Money, Riches and Wealth
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WASHINGTON (TNND) — At the beginning of President Donald Trump’s administration, many supporters of the president requested transparency when it came to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and powerful individuals who knew him.
Epstein died in prison in 2019 as he was waiting for a trial on sex trafficking charges of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
Many Americans and some members of Congress demanded a full redaction of the “Epstein files” in order to see if powerful people in the government were involved with Epstein and his crimes. His associate and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a prison sentence and was recently moved to a federal prison in Texas.
Here is the timeline of events regarding the Epstein files that dominated headlines in the year 2025:
On Feb. 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that she had Epstein’s client list on her desk.
Six days later on Feb. 27, the Department of Justice published the first batch of documents, including flight logs and a contact book. However, most of the contact book was redacted.
This resulted in people demanding more transparency and more files be released un-redacted.
On April 25, Virginia Giuffre, who said she was trafficked by Epstein and has accused Britain’s former Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, died as a result of suicide. Her publicist said she died at her farm in Australia.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” her family said in a statement following her death. “She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” the statement said.
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
After her death, an old tweet from 2019 resurfaced where she said she was not suicidal.
“I am making it publicy known that in no way, shape or form am I sucidal,” her tweet reads.
“I have made this known to my therapist and GP- If something happens to me- in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quiteted.”
The FBI and DOJ put out a memo on July 7 that said that there was no Epstein client list and that there was no evidence that the disgraced financier was blackmailing any powerful individuals.
“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,'” the memo reads.
“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could pre-dictate an investigation against uncharged third parties.
They also doubled down that Epstein died due to suicide despite public speculation if that story was true.
On July 17, The Wall Street Journal published an article about Epstein’s “birthday book” where friends of Epstein wrote him letters, including Trump. The letter included a drawing of a naked women with Trump’s signature under it. The next day, Trump sued the Journal over the story, denying it.
Before he announced he would be suing the Journal, Trump called on Bondi to release grand jury testimony related to the criminal case against Epstein.
Trump has continually stated that the Epstein files were a Democratic hoax and continued with that talking point.
On August 22, the Department of Justice released transcripts of Maxwell’s interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. During the interview, Maxwell said she believed Trump and Epstein were friendly with each other in social settings.
“I think [Trump and Epstein] were friendly like people are in social settings. I don’t – I don’t think they were close friends or I certainly never witnessed the president in any of – I don’t recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance,” she said during the interview.
Congressman Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Sep. 2 filed a discharge petition to force a vote in Congress to get the DOJ to release all the Epstein files.
This tool allows House members to bypass House leadership and force a vote on the House floor. The bill would also release more information about Epstein’s death in prison. However, information about the victims would be redacted.
Also on Sep. 2, House Oversight Republicans released thousands of Epstein records, including police interviews and body-cam footage. The releasing of the records was criticized by Democrats who argued that most of the information they released was already public.
The Supreme Court ruled that it would reject Maxwell’s appeal of her conviction of sex trafficking on Oct. 6. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking charges in 2021. She allegedly helped lure victims to Epstein to exploit. Her lawyer told the BBC after the rejection that they would look at other legal routes “to ensure that justice is done.”
On Oct. 15, Bank of America was sued by Epstein’s victims over alleged ties to the disgraced financier. The lawsuit argued that the bank benefited from the transactions.
“Egregiously, Bank of America had a plethora of information regarding Epstein’s sex trafficking operation but chose profit over protecting the victims,” the lawsuit states, according to CBS News.
Later on Oct. 21, Virginia Giuffre’s book titled “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice” was published. The book details what she went through as a victim of Epstein and it was completed before she died earlier this year.
On November 12, House Oversight Democrats released new emails between Maxwell and Epstein where they refer to Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump after the release, calling the story a political ploy. Trump said that the Democrats released this story at the time to distract from the ongoing government shutdown at the time.
The unnamed victim in the emails was Giuffre who previously testified that Trump had done nothing wrong in relation to Epstein.
Also on Nov. 12, Massie’s discharge petition got all 218 signatures in order to surpass Congress and force a vote to release the Epstein files.
On Nov. 19, the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law, meaning that the Epstein files had to all be released by Dec. 19. Trump signed the legislation on Nov. 19.
On Dec. 3, House Oversight Democrats released pictures from Epstein’s island in the Virgin Islands. The images show beds, a chalkboard with names redacted, and a room with a dental chair included masks hanging on the wall.
A little over a week later, on Dec. 12, more images are released from the Oversight Democrats of Epstein with powerful figures, including Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
When the Dec. 19 deadline came to release the files, not all of them were released. However, more pictures were released by the DOJ that showed Epstein with more powerful figures, including pop sensation Michael Jackson, singer Diana Ross, English musician Mick Jagger, comedian Chris Tucker and journalist Walter Cronkite.
Trump was deleted from some pictures that the DOJ released, resulting in Oversight Democrats demanding answers.
On Dec. 22, Trump acknowledged that he and other figures like former President Bill Clinton were in the pictures, but he denied any wrongdoing.
The DOJ on Dec. 23 released 30,000 more Epstein files and put out a warning regarding Trump.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the DOJ said in a statement.
“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.”
After the documents were released, the DOJ had to debunk a letter circulating social media that was from Epstein to gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing athletes when he was employed by USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
“This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual,” the post concluded. “Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law.”
On Christmas Eve, the Department of Justice announced that it needed some more time to release more of the files.
“The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have informed the Department of Justice that they have uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,” the DOJ wrote on X.
“Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files,” the post concluded.
Massie slammed the DOJ for missing the deadline to release all the files and said that they broke the law.
“DOJ did break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing the deadline,” he said on the social media platform, X.
As of now, it isn’t clear when the rest of the information will be released.
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