Category Archives: Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein was texting US House member during 2019 hearing with Michael Cohen

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Newly revealed documents show sex offender messaging lawmaker, and may have influenced their questioning

Newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate show the convicted sex offender appeared to be texting with a member of Congress during a 2019 House hearing with Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney, and that those messages may have influenced the lawmaker’s questioning.

The documents provided to Congress this week include transcripts suggesting Epstein was in direct contact with the lawmaker as the hearing unfolded, the Washington Post reports.

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First Thing: Jeffrey Epstein advised Steve Bannon during 2018 pro-Trump media campaign

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Text messages released by US House show convicted sex offender coaching Maga influencer on political messaging. Plus, readers’ favourite photo booth moments 100 years after its invention

Good morning.

The convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to the former Trump official and Maga influencer Steve Bannon during an August 2018 media campaign to defend Trump and his agenda, and to promote Bannon’s media ventures.

What else has been released in the flood of recent Epstein emails? Among many, many other things, one email shows an exchange between him and an associate in which they discuss “girls” and travel. The justice department continues to downplay the possibility that other men were involved in Epstein’s abuse of teen girls.

What’s happening with rest of the Epstein files? Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote to release the files, after attempts to press two members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

What exactly is climate finance? Who pays it? And who gets it? Sixteen years ago, at the climate summit in Copenhagen, rich and polluting countries pledged to provide $100bn (£76bn) each year by 2020 so that poorer countries could cut their emissions and adapt to a hotter world. Last year, they set a new target of $300bn (£227bn) a year by 2035.

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Epstein sought to restore his reputation after guilty plea, documents reveal

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Documents include emails depicting coordinated effort to influence online search results and journalists

Jeffrey Epstein and his associates worked to suppress negative press and rebuild his image in the years after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, newly released documents reveal.

The documents, among 20,000 pages released on Wednesday by Republican members of the House oversight committee, include emails and memos that depict a coordinated effort to influence online search results and journalists, and restore Epstein’s reputation.

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US government reopens after shutdown with House to vote on Epstein files next week – politics live

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Even if bill passes the House, it will still need to get through the Senate before files can be released

After 42-day standoff, government is back open – and the minority party won no concessions from the party in power, writes Guardian US’ senior politics reporter Chris Stein in this analysis piece:

The US House of Representatives voted to pass the funding bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history. You can see how lawmakers voted via this interactive:

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Latest Epstein emails cast further doubt on Andrew’s claim of cutting ties

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Messages sent months after former prince said he ended relations and also appear to confirm Virginia Giuffre photo

Newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails have cast further doubt on Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s account of when he cut ties with the child sex offender and his denials about meeting his accuser Virginia Giuffre.

In March 2011, four months after he later claimed to have ended his relationship with Epstein, the former prince told him and the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell “I can’t take any more of this” in response to allegations put forward by the Mail on Sunday.

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Ghislaine Maxwell reportedly ‘much happier’ after prison transfer by Trump officials

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Jeffrey Epstein associate, serving 20 years for sex-trafficking crimes, is now in minimum-security federal prison in Texas

Longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, has reportedly said that she is “much, much happier” after the Trump administration transferred her to a minimum-security federal prison in Texas, according to emails obtained by NBC News.

Maxwell, 63, was moved from a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas in August – just days after she was interviewed about the Epstein case by deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche. Blanche is a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, who had been friends with the late Epstein – a convicted sex offender – before winning two presidencies.

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JP Morgan warned US of $1bn in Epstein transactions possibly related to human trafficking

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Bank says it alerted US of ‘suspicious’ transactions just weeks after paedophile was found dead in New York jail cell

JP Morgan warned the US government about more than $1bn in transactions linked to Jeffrey Epstein that were possibly related to reports of human trafficking, new documents confirm.

The largest bank in the US filed a suspicious activity report (SAR) in 2019, just weeks after Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell, about transactions linked to the paedophile financier and prominent business figures. It also flagged wire transfers made by Epstein to Russian banks.

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Prince Andrew to be stripped of titles and forced to leave Windsor home

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King’s brother will become known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Buckingham Palace says, in latest fallout from Epstein scandal

Prince Andrew is to be stripped of his royal titles and will move out of his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Buckingham Palace has announced.

King Charles has initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”, who will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the palace said.

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Not in this together: King Charles cuts Andrew loose to save royal family’s repute

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Jettisoning of ex-prince became unavoidable when king’s loyalty to his brother collided with task of keeping public on side

To strip his brother of his titles and to evict him from his home is the most consequential action King Charles has taken since he ascended the throne in 2022.

The defenestration of Prince Andrew, now to be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and the removal of his cherished privilege of royal status is an act of utmost ruthlessness by a king. Ascending the throne at 73, Charles always knew he would play a caretaker role for the monarchy and so could not allow rot to set into an institution that lives and dies by public consent.

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Speaker Mike Johnson says he won’t block House vote to release Epstein files

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Johnson’s House has been in recess since shutdown, delaying petition to force vote on making documents public

The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, on Tuesday said he would not prevent a vote on legislation to make the Jeffrey Epstein files public, even as the chamber remained out of session for a fourth straight week.

Johnson has kept the House of Representatives in recess ever since the shutdown began at the start of the month, after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement on extending government funding beyond the end of September.

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Prince Andrew tried to hire ‘internet trolls’ to hassle Virginia Giuffre, book claims

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Andrew hid behind Balmoral’s ‘guarded gates’ to escape court papers, accuser says in memoir Nobody’s Girl

Prince Andrew’s team tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, while he hid behind the “well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle to avoid being served court papers, according to allegations in her posthumous memoir.

Giuffre wrote of the 2022 confidential settlement of her sexual abuse civil claim against the royal, widely rumoured to be $12m (£9m), that her lawyers “were going to ask for the moon” and her team had agreed it “had to be more than mere money”.

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Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in No 10 on advice of Peter Mandelson, documents reveal

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National Archives papers show how then MP pushed for 2002 meeting between PM and ‘young and vibrant’ financier

Sir Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street while he was prime minister after a recommendation by Peter Mandelson, newly released papers from the National Archives show.

Epstein visited Blair on 14 May 2002, after the suggestion by Lord Mandelson to the prime minister’s then chief of staff, Jonathan Powell.

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Jeffrey Epstein ‘threatened to destroy’ Sarah Ferguson before her apology

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Duchess’s then spokesperson recalls disgraced financier’s ‘Hannibal Lecter-style’ phone call after she disowned him

The Duchess of York allegedly sent an email apologising to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein after he threatened to “destroy her” in a “Hannibal Lecter-style” phone call, according to reports.

Sarah Ferguson sent the message in April 2011, describing Epstein as a “supreme friend”, after she had publicly disowned him in the media.

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Starmer urged to apologise to Epstein victims over Mandelson appointment — UK politics live

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Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey attack PM’s record over US ambassador during commons debate that was skipped by Starmer

Vikram Dodd is the Guardian’s crime correspondent.

Police expect to arrest 50 more people following Saturday’s large far-right-led march through London, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police said this morning.

If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform. The country is going to change a lot. The same people who thought that Brexit would not happen think that Reform will not happen. They are in for a shock.

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No 10 says Starmer found Mandelson’s emails to Epstein ‘reprehensible’ – UK politics live

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Despite being repeatedly asked, No 10 declines to say the PM was ‘misled’ by Mandelson

Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, is responding to the UQ about Peter Mandelson.

He starts by making the point that it is the anniversary of the “despicable” 9/11 terrorism attacks.

Keir Starmer must sack Peter Mandelson without further delay - and come clean about what he knew when, and whether he sanctioned blocking the publication of damaging material.

UK government documents shouldn’t be hidden from the public just because they are damaging to the Labour party - and by backing Peter Mandelson to the hilt, the prime minister’s own reputation is now on the line.

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Starmer says he has confidence in Peter Mandelson amid calls to sack him over Epstein ties – UK politics live

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PM was grilled by Kemi Badenoch on suitability of Mandelson for job as US ambassador

Helena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.

Emma Reynolds, the new environment secretary, had a difficult job this morning: meeting a group of farmers after Labour caused fury in the rural community by introducing a new inheritance tax.

The Treasury reserve, designed to be used for “genuinely unforeseen, unaffordable and unavoidable pressures” has recently been used to fund higher public sector pay and compensation payouts.

In a letter to ministers, the chancellor said Treasury would only consider providing reserve funds to departments that have already maximised their savings …

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The president doth protest too much: Trump’s denial on Epstein is backfiring

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Typically full of brio and swagger, the White House is scrambling because Trump is behaving so out of character

It took Trump chronicler Maggie Haberman to cut to the chase: if Trump didn’t sign the birthday card or other documents released by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, the reporter asked in a quiet yet insistent tone, what’s the working theory as to why he’s in there?

“The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, replied on Tuesday. “The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents.”

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House committee releases image of ‘sickening’ birthday note reportedly from Trump to Epstein – US politics live

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White House officials seek to discredit note and claim Donald Trump signature is false

Donald Trump now cannot claim presidential immunity to get off the hook from paying $83.3m in damages to the writer E Jean Carroll, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday, upholding a jury’s 2024 award against the president for defamation.

Trump’s lawyers had pointed to the supreme court’s ruling last year saying the president has immunity for official acts to argue that the damages should be overturned. A three-judge panel for the US court of appeals for the second circuit, rejected that argument.

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Only two more Republicans needed to force vote on Epstein files release, bill co-sponsor says – live

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Donald Trump calls clamor over Jeffrey Epstein files a ‘Democrat hoax that never ends’ as bipartisan group of lawmakers try to force vote on legislation

As part of the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations, the defense department will soon have hundreds of military judges work on immigration cases, the Associated Press reports:

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the federal justice department to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to a memo reviewed by the Associated Press.

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US House committee releases more than 33,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein files

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Files appear to contain information already in public domain as calls grow for release of all pertinent documents

The US House of Representatives oversight committee on Tuesday released thousands of pages of records related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from the department of justice.

The release comes as the Trump administration has been embroiled in months of controversy over its decision not to release additional files in the case. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges and was alleged to have abused hundreds of girls.

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