Newly Released Epstein Files Mention Trump, Larry Nassar

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released the third batch of Jeffrey Epstein files on Tuesday, with some that mention President Donald Trump.

The Details: The release consisting of nearly 30,000 more pages from the Epstein investigation, included hundreds of emails, as well as jail and court correspondences during the investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell in the wake of Epstein's death in prison in 2019. Some of the new documents alleged that Trump flew on Epstein's plane "at least eight" times between 1993 and 1996, with Maxwell also present on at least four flights. A letter allegedly written by Epstein (although it is unclear whether lab performed handwriting analysis has confirmed this) to accused sexual abuser Larry Nassar said "Our president [Trump] also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to 'grab snatch' whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system." The DOJ released a statement on the new release saying "Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made 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 had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already."

For Context: The DOJ initially released thousands of documents on December 19 including call logs, manuals on how to give massages, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts, as well as photos of Epstein, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Chris Tucker, Michael Jackson, and others. Lawmakers criticized the earlier release for both redactions and being incomplete, saying the document dump "failed to comply" with the Epstein Files Transparency Act approved by Congress in November.

How The Media Covered It: Some outlets on the right like Fox News (Right bias) and the Washington Examiner (Lean Right) framed the developments around the DOJ's statement saying the claims about Trump are "untrue and sensationalist." Others, like the New York Post (Lean Right) chose instead to highlight the flight logs showing Trump's travels on Epstein's jet during the 1990's. Some outlets on the left like The Independent (Lean Left) and NBC News (Lean Left) also highlighted the flight logs, while mentioning the released documents also included "several tips by the FBI about Trump's involvement with Epstein and parties at their properties in the early 2000s." Axios (Lean Left) included in coverage that "over a dozen Epstein survivors lambasted the DOJ" for the partial release that they said was "riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation."     

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