US releases over 3 million pages of Epstein files

The US Justice Department on Friday released more than 3 million pages of documents from its investigative files on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The latest release includes thousands of references to US President Donald Trump, hundreds to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew) and details of conversations with billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk. Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche said more than three million pages of documents were being released in the latest disclosure, alongside more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. 
Friday's disclosure represents the largest document dump to date about a saga the Trump administration has struggled to shake because of the president's previous association with Epstein. Criminal investigations into the financier have long animated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and others who have suspected government cover-ups and clamoured for a full accounting, demands that Blanche acknowledged might not be satisfied by the latest release.
The latest batch includes correspondence either with or about some of Epstein's friends. The records have thousands of references to Trump, including emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles about him, commented on his policies or politics, or gossiped about him and his family. Also included was a spreadsheet created last August summarising calls to the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center or to a hotline established by prosecutors from people claiming without corroboration to have some knowledge of wrongdoing by Trump. 
The records also show Musk, the billionaire Tesla founder, reached out to Epstein on at least two occasions to plan visits to the Caribbean island where many of the alleged sexual abuses purportedly occurred. In a 2012 exchange, Epstein asked how many people Musk would like to be flown by helicopter to the island he owned. “Probably just Talulah and me,” Musk responded, referencing his then-partner, actress Talulah Riley. “What day/night will be the wildest party on our island?” It’s not immediately clear if the island visits took place. Musk has said he repeatedly rebuffed Epstein's overtures. The documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.