A massive new batch of files on millionaire financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released Friday revealed details of his communications with the rich and powerful, some not long before he died by suicide in 2019.
The Justice Department said it was making public more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as thousands of videos and photos, as required by a law passed by Congress. By Friday evening, more than 600,000 documents had been published online. However, millions of files that prosecutors determined could potentially be released under the law remain classified, drawing criticism from Democrats.
Here’s what we know so far about the files now being reviewed by a team of Associated Press reporters:
Epstein discussed politics with ex-Obama official Steve Bannon
The documents show that several months before Epstein’s death, Epstein exchanged hundreds of friendly text messages with Steve Bannon, a top adviser to President Donald Trump.
They discussed politics, travel and it was said that Bannon would plan a documentary that would help save Epstein’s reputation.
In March 2019, Bannon asked Epstein if he could provide his plane to pick him up in Rome.
A few months later, Epstein messaged Bannon: “Now you can understand why Trump wakes up in a sweat in the middle of the night when he hears that you and I are friends.”
The context is unclear from the documents, which were released with many redactions and little clear organization.
Another exchange in 2018 focused on Trump’s then-threats to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he had appointed to the post a year earlier.
Around the same time, Epstein also communicated with Kathy Ruemmler, a lawyer and former Obama White House official. In a typo-filled email, he warned that Democrats should stop demonizing Trump as a mafia-like figure, even as he derided the president as a “maniac.”
Bannon did not immediately respond to a message from the AP seeking comment. Ruemmler said through a spokesperson that she was professionally associated with Epstein during her time as a lawyer in private practice and now “regrets ever knowing him.”
He also chatted with Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick about island visits
Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk emailed Epstein in 2012 and 2013 about a visit to his infamous island complex, the scene of many sexual abuse allegations.
Epstein asked in an email how many people Musk wanted to fly by helicopter, and Musk responded that it would probably only be his partner at the time. “Which day/night will be the wildest party on our island?” he wrote, according to Justice Department records.
It is not immediately clear whether the island visits took place. Spokespeople for Musk’s companies, Tesla and X, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.
Musk has insisted he has repeatedly rebuffed the disgraced financier’s overtures. “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I refused,” he posted on X in 2025.
Epstein also invited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to the island in December 2012. Lutnick’s wife enthusiastically accepted the invitation, saying they would arrive on a yacht with their children. The two also had a drink as scheduled in 2011. Six years later they emailed about the construction of a building across the street from both their homes.
Lutnick has distanced himself from Epstein, calling him “gross” and saying in 2025 that he cut ties decades ago. He did not respond to an email request for comment Friday afternoon.
The documents also provide new details about Epstein’s incarceration and suicide
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and found dead in his cell just over a month later.
The latest set of documents contains emails between investigators about Epstein’s death, including one investigator’s observation that his last communication does not resemble a suicide note. Multiple investigations have determined that Epstein’s death was a suicide.
The records also detail a trick prison officials used to fool media gathered outside while Epstein’s body was being removed: They used boxes and sheets to create what looked like a body and loaded it into a white van labeled as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The reporters followed the van as it left the prison, unaware that Epstein’s actual body had been loaded into a black vehicle, which left “unnoticed,” according to the interview notes.
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Associated Press reporters from around the country contributed to this story, including Michael R. Sisak and Philip Marcelo in New York, Cal Woodward in Washington, Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, and Meg Kinnard in South Carolina.
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