Trump latest: 'In effect, Epstein files have been released' - after 20,000 pages published

Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, has been holding a news conference regarding the upcoming vote on the government funding bill this evening - as US political rows continue beyond the Epstein story.

Jeffries was speaking in front of the Congress building, surrounded by his Democrat peers.

The minority leader says the House Democrats were here "on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to the spending bill".

Jeffries says it failed to address the "healthcare crisis" and extend tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which are due to expire by the end of the year.

The tax credits at the heart of the ACA reduce health insurance premiums for low- and moderate-income families.

Democrats had refused to support the government funding bill as it didn't contain funding to extend the tax credit, which culminated in the ongoing government shutdown.

Several Democratic senators had crossed party lines and voted in favour of the bill on Monday, however. 

If the bill also passes the House today, it will effectively end the longest shutdown in US history.

Jeffries had previously vowed to "fight" the bill in the House.

An apparent email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been released today.

The email chain from March 2011, which also includes Ghislaine Maxwell, was published by the US House Oversight Committee today.

Maxwell was initially forwarded a press inquiry from the Mail on Sunday from somebody named Mark Cohen, who told her: “FYI, following up on my email of this morning. Again, I have no intention of responding unless you direct otherwise.”

After the email was forwarded from Maxwell to Epstein, and then from Epstein to somebody listed as "The Duke" on 4 March 2011, Andrew appears to respond: 

"What? I don’t know any of this. How are you responding?"

The chain shows that Epstein responds: 

"Just got it two minutes ago. I've asked g (sic) lawyers to send a letter. Not sure… it's so salcisous (sic) and ridiculous, im (sic) not sure how to respond, the only person she didn't have sex with was Elvis."

Andrew then appears to reply to Epstein, saying: 

"Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations.

"I can't take any more of this my end."

Andrew continues to face scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein but has always vigorously denied all the accusations against him in relation to the deceased paedophile.

See our 19.10 post for more on Epstein and the former duke.

Hot on the heels of hearing from the White House, Donald Trump himself has now spoken up about the latest release of Epstein emails.

The US president claims that the "Jeffrey Epstein hoax" is a "trap" set by Democrats.

"Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap," he says in a post on Truth Social.

He adds:

"There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!"

His message echoes what we heard from the press secretary  Karoline Leavitt just now - trying to keep the focus on the government shutdown, and not Epstein.

Read his full post here...

During his election campaign, Trump vowed to release the Epstein files in full, but since coming into office, has faced crticism over his transparency on the issue and his past connections to Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein appears to confirm Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had his picture taken with Virginia Giuffre, in one of the files newly released today.

Epstein claimed several of his staff had their picture taken with the former duke, according to the documents published today. 

In an email from Epstein to a reporter in July 2011, he said: 

"Now that strauss kan (sic) girl will be shown to be a total liar.

"Maybe your paper should jump on and show that (redacted)'s allegations re andrew (sic) are the same, she also accused numerous people of having sex with her, dersh, ehud, etc. 

"Not one paper had the balls to question her credibility."

After the journalist confirmed they would be interested in the story, a further email from Epstein on the same day read: 

"The girl has fled the country with an outstanding arrest warrant. The da (sic) after she accused others, said in writing that she has no credibility, she was never 15 years old working for me, her story made it seem like she first worked for trump (sic) at that age and was met by ghislaine maxwell (sic).

"Total horseshit, the daily mail (sic) paid her money, they admitted it, with the statement that it took money to coax out the truth.

"Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have.

"I have never misled you, this girl is a total liar, they (sic) authorities should check her australian (sic) immigration form, you could talk to dershowitz (sic). I will ask if they will cooperate – Prince people."

Andrew, the King's brother, continues to face scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein but has always vigorously denied all the accusations against him in relation to the deceased paedophile.

In an infamous Newsnight interview, Andrew said a photo showing him with Giuffre wasn't genuine.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wasn't just fighting fires about the Epstein files from reporters at her briefing just now.

In her first question, she was asked about Donald Trump's threat to sue BBC News for $1bn if it doesn't meet his demands over a misleading documentary of a speech he gave before the Capitol riots on January 6 2021.

Leavitt started off by talking up the positive relationship between Trump and Sir Keir Starmer.

She said the BBC being a "fair news organisation" is something the two leaders disagree on, though. 

Instead, Leavitt described the BBC as a "leftist propaganda machine".

She added:

"The president was deeply concerned by the editing, the purposeful and dishonest editing... that was so clearly fake news... this is a classic example of that."

Then, on Trump's legal threat to the BBC, Leavitt added: "We expect it to continue and whether they apologise or not is up to them."

Trump's lawyers gave the BBC until 10pm UK time on Friday to respond.

Tap below to catch up on our recent coverage of the BBC crisis...

In the news conference which has just wrapped up, Karoline Leavitt is asked whether Donald Trump is considering pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell.

The 63-year-old was sentenced in 2022 for sex trafficking. She recruited young girls for her former boyfriend, billionaire paedophile Epstein, during the 1990s and early 2000s.

In response, Leavitt says:

"It's not something he's talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time."

Karoline Leavitt is now answering the first question on the Epstein files release.

A reporter asks Leavitt to comment on the substance of the emails released by the House Democrats and to clarify whether the president "spent hours" with an Epstein victim, as one email alleged.

Leavitt basically repeats what she said in her earlier formal statement.

"These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong," she says.

She adds: "What President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. 

"Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-A-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a paedophile, and he was a creep." 

Leavitt also repeats that Virginia Giuffre, whom she identifies as the previously redacted victim referred to in the email, had maintained "there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed" around Donald Trump.

He had always been "extremely professional and friendly to her", Leavitt quotes Giuffre as saying. 

Leavitt adds: "So I think it's a question worth asking the Democrat Party... of why they chose to redact that name of a victim, who has already publicly made statements about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein."

Watch her speaking here...

Karoline Leavitt now addresses the other big US news story of the night: the vote on the funding bill in the US House of Representatives, that will pave the way for ending the longest government shutdown in American history if passed.

"The White House is very hopeful that this shutdown is going to come to an end tonight," Leavitt says.

She then goes on to list the damage and "massive pain" that the 43-day shutdown has caused, which, she claimed, was "entirely" the Democrats' fault.

If passed, Trump is slated to sign the funding bill that would end the shutdown later tonight, Leavitt adds.

We're hearing from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt now.

She starts by ceding the stage to FBI director Kash Patel, who has recently travelled to China and is now sharing an announcement on fentanyl trafficking.

The White House seems determined not to let today's release of Epstein files dominate... but we'll bring you Leavitt's responses to questions from the press soon.

As we're waiting for Karoline Leavitt to start the briefing, Donald Trump has dropped his first Truth Social posts since the files started dropping earlier today.

Notably, he is not addressing the latest Epstein release and instead announced the nomination of three judges to district courts in Alaska, Arkansas and Texas.