Politics
New Epstein files dump contains multiple Trump references
A new batch of files released on Tuesday by the US government in relation to the notorious late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains numerous references to Donald Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on his then close friend’s private jet.
The Justice Department swiftly issued a statement defending the 79-year-old Republican president.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Justice Department said on X, without specifying which allegations were false.
“If they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponised against President Trump already,” the department said.
Epstein cultivated a wide circle of powerful friends, including Trump, and was alleged to have run an underage sex trafficking ring before his 2019 death in jail.
Trump, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents collected during years of investigations into the disgraced financier.
A rebellion inside Trump’s Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents. The extraordinary move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump’s own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up.
A first batch was made public last Friday amid fierce criticism that the Justice Department was deliberately slow-walking the release and excluding any references to Trump.
The latest slew of documents contains 8,000 files, including hundreds of videos or audio recordings. This includes surveillance footage from August 2019, the month Epstein was found dead in his jail cell — and declared to have committed suicide.
Private jet trips
Trump was friends for years with Epstein and the two of them were photographed together at parties.
The Republican has given different accounts of how he ended their relationship.
He has said they fell out when Epstein “stole” young women working in the spa at his Florida golf club. He also says he threw Epstein out of his Florida golf club for being “a creep.”
But despite Trump’s repeated claims that he was not close to Epstein, there is considerable evidence to the contrary.
The latest documents include a January 2020 note from New York federal prosecutors who were investigating Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxell, detailing Trump’s repeated travel on the financier’s private jet.
It says “records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump travelled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).”
Some of the references to Trump in the documents are impossible to verify and there are no indications of criminal behaviour.
One is in a handwritten letter attributed to Epstein and written from jail to Larry Nassar, the former US gymnastics doctor who was imprisoned over rampant abuse of female athletes.
The letter has Epstein purportedly complaining to Nassar that they were incarcerated while the “president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch.'”
On Monday, Trump again said he didn’t approve of the file dumps, saying innocent people would be tarnished.
“Everybody was friendly with this guy,” he told reporters.
Delays
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has blamed delays in releasing the files on the need to redact the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 victims from the hundreds of thousands of documents and photos in the government’s possession.
The co-sponsors of the bill requiring release of the files — Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican — threatened over the weekend to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to comply.
The tranche of materials released on Friday included photographs of former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other famous names, such as pop stars Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, who were in Epstein’s social circle.
Clinton urged the Justice Department to release any materials in the files related to the former president, saying he had nothing to hide.
Maxwell, Epstein’s associate and former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes.
DUBAI: Unidentified attackers hijacked an oil tanker on Saturday off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden and directed it towards Somalia, the Yemeni coast guard said.
According to the agency, the tanker EUREKA was seized off Yemen’s Shabwa province by a group who “boarded, took control of it, then steered it… in the direction of the Somali coast”.
The coast guard, which is affiliated with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, vowed to investigate the attack.
“The location of the tanker has been determined, and work is under way to monitor it and take the necessary measures in an attempt to recover it and ensure the safety of its crew,” it said, without identifying the crew’s numbers or nationality.
According to the website Marine Traffic, the EUREKA is a Togolese-flagged oil products tanker that was reported to have been in the UAE port of Fujairah in late March.
Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia in the 2000s, peaking in 2011 with hundreds of attacks, but was significantly reduced by international naval deployments and new tactics by commercial shipping.
But in recent weeks attacks have increased again, according to a report by the European Union naval mission deployed off the shores of the troubled east African country.
Operation Atalanta, the EU’s naval force for Somalia, monitored three attacks in late April, according to its information service, the Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean (MSCIO).
Since February 28, shipping in the region has also been disrupted by the US-Israeli war against Iran, but there was no immediate indication that Saturday’s hijacking was linked to the conflict.
Last month, a tanker was captured in the Gulf of Aden by a new group of pirates operating from the port town of Garacad in the Puntland state of northeastern Somalia, a local security official told AFP.
- Contract supports APG-66 and APG-68 radar systems.
- Work to be completed by March 2036.
- Includes multiple allies under foreign military sales plan.
The United States Air Force has contracted Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in a $488 million deal to provide engineering and technical support for F-16 radar systems under its Foreign Military Sales programme, with Pakistan among the beneficiary countries.
According to an official award notice issued by the US Department of War, the firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers support for F-16 System Programme Office Foreign Military Sales (FMS) as well as Air Force and Navy requirements.
The contract includes engineering and technical support for APG-66 and APG-68 radar systems. The work will be carried out at Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2036.
The contract involves foreign military sales to multiple countries, including Bahrain, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Thailand and Türkiye.
The US Air Force said the contract was awarded on a sole-source basis. Fiscal 2026 non-appropriated, Air Force and Navy funds amounting to $2,644,922 have been obligated at the time of the award.
The Air Force Lifecycle Management Centre at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting authority for the agreement, which was awarded on April 27, 2026.
The development comes months after the United States, in December 2025, approved the sale of advanced technology and support services worth $686 million for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter aircraft fleet.
According to a letter from the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to Congress dated December 8, the package covers Link-16 data link systems, cryptographic gear, avionics upgrades, training, and wide-ranging logistical support.
The DSCA says the decision aligns with Washington’s broader strategic aims, stating the sale “will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by allowing Pakistan to retain interoperability with US and partner forces in ongoing counterterrorism efforts and in preparation for future contingency operations.”
The letter notes that the upgrades are intended to modernise Pakistan’s Block-52 and Mid-Life Upgrade F-16s and address operational safety requirements. According to the letter, the sale will “maintain Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future threats by updating and refurbishing its Block-52 and Mid Life Upgrade F-16 fleet.”
- US approves of sales to Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Israel.
- US govt says emergency exists to waive congressional review.
- Washington faces scrutiny for military ties with Kuwait, UAE, Qatar.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totaling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US and Israel’s war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks since a fragile ceasefire came into effect.
The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and waived the congressional review requirements for the sales.
The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01 billion and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) costing $992.4 million.
The principal contractor in the APKWS sales to Qatar, Israel and the UAE was BAE Systems, the State Department said.
RTX and Lockheed Martin were the principal contractors in the integrated battle command system sale to Kuwait and in the Patriot air and missile defense replenishment sale to Qatar, the State Department added.
Northrop Grumman was also a principal contractor in the Kuwaiti sale.
Over the years, Washington has faced scrutiny for military ties with Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar over those countries’ human rights track records that rights advocates say involve restrictions on and reported abuses of minorities, journalists, voices of dissent, the LGBT community and labourers.
Those nations have denied supporting or engaging in domestic rights abuses.
US support for Israel has also come under scrutiny from rights experts, particularly over Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis and led to assessments of genocide from scholars and a UN inquiry.
Israel calls its actions self-defence after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people in an October 2023 attack.
Washington has maintained support for its allies.
5/2: Saturday Morning – CBS News
Oil tanker hijacked off Yemen, diverted towards Somalia: Yemen coast guard
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