By Brad Heath, Sarah N. Lynch, Joseph Ax and Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department released thousands of heavily redacted documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday that made scant reference to President Donald Trump but extensively featured Democratic former President Bill Clinton.

The absence of references to Trump was notable given that pictures and documents related to him have trickled out of previous Epstein releases for years. Trump's name appeared in flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein's private plane that were part of a first batch of Epstein material the Justice Department released in February, for instance.

The partial release was intended to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November that mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite the Republican president's months-long effort to keep them sealed. The scandal surrounding Epstein has become a self-inflicted political wound for Trump, who for years had promoted conspiracy theories about Epstein to his supporters.

It was not immediately clear how substantive the new materials were, given that many Epstein-related documents have previously been made public since his 2019 death in jail, which was ruled a suicide. Many of the files were heavily redacted - several documents with 100 pages or more were entirely blacked out - and the Justice Department acknowledged it was still reviewing hundreds of thousands of additional pages for possible release.

Shortly after the release, the U.S. military launched airstrikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on U.S. personnel.

The material included evidence from several investigations into Epstein, along with photos of Clinton, long scorned by Republicans. But they appeared to include few if any photos of Trump or documents mentioning him, despite Trump and Epstein's well-publicized friendship in the 1990s and early 2000s before they had a falling out prior to Epstein's first conviction in 2008.

Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein's crimes.

'THIS ISN'T ABOUT BILL CLINTON'

The Justice Department sought to draw attention to Clinton, with two agency spokespeople posting on social media images that they said showed him with Epstein victims.

Clinton's deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said in a statement that the White House was attempting to "shield themselves" from scrutiny by focusing on the former president.

"They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton," he wrote.

Trump ordered the Justice Department last month to investigate Clinton's ties to Epstein, in what critics viewed as an effort to shift the focus away from his own relationship with Epstein.

In images released on Friday, Clinton can be seen in a swimming pool with Maxwell and another person whose face is blacked out. In another image he can be seen in a hot tub with with what appears to be another person whose face is blacked out. Clinton has previously expressed regret for socializing with Epstein and said he was not aware of any criminal activity.

There were more than 1,200 victims or their relatives whose names must be redacted from the files, said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter to Congress.

In a statement, the White House claimed the release demonstrated its transparency and commitment to justice for Epstein's victims, criticizing previous Democratic administrations for not doing the same.

But the statement ignored that the disclosures occurred only because Congress forced the administration's hand, after Trump officials declared earlier this year that no more Epstein files would be made public.

Some lawmakers immediately criticized the administration for failing to release all of the files.

"This set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, a driving force behind the legislation, said on X that Friday's release "grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law."

The disclosure law required the Justice Department to turn over information about its handling of the Epstein investigation, including internal reports and emails. None of those materials appeared to be in the batch of documents the government released on Friday.

The law allowed the Justice Department to withhold personal information about Epstein's victims as well as material that would jeopardize an active investigation.

TRUMP VOTERS FRUSTRATED

Many Trump voters had accused his administration of covering up Epstein's ties to powerful figures and obscuring details surrounding his death in a Manhattan jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking and abusing underage girls.

Just 44% of American adults who identify as Republicans approve of Trump's handling of the Epstein issue, compared to his 82% overall approval rating among the group, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. The issue has damaged Trump's political standing ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when control of Congress is at stake.

Last month, Democrats in the House of Representatives released thousands of emails obtained from Epstein's estate, including one in which Epstein wrote that Trump "knew about the girls," without clarifying what that meant. Trump, in response, accused Democrats of promoting the "Epstein Hoax" as a distraction.

House Republicans released more emails the same day, including one saying Trump visited Epstein's house many times but "never got a massage."

Previous disclosures have revealed that even after his 2008 conviction, Epstein continued corresponding with high-profile figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Clinton's former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Britain's former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal title over his links to Epstein.

Representatives for Bannon, Thiel and Mountbatten-Windsor have not responded to Reuters' requests for comment about their interactions with Epstein.

JPMorgan paid some of Epstein's victims $290 million in 2023 to settle claims it had overlooked his sex trafficking. The bank kept Epstein as a client for five years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor in 2008.

Posted by: Aangeles/NET25 News