Democrats have called for an 'urgent' review of the newly released unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files to assess whether the Department of Justice has fully complied with disclosure requirements. The demand follows the publication of thousands of pages of documents by the US government, which contain fresh allegations involving Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Trump commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
According to an apparent FBI document included in the release, Prince Andrew was 'very focused' on the then-girlfriend of financier Harlan Peltz during a dinner party with Maxwell. Peltz told investigators that Maxwell 'would sometimes mention Prince Andrew’s name and that they were friends'. The file also notes that Peltz never met Epstein and that Maxwell 'liked to put people in uncomfortable positions for her entertainment'.
Howard Lutnick, now serving as US secretary of commerce, arranged to visit Epstein's private island in 2012, according to email exchanges in the documents. Epstein's assistant emailed Lutnick in November 2012, and Lutnick later wrote to Epstein detailing travel plans to the Caribbean, prompting a reply from Epstein's team inviting him for 'sat or sunday lunch' on Little St James.
The documents also confirm that Prince Andrew invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace shortly after Epstein's release from house arrest in 2010. In an email exchange, the prince wrote: 'Delighted for you to come here to BP. Come with whomever and I'. The release additionally includes a mugshot of Ghislaine Maxwell from her 2020 arrest, the first time the image has been made public, showing her in an orange jumpsuit.
Maxwell, a British socialite currently serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking girls abused by Epstein, deployed a mix of familiarity and iciness in dealings with victims, according to accounts included in the files. The documents provide further insight into how she maintained control over those in Epstein's orbit.
