Epstein had been working together to rehabilitate Epstein’s public persona, and the two discussed media strategy in the disclosed messages.
AllSides initially did not find any mainstream coverage of this exchange, though on February 2, the White House told Newsweek (Center), “This is a salacious and false rumor that has been proven to be fiction.”
Epstein Wanted Brett Kavanaugh to be Named to the Supreme Court
In a July 4, 2018, iMessage exchange with Steve Bannon, Epstein said Ken Starr, who formerly served in the Reagan and HW Bush administrations, would be in New York on July 11 and 12. He then wrote on July 6 that Starr was “talking to” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) “for Kavanagh,” ostensibly referring to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Trump on July 9.
Bannon, who in 2018 voiced support publicly for Kavanaugh, replied, “That’s HUGE.”
A few months later, a week before Kavanaugh was confirmed, Epstein texted Bannon a “hint” for Bill Burck, an attorney who worked under Kavanaugh in the George W. Bush White House and was in charge of releasing documents pertaining to Kavanaugh's tenure in the administration.
Epstein offered advice on how Republicans could try to quell the sexual assault allegations raised against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford.
“Tell burke they should make sure they ask ford about her medications , what type and for how long,” Epstein wrote. “My guess is that katz won't let her answer.”
Bannon was personally represented by Burck at the time, meaning he had a direct line of communication with him.
The story wasn’t covered by mainstream media since the January 30 document dump, though the files were released as part of a November 2025 document dump and received coverage then from The New Republic (Left), The Guardian (Left), and Alternet (Left).
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Mother’s Ties to Epstein
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s film director mother, Mira Nair, was mentioned in a few of the emails.
Most notably, an October 2009 email from publicist Peggy Seigal to Epstein said she was present at an afterparty for a film she directed at Ghislaine Maxwell’s house. Other party attendees, according to Segal, included former President Bill Clinton and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
A few mainstream outlets, including The New York Post (Lean Right) and Newsweek (Center), reported on this.
Some images circulated online depicting Nair with Epstein and other elites, though AllSides was unable to verify their authenticity.
Bill Gates’ Alleged STD Contraction From ‘Russian Girls’
In a few emails Epstein sent to himself on July 18, 2013, he appeared to be sharing potential resignation letters from a man seemingly identified as “Boris” who was working for Bill Gates and his foundation.
One email is shorter and less harshly worded, and made no mention of the name “Boris.” The author suggested they had to step away from the foundation because working for Gates amounted to a “moral failure” and it was time to “ask forgiveness and to move on with my life.”
In the longer email, “Boris” described an “unfortunate event that has” left him “dismayed beyond comprehension” and other misconduct by Gates.
In the shorter email, the author said he had to help Gates “deal with consequences of sex with russian girls,” and in the longer email, “Boris” said he had to retrieve “antibiotics” for Bill to “surreptitiously give to Melinda” because he had been infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
These claims from “Boris” were covered by some mainstream outlets, including The New York Post (Lean Right) and The Telegraph (Lean Right), which attributed the claims to Epstein himself.
Gates subsequently released a statement to Business Insider (Lean Left), saying the claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false.” Gates’ denial was picked up by a few outlets from the left and center, including Newsweek (Center), The Verge (Lean Left), and People (Lean Left).
For Context, a 2021 report from The New York Times (Lean Left) described a man named Boris Nikolic as a member of Gates’ “inner circle” who was also “close to Mr. Epstein.” Many other correspondences between Nikolic and Epstein appear in the DOJ’s release.
Epstein’s Anecdote About ‘Right Wing Guys’ Being ‘Anti-Semitic’
In another email Epstein sent to himself in June 2018, he appears to share an anecdote about perceived Jewish influence on world politics from one of his dinner parties. He wrote:
At my dinner table I asked "why are you right wing guys so anti - semetic" One said- "historically we all know its actually been the Jews behind the govts actually pulling the strings". I said " like who?" , and one pointed at me -and they all started to roar with laughter . ME?!! . and one guy said how do you explain in only three days there have been princes , prime ,and other ministers. emissaries plus two presidents of world bodies.. - guilty ! . so funny . wish you were here.
The “wish you were here” at the email’s end could mean it was meant to be sent to someone else, though it’s unclear. AllSides did not find media coverage of this anecdote.
Epstein Says He’s Not a Mossad Agent
From 2014 to 2019, Epstein had corresponded many times with Ehud Barak, who served as Israel’s Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001 and in various other high-level positions until 2013.
In a December 2018 email exchange between the two, where Barak appeared to be trying to facilitate a meeting between Epstein and a Qatari intermediary, Epstein said, “You should make clear that i dont work for mossad. :)”
Barak replied, “You or I?”
Mainstream media didn’t cover the exchange, but they’ve covered previous rejections of the popular theory that Epstein worked for Israeli intelligence.
In July 2025, The Telegraph (Lean Right) reported that Epstein’s former attorney Alan Dershowitz said he and Epstein had “laughed off” the idea that he was a Mossad agent, and Time Magazine (Lean Left) noted that former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had rejected the idea as well.
Did Epstein Say Robert Maxwell Worked for Mossad?
There have long been theories that Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, was well-connected to Mossad.
Robert died in 1991 while at sea on his yacht. His body was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Tenerife. Though Spain ruled his death a heart attack and accidental drowning, according to Wikipedia, Ghislaine said in 1997 she believes he was murdered.
Of his funeral, The Times of Israel (Center) wrote in 2020:
He was buried on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives in the presence of numerous Israeli intelligence figures, and eulogized by then prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. Amid reports of his links to Britain’s MI6 intelligence, the KGB and Mossad, Shamir declared that Maxwell “has done more for Israel than can today be said.”
Less than a year prior in 2019, The Guardian (Left) wrote that “conspiracy theorists have claimed that Mossad killed [Robert] because Israel refused him a loan and he threatened to retaliate.”
In a March 2018 email titled “he was passed away,” Epstein wrote, “Robert Maxwell threatened Mossad. He told them that unless they gave him £400million to save his crumbling empire, he would expose all he had done for them. In that time, he had free access to Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street, to Ronald Reagan's White House, to the Kremlin and to the corridors of power throughout Europe. Maxwell passed on all the secrets he learned to Mossad in Tel Aviv. In turn, they tolerated his excesses, vanities and insatiable appetite for a luxurious lifestyle and women. He told his controllers who they should target and how they should do it. He appointed himself as Israel's unofficial ambassador to the Soviet Bloc.”
Many on social media have attributed the claim to Epstein himself, though in contrast with almost all of his other emails, the text uses proper grammar, capitalization, and spelling.
A deeper online search reveals the passage existed online in 2004 and was possibly published in The Mirror (Left) by Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, authors of a 2003 book titled The Assassination of Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy.
AllSides was unable to locate the specific Mirror article, and AI tools such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT deny that it exists. Nonetheless, in July 2004, IndyMedia reposted an article that it attributed to The Mirror and included the passage Epstein ostensibly copy-pasted into his 2018 email. The subject line, “he was passed away,” however, was presumably written by Epstein.
AllSides did not find media coverage of the email.
Epstein and the Rothschilds Sought to Capitalize on ‘Upheaval’ in Ukraine
The documents released contained thousands of correspondences between Epstein and Edmond de Rothschild Group CEO Ariane de Rothschild.
In one email chain, Epstein and Rothschild debated their families’ roles in funding a shelter that Adolf Hitler lived in when he was poor. In another, they talked about capitalizing on Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
On March 18, 2014, the day Russia formally annexed Crimea, Epstein wrote an email to Rothschild that read, “ukraine upheaval should provide many opportunites , many.”
Rothschild, implying she hadn’t spoken with Epstein in some time, replied, “I miss our talks and hope you re well. Will be at home tomorrow night, will you be free ? And lets discuss Ukraine.”
A separate document included in the dump, dated October 5, 2015, formalized a working relationship between Epstein’s Southern Trust Company, Inc., and the Rothschild Group.
The contract reads:
You, on behalf of Southern Trust Company, Inc., a Virgin Islands corporation ("STC"), have been collaborating with Ariane de Rothschild ("Rothschild") on behalf of Edmond de Rothschild Holding, S.A. ("EDRH", and together with Rothschild, the "Rothschild Group") relating to outstanding matters between EDRH and the United States (the "EDRH Matters"). The purpose of this letter agreement (this "Agreement") is to set forth the terms upon which you, on behalf of STC, will continue to work with the Rothschild Group on the EDRH Matters.
The contract is vague, and though there is no concrete tie between the two, in April 2015, Epstein advised Rothschild on how to manage some of her assets, evidencing an active working relationship.
“You shoudl have money under your sole control,” Epstein wrote. He also said she should redo her banking operation by moving to tilt “shareholder voting in [her] favor” and to setting up an “advisory board” consisting of “serious people” with “strong finance operations” reputations. Epstein suggested Larry Summers, Ehud Barak, and Thomas Pritzker would be good picks, and that the board should include “preferabl[y] some jews” but “no diplomats.”
From mainstream Western media outlets, AllSides only found coverage from The New York Post (Lean Right), which mentioned his comment about “opportunities” in Ukraine.
Lord Peter Mandelson Allegedly Disclosed Sensitive UK/EU Gov’t Info to Epstein
A May 9, 2010, email exchange between Epstein and Lord Peter Mandelson, who at the time was serving as First Secretary of State in Britain’s Labour-led Government, showed discussion of a €500 billion European Union bailout the day before it happened.
Amid a financial crisis in Greece that many feared could sink the Euro, Epstein emailed Mandelson, “sources tell me 500 b euro bailout , almost compelte.” Mandelson replied minutes later, “Sd be announced tonight.” The bailout was publicly announced very early the following morning.
Also on May 10, Mandelson appeared to give Epstein an advance notice that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be resigning. He wrote to Epstein, “Finally got him to go today…” and mentioned an “underground walk” with “GB” from the Prime Minister’s office to the Ministry of Defence for a “secret late night talk” with the Liberals.
Brown resigned on May 11, meaning Mandelson was removed from his post as well.
In light of the recent file dump, some mainstream outlets, primarily British ones, have covered the correspondence between Epstein and Mandelson. New developments have surfaced as well.
Most notably, Mandelson – who most recently served as the British ambassador to the US in 2025 – has resigned from the currently-in-power Labour Party. BBC News (Center) has published several pieces of reporting on the story, including that fellow Labour members have condemned Mandelson’s behavior, and that police have opened an investigation into his conduct.
Note: The United Kingdom was still a European Union member state in 2010. It formally left the EU on February 1, 2020.
Epstein Really Loved Steak and Muffins and the DOJ Is Quietly Updating Some Redactions
Some, including prolific American author Joyce Carol Oates have raised suspicions on X that “steaks” and “muffins” were Epstein’s code names for prospective victims, citing an email chain involving Epstein and his girlfriend Karyna Shuliak.
An April 16, 2013, email from a redacted sender reads, “I will be sending fresh muffins down with Karyna. You currently have 2 steaks left on the island. Would you like new ones? Ice cream?”
As of February 4, on the DOJ’s website, the sender’s name is redacted, though versions of the email that had earlier surfaced on X revealed the sender as Susan Hamblin. Commenters on X have speculated that the woman in question was the same Susan Hamblin who allegedly ran an adoption program, and in 2021 won a libel suit against The Sun (Lean Right) in regards to her involvement with Epstein.
The copy of the email that circulated on X had a DOJ record locator “EFTA01791373,” though the email currently in the database, referenced above, has a different reference number. A query for “EFTA01791373” returns no results in the DOJ’s database.
Another email, apparently sent by Hamblin, posted on X with the DOJ record locator “EFTA02296930” also no longer appears on the DOJ’s site under that reference number. A similar version of the email now appears under a separate number with the sender’s field redacted.
Social media users also claimed there was an email that, due to a sloppy redaction on the part of the DOJ, appeared to be written by Hamblin. AllSides could not find an image of the email that included a record locator, though the email does appear on the DOJ’s site, with redactions that were not included in the alleged copy of it circulating on X. Similar versions of the email chain appear on the DOJ’s site, where the sender’s name and other details are fully redacted.
AllSides cannot fully and independently verify that any of the alleged DOJ files shared on X are authentic, though mainstream media outlets across the spectrum have reported that the DOJ is pulling “thousands” of Epstein documents from its database in light of redaction errors.
As for the content of the email, regarding “steaks” and “muffins” - throughout the file dump, the two food items are mentioned many times. A query in the DOJ’s database for “steak” returns 967 results, while a query for “muffin” returns 321.
While users have focused on the email that was allegedly sent by Hamblin, several email exchanges involving Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff and Shuliak discussed getting steaks to Epstein’s private island.
A March 2015 email from Groff to Ann Rodriguez involves very specific instructions for purchasing and transporting steaks for Epstein. Groff mentions purchasing “NY Strip or Rib Eye” from a place named “Gourmet Gallery,” and obtaining one that was “vacuum sealed” by a “well known” vendor.
In a November 2012 email to Francis Derby, Shuliak says she has to buy “a new pan for steaks and bring it to LSJ” because the one she previously bought was “way too small.”
Several documents included in the dump include very specific muffin recipes that were intended to be produced for Epstein. An August 2016 email from Shuliak to Rodriguez notifies her that “Mr. Epstein’s muffin recipe has changed.”
The mentions of muffins and steaks, and theories that have arisen on social media, have largely stayed out of mainstream media, though The New York Post Editorial Board (Right) published an opinion that briefly mentioned it. The Board called Joyce Carol Oates a “fool” for suggesting that “‘muffins’ and ‘steaks’ must refer to small children being abused.”
The DOJ’s Methodology and Disclaimers
The DOJ said the files were collected from five primary sources that included cases against Epstein and Maxwell, an investigation of his former butler, the FBI, and the Office of Inspector General.
The Department added:
The Department erred on the side of over-collecting materials, and any materials not produced fall within one of the following categories:
- Duplicate documents between SDNY and SDFL investigations.
- Withheld under privilege - deliberative process privilege, attorney client privilege.
- Withheld based upon exceptions under the act (depictions of violence);
- Items that are not part of the case file for Epstein or Maxwell and were completely unrelated to these cases.
The DOJ also said it “limited” redactions to what it perceived to be “the protection of victims and their families.” Redactions included “pornographic images,” of which the DOJ assumed all women depicted in them were “victims.”
“Notable individuals and politicians were not redacted in the release of any files,” it added.
The Department added a disclaimer at the end of its release statement:
This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act. Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.
Is This the End of the Road?
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the release “marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process,” signaling that the administration seems to believe it has fulfilled obligations under President Trump’s Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Still, victims of Epstein and American politicians across the spectrum have argued that the file release is incomplete and does not tell the full story.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who championed the Epstein Files Transparency Act alongside Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), said, The DOJ said it identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review and redactions. This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld.”
Massie said he is still in Congress “fighting” alongside Khanna and a few Republican representatives. Too many documents are still being withheld or redacted, but we’ll get to that too,” he added.
As for the notion that the files may be incomplete, most of the emails sent by Epstein himself come from his personal account, [email protected]. Other emails that appear to belong to Epstein appear in the files as well, including [email protected] and [email protected]
In the DOJ’s recent dump, a query for “[email protected]” returns 665,211 results. A search for “[email protected]” returns 1,247 (though it appears he only used this email for iMessage), and “[email protected]” returns 159.
The question could be asked: Did federal agencies retrieve communications from other platforms or email addresses that weren’t included in the dump?
The DOJ’s recent release revealed that Epstein banned from Xbox Live, a service that millions of people across the world use to talk to each other on a daily basis. On top of the decades of phone calls Epstein engaged in and potential other communication channels, it’s logical that the files the DOJ collected and released can only tell so much.
Andy Gorel is a News and Social Media Editor at AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was reviewed by Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center), Emily Allen, News Editor and Bias Analyst (Left), and Johnathon Held, News and Bias Analyst (Lean Right).
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