Epstein latest: Balmoral summer camp and Trump flights with Epstein - what's in the largest batch of files released?

We've seen another email from "The Invisible Man" in reply to Ghislane Maxwell who said: "Sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropraite friends". 

Maxwell adds: "Will let you know about some church meetings on those dates".

The man replies that he is "distraught" before saying he had "lost my valet".

"He died in his sleep. He had been with me since I was 2," he adds.

"I am a little off balance as not only has my office been restructured, I have left the RN and now my whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me."

He signs off, saying: "See you real soon... I hope if you are coming over".

The context of the email, which were sent on 16 August 2001 and 18 August 2001, is unclear, and we haven't verified who sent it in. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. 

Read the full email below:

Among the files to be released today is a postcard that appears to be sent by Jeffrey Epstein. 

In it, he tells the recipient: "Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. 

"When a young beauty walked by, he loved to 'grab snatch'." 

He signs off the postcard with: "Life is unfair. Yours J.Epstein." 

It's not clear who "our president" refers to, and there is no date on the postcard. 

The context of the postcard is also unclear. 

The US Justice Department has come out in defence of Donald Trump, saying some of the documents it released "contain untrue and sensationalist claims" made against the US president.

The post on X also indicates that they "were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election".

"To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false," the post adds.

Read the full statement below...

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

We've just seen an email that accuses Donald Trump of travelling "on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported".

The email further reads that Trump "is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present".

The sender and receiver have been redacted; however, at the bottom of the email, it says assistant US attorney, Southern District of New York. The name has also been redacted.

The email also says that Trump travelled "with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric".

"On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old [name redacted]," the email adds.

"On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case. We've just finished reviewing the full records (more than 100 pages of very small script) and didn't want any of this to be a surprise down the road." 

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2022 for crimes, including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts and sex trafficking of a minor.

Trump has emphatically denied any wrongdoing in relation to his relationship with Epstein, and being on any of Epstein's flights does not indicate any wrongdoing.

An email sent to Ghislaine Maxwell speaking about girls being "completely shattered" at a Royal Family summer camp at Balmoral is among the documents to be released in the latest tranche of Epstein files. 

Sent from a person only referred to as "The Invisible Man" on 16 August 2001, the email says:

The context of the email is unclear and we haven't verified who sent it in. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. 

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied any allegations against him. 

In October, he gave up his titles and honours and released a statement that said: "In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.  

"With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me." 

Donald Trump's absence from previous releases of Epstein files has been notable - so why has there been so much focus on his former friendship with Jeffrey Epstein?

Here's a recap...

Trump was pictured with Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell on several occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s.

They were thought to have been friends, but Trump has sought to play down their relationship - and recently described him as a "sick pervert".

In 2019, after Epstein was arrested for a second time, Trump told reporters he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him", adding: "I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you."

Asked why the pair fell out, he said: "The reason doesn't make any difference, frankly."

He said he had "no idea" Epstein had molested women.

His comments about their relationship were in contrast to a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, when Trump was quoted as saying: "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.

"He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it - Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Trump named in Epstein files

That hasn't calmed scrutiny of Trump's relationship with Epstein in some quarters, however, given he has been named in previously released documents relating to the financier and Maxwell.

Maxwell, as a reminder, has been serving a 20-year sentence in prison since 2022, when she was convicted for sex trafficking after recruiting young girls for Epstein during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Flight logs released in the trial of Maxwell show Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times between 1993 and 1997.

One Epstein accuser in 2016 also said she spent several hours with the disgraced financier at a Trump casino, but she did not say if she met Trump.

Democrats also released files in September suggesting Trump sent Epstein a lewd birthday message for a "birthday book" in 2003. Trump denies writing the note, and called a report on the letter "false, malicious, and defamatory".

The note included a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a woman around the text.

"These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures," Trump said.

Being mentioned in the records is not a sign of wrongdoing, and Trump has not been accused of anything by any of Epstein's victims.

Was Trump told?

In a Wall Street Journal article on 24 July, the newspaper claimed Trump was told in May that his name was included in the files, along with many other high-profile figures.

The report claimed officials told the president the files contained what they felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including himself.

The White House initially described the report as "fake news", but Reuters news agency said an official told them the administration isn't denying Trump's name is there.

We heard from some of Jeffrey Epstein's survivors who were left mostly disappointed. 

One victim, Marina Lacerda, said there was"nothing there that is transparent", adding that the release was "a slap in our faces".

Paste BN also spoke to Ashley Rubright who met the late sex offender when she was just 15 in Palm Beach and was subject to abuse over several years. 

"There's no way that there's not a cover-up," she said.

Tom Cheshire, data and forensics correspondent analysed Epstein's links to the UK. 

He said the newly released Epstein documents reveal, in particular, how Epstein ascended into the highest levels of British society. 

Anger over the US Department of Justice's slow release of Jeffrey Epstein documents is growing, with politicians threatening to launch legal action against Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

"The DOJ needs to quit ⁠protecting the rich, powerful, and politically connected," Representative Thomas Massie, a maverick conservative Republican from Kentucky, said in a posting on X. 

Massie and liberal Democratic Representative Ro Khanna a said they were working together on an effort to dislodge documents surrounding investigations of Epstein.

The two lawmakers said in an interview on MS Now that if necessary, they would seek contempt of Congress charges in the House of Representatives for Bondi next month. 

They said that if their demands were not met following a "30-day grace period," they would work to ‌have Congress seek fines of up to $5,000 per day until the documents are dispatched. 

The justice department failed to meet its deadline of last Friday for complying with ​a "transparency" law requiring broad release of remaining Epstein files.

On Monday, a group identifying itself as survivors of abuse by Epstein complained that the public so far had received "a fraction of the files" and that those were "riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation." 

They added that some victim identities were left unredacted. 

The Justice Department has said it is working ‍to clear more documents for release to Congress. 

We heard from Donald Trump overnight, who spoke during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, saying he "liked" former president Bill Clinton and "hates" seeing him included in the files.

Clinton has appeared in several images released by the US Justice Department among thousands of documents related to the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump was asked about the images of Clinton, saying, "I think it's terrible," and that "everybody was" a friend of Epstein.

"Bill Clinton's a big boy. He can handle it, but you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago," the US president said.

Read the full story below...

Thousands of Epstein files were released over the weekend by the US Department of Justice, adding another chapter to the saga surrounding the documents.

And yet it is far from over: not all files have been released, and media outlets around the world continue to scour the latest batches for new insights into Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.

As we make our way through the latest drop, here's how we got to this point...