The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.
Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appear to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, as well as notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.
NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR’s investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.
The Justice Department declined to answer NPR’s questions on the record about these specific files, what’s in them and why they are not published. After publication, the Justice Department reached out to NPR, taking issue with how its responses to questions were framed. Department of Justice spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre reiterated DOJ’s stance that any documents not published are privileged, are duplicates or relate to an ongoing federal investigation.
Following NPR’s reporting, the House Oversight Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., released a statement about the missing files.
Shalom Baranes was born soon after his parents fled Libya amid antisemitic sentiment there, coming to the United States as a child with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS. He rose to prominence as an architect in Washington, D.C., where he has designed both private and government buildings, including the Pentagon, that trend toward the modern.
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Trump’s new White House ballroom architect is a Jewish immigrant who has advocated for refugees
Shalom Baranes is a prominent architect in the D.C. area
An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on Oct. 23, 2025. Shalom Baranes, inset, has been chosen to lead the reconstruction. Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images; Shalom Baranes Associates
(JTA) — After parting ways with the first architect hired to carry out his vision for the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump has picked a replacement — turning to a firm run by prominent Jewish architect who once called on Trump to keep the country’s doors open to refugees and immigrants.
Shalom Baranes was born soon after his parents fled Libya amid antisemitic sentiment there, coming to the United States as a child with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS. He rose to prominence as an architect in Washington, D.C., where he has designed both private and government buildings, including the Pentagon, that trend toward the modern.
The White House confirmed on Friday that it had chosen his firm, Shalom Baranes Associates, to continue the East Wing project, centered around the ballroom that Trump wishes to construct. Trump clashed with the first architect on the job over the ballroom’s size.
“Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades, and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project,” a White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, said in a statement on Friday.
The firm did not immediately publicly confirm its attachment to the project, and Baranes did not reply to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment.
Baranes’ selection stands out in an administration that has typically favored partisan and ideological loyalists. Baranes is a repeated donor to Democratic candidates who has openly advocated against one of Trump’s signature policies, his efforts to limit refugee admissions.
In 2017, two months into Trump’s first term, Baranes penned an op-ed for the Washington Post about the new president’s travel ban. Trump had declared a ban on migrants from seven mostly Muslim countries and refugees from around the world soon after taking office, igniting wide opposition including from Jewish groups.
“The anti-immigrant sentiment I feel today is nothing new to me,” he wrote. “When my Jewish parents arrived in the United States just a few years after fleeing persecution in an Arab regime, it was as difficult for them to be accepted here as it is for Muslims now.”
Baranes laid out his criticism gingerly while saying he hoped the travel ban would be short-lived.
“As I watch the news and see families struggling to leave their countries and escape tyranny, I wonder who among them will make it to our shores and become part of the next generation of researchers, teachers, inventors, real estate developers and, yes, architects,” he wrote. “My hope is that the Trump administration will take actions to ensure that the travel ban is indeed temporary, so that good, hard-working individuals fleeing tyranny can find a new home as I did — and that each of them will be given the same opportunity to help build this great nation that I had.”
Among the Jewish groups to lobby against Trump’s travel ban was HIAS, the organization that had helped Baranes and his family come to the United States. HIAS declined to comment on his selection as White House architect but said through a spokesperson that the organization was working to respond to Trump’s crackdown on refugees, which the president renewed last week after an Afghan refugee shot and killed a member of the National Guard in Washington.
The ruling could come just before the National Capital Planning Commission, the central planning agency of the federal government, plans to vote on the project. The 12-member commission, the majority of whom are Trump-appointed allies, will hold the public hearing on March 5.
But the judge’s verdict won’t be the end of the saga.
“I know it will be appealed. Whichever side wins, the other side will appeal,” said U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon last month. “So this case is going to go to the DC Circuit, for certain, and, maybe, perhaps even to the Supreme Court. Who knows?”
Renderings briefly posted Feb. 13 before being removed reveal the scale of a proposed 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom.
At issue is a lawsuit the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed in December against Trump and several federal agencies, asking to halt construction on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The non-profit group argued that Trump should have sought Congress’s authorization before the demolition of the East Wing.
Trump’s team has countered in court that the president did not need approval from lawmakers because the project is not using taxpayer dollars and instead is being funded by private donations.
Trump’s project has gone through various changes since the White House first announced its plans in July, including financing, seating capacity and cost. The price tag jumped from $200 million to $400 million, and the ballroom is now expected to accommodate 1,000 people.
Detailed renderings reveal the scale of the proposed 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom. The images by Shalom Baranes Associates—later removed from the National Capital Planning Commission’s … Show more
The National Capital Planning Commission/Shalom Baranes Associates, Architects
What is the court considering?
Judge Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said there were many “novel” issues at play in the case. He is considering whether the president has the authority to demolish the East Wing and construct the ballroom using a deliberately complicated funding setup with private money while circumventing Congressional authorization.
During last month’s hearing, Leon said he also wanted the Trump administration to clearly state what the “dividing line” was between what is permitted and what is not permitted in terms of future construction and demolition in the White House complex.
Detailed renderings reveal the scale of the proposed 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom. The images by Shalom Baranes Associates—later removed from the National Capital Planning Commission’s … Show more
The National Capital Planning Commission/Shalom Baranes Associates, Architects
“I do think if the plan was to just bulldoze the entire White House and build something completely different in its place,” it would exceed the scope of presidential authorization for “alteration and improvement,” said Jacob Roth, an attorney for the defendants.
“I would hope so,” Leon responded, while also noting that the administration had taken a “pretty expansive interpretation of the language.”
Roth also described the Executive Mansion as the “core site.” He said Congress declared in 1961 by statute that the site was “an important thing to preserve.”
The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal in the 1980s involving secret U.S. arms sales to Iran, which were used to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua, despite Congress prohibiting such support. This covert operation raised significant questions about presidential power and congressional oversight in U.S. foreign policy. ebsco.com Encyclopedia Britannica
1985 After a brief stint as a Labour councillor in Lambeth from 1979 to 1982, Mandelson stood down and worked as a television producer. But, in 1985, he returned to politics after being appointed Labour’s director of communications by Neil Kinnock.
Mandelson In March 1990 he resigned from his role after he was selected as the Labour candidate for Hartlepool, which was a safe seat at the time.
1990–1991 conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States.
April 1992 Mandelson is elected to parliament as the MP for Hartlepool at the 1992 general election, which Labour loses. While in the House of Commons, he forms friendships with Blair and Gordon Brown.
May 1994 After Labour leader John Smith unexpectedly dies, Mandelson backs Blair to lead the party, which caused a rift between himself and Brown. Blair wins the leadership contest against John Prescott and Margaret Beckett.
Convinced that there was no political room for workerism at the end of the 20th century, Mandelson trusted a young Tony Blair and was his court advisor during the nineties, waiting for the administration of John Major fell due to maturity after seventeen uninterrupted years of Conservative Party governments.
All of this would have been impossible without Mandelson, who led the successful 1997 election campaign and later held the position of “minister without portfolio,” basically responsible for coordinating all members of the government and assisting the prime minister in the way a chief of staff would do in the United States.(2)
May 1997 After Labour’s landslide victory at the 1997 general election, Mandelson, who had been one of Blair’s most loyal supporters, was appointed as minister without portfolio.
July 1998 Mandelson is promoted to trade and industry secretary under Blair’s first cabinet reshuffle. October 1998 Columnist Matthew Parris reveals that Mandelson is gay during a live broadcast of Newsnight on BBC Two. Details about his Brazilian partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, are soon published by the media.
December 1998 Mandelson is forced to resign as trade and industry secretary after details come to light about an undeclared, interest-free loan of £373,000 from his ministerial colleague Geoffrey Robinson to buy a home in Notting Hill. At the time, Robinson’s business dealings were being investigated by Mandelson’s own department.
October 1999 After less than a year of political exile, Mandelson returns to government as Northern Ireland secretary.
Vladimir Putin began his first term as prime minister in 1999 and brought with him very different ideas about his country’s relationship with Ukraine. He initially flirted with the idea of joining NATO but eventually decided to focus on reasserting Russia’s standing within the world.
January 2001 Mandelson is forced to resign for a second time amid allegations that he attempted to help the Hinduja brothers with their application for British citizenship. They had made a £1m donation to the Millennium Dome, which Mandelson oversaw in his earlier minister without portfolio role
June 2001 Mandelson is re-elected as Hartlepool MP, where, at the election count, he declared himself “a fighter, not a quitter”.
The 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001
In 2001 an international coalition led by the USA invaded Afghanistan to destroy terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda when the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden. British forces went in alongside US troops. At the height of the conflict there were more than 130,000 NATO troops on the ground. By July 2021, nearly all NATO countries had fully withdrawn.
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
2003–2011 war after an American-led invasion
November 2004 After nearly a decade in parliament, Mandelson resigns his Hartlepool seat to take up the position of EU trade commissioner.
October 2008 Mandelson returns to mainstream politics after being appointed business secretary by the then-prime minister Brown, an appointment made possible by being appointed to the House of Lords. After the recent revelations about Mandelson’s emails with Epstein, including allegations he leaked market sensitive information, Brown expressed his deep regret at the appointment.
The 2008 financial crash, also known as the global financial crisis, was primarily caused by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble and the subsequent subprime mortgage crisis, leading to widespread bank failures and a severe global recession. It peaked with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, triggering panic in financial markets worldwide.
2010 Mandelson’s ministerial career comes to an end after Labour loses the 2010 general election. Ed Miliband was asked at a leadership hustings whether there was a place for him in his shadow cabinet. “All of us believe in dignity in retirement,” he replied. In November, he founds a policy consultancy, Global Counsel, with Benjamin Wegg-Prosser. Its past clients have included the Qatari Free Zones Authority, the Chinese fast-fashion brand Shein and social media platform TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
Muammar Gaddafi was killed on October 20, 2011, during the First Libyan Civil War after being captured by National Transitional Council forces in Sirte, Libya
Tony Blair is facing fresh questions over his role as a Middle East peace envoy after claims that he has used the position to promote lucrative business deals for clients of an investment bank that pays him £2million a year. As a representative of the Quartet –the UN, the EU, the U.S. and Russia – the former prime minister is tasked with fostering peace between Israel and Palestine.
The Maidan protest movement. Ukraine’s pro-European trajectory was abruptly halted in November 2013, when a planned association agreement with the EU was scuttled just days before it was scheduled to be signed. The accord would have more closely integrated political and economic ties between the EU and Ukraine, but Yanukovych bowed to intense pressure from Moscow. Street protests erupted in Kyiv, and Lutsenko and Klitschko emerged as the leaders of the largest demonstrations since the Orange Revolution. Police violently dispersed crowds in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (“Independence Square”), and, as the protests continued into December, demonstrators occupied Kyiv’s city hall and called on Yanukovych to resign. Russia, in turn, offered to cut the price of natural gas and purchase $15 billion in Ukrainian bonds to prop up the country’s faltering economy (Brittanica)
On 22 February 2014, Yanukovych fled for the safety of Putin’s Russia. On the pretext of rescuing his ally, Putin ordered Russian Special Forces into Crimea and began an audacious military coup. On 27 February, Russian armed forces without insignias seized the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea and the building of the Council of Ministers in Simferopol. Crimea belonged to Russia (https://www.history.co.uk/articles/putin-s-gamble-russia-s-2014-invasion-of-crimea)
December 2024 Mandelson is appointed US ambassador by Keir Starmer. He had been a reportedly important part of the Starmer operation and maintained a particularly close relationship with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
September 2025 After a batch of Epstein files are released, which showed emails from Mandelson to Epstein suggesting his 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged, he was sacked as ambassador to the US.
Feb 4 2026 Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, shot dead on Tuesday, appealed to ‘a nostalgia for a past that is remembered as more secure
February 2026 This year more files were released that revealed Mandelson was passing information to the convicted sex offender while he was business secretary, including market-sensitive information that sparked the criminal investigation. The news led to McSweeney quitting his role for advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson. Global Council entered administration and on Monday Mandelson was arrested.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has recently faced increased public scrutiny surrounding his past dealings with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and the allegations by the late Virginia Giuffre.
Here is how Andrew’s friendship with Epstein and the financier’s sex trafficker girlfriend Maxwell unfolded:
– 1990s
Andrew previously told BBC Newsnight he first met Epstein through ‘his girlfriend back in 1999’.
Andrew. Pic: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
In March 2011, the prince’s then-private secretary Alastair Watson, who spent nine years in the role, wrote to The Times newspaper saying Andrew met Epstein in the ‘early 1990s’.
Ghislaine Maxwell went on trial – Jeffrey Epstein’s network was “never touched
Andrew later said he saw Epstein ‘infrequently’, adding ‘probably no more than only once or twice a year’.
During Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial, jurors heard Andrew flew on Epstein’s private plane with a 14-year-old girl in the mid-1990s.
– 2000
Andrew and Maxwell are seen on holiday with Epstein at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Epstein and Maxwell attend a party at Windsor Castle hosted by Queen Elizabeth II to mark Andrew’s 40th birthday, the Princess Royal’s 50th, the Queen Mother’s 100th and Princess Margaret’s 70th.
Flight records from May show him confirmed as a passenger on Epstein’s private plane.
– 2001
Virginia Giuffre claims to have had sex with Andrew ‘three times, including one orgy’, with the first encounter allegedly taking place in Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Ms Giuffre also claimed to have had sex with Andrew at Epstein’s New York flat and at an ‘orgy’ on his private island Little St James in the Caribbean.
Andrew. Pic: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
– 2008
Epstein admits to prostituting minors and is sentenced to 18 months in prison.
– 2009
Epstein’s former housekeeper Juan Alessi testifies that Andrew had ‘daily massages’ at the paedophile’s Florida home.
– 2010
Epstein is released from jail. Andrew is photographed with Epstein in New York’s Central Park.
Footage emerges years later, reportedly shot on December 6 2010, showing him inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, from where he is seen looking out from a large door of the property, waving a woman goodbye after Epstein leaves to get into a chauffeur-driven car.
– 2011
Andrew quits his role as UK trade envoy after the fallout from the Central Park photos.
In February, he tells Epstein ‘we are in this together’ despite later claiming he broke off all contact with the paedophile in December 2010.
Ms Giuffre reportedly hands the photograph of her with Andrew to the FBI.
– 2015
Buckingham Palace denies Andrew has committed any impropriety after he is named in US court documents related to Epstein.
A woman, later named in reports as Ms Giuffre, alleges in papers filed in Florida that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, which is under the age of consent in the state.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Andrew, in his first public engagement since he was embroiled in the allegations, responds by saying: ‘I just wish to reiterate, and to reaffirm, the statements that have already been made on my behalf by Buckingham Palace.’
In January, Andrew is reported to have sent an email to Maxwell asking for help in dealing with Ms Giuffre.
Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. Pic: Shutterstock
– 2016
As part of her civil suit against Maxwell, Ms Giuffre testifies that Epstein paid her 15,000 dollars (£11,180) to have sex with Andrew.
Ms Giuffre also testified about a sexual encounter with Andrew in the bath of Maxwell’s home in 2001, saying: ‘He was adorning my young body, particularly my feet, caressing my toes and licking my arches.’
– 2019
Newly released legal documents show Johanna Sjoberg, another alleged Epstein victim, claimed Andrew touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside the US billionaire’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace said the allegations are ‘categorically untrue’.
Epstein is found dead in his jail cell on August 10, having killed himself after being charged with sex trafficking.
Later that month, a pilot on Epstein’s private jet, David Rodgers, claims Andrew was a passenger on past flights with the financier and Ms Giuffre.
Mr Rodgers said in a testimony released in August that Epstein, Andrew and the-then 17-year-old travelled to the US Virgin Islands on April 11 2001.
Pic: US Department of Justice
Buckingham Palace describes the evidence statement as having ‘a number of inconsistencies’, and said Andrew was on a different continent in some cases.
In her posthumous memoirs, Ms Giuffre claims American broadcaster ABC did not air an interview in 2019 after the royal family ‘applied pressure to nix the interview’.
Following Epstein’s death, a statement from the palace says Andrew is ‘appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes’.
Speaking for the first time since 2015, Andrew releases a statement on August 24 saying: ‘At no stage during the limited time I spent with him (Epstein) did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.’
In November, BBC Newsnight reveals Andrew has spoken about his relationship with Epstein in a ‘no holds barred’ interview.
In the interview, Andrew said he had ‘no recollection’ of ever meeting Ms Giuffre and added he could not have had sex with her in March 2001 because he was at Pizza Express with his daughter Beatrice on the day in question.
He added he ‘did not regret’ his friendship with the sex offender but admitted he should not have gone to see him in New York in 2010 to break off their friendship.
The television sit-down was widely criticised and dubbed a ‘car crash’, with commentators questioning Andrew’s responses and condemning his unsympathetic tone for victims and seeming lack of remorse over the friendship.
Four days after the interview, the then Duke of York released a statement confirming he was ‘stepping back from public duties for the foreseeable future’ with permission from Queen Elizabeth II.
Andrew also said he ‘deeply sympathised’ with all of Epstein’s victims and added he was ‘willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required’.
In December, Ms Giuffre implores the British public to ‘stand up beside me to help me fight this fight’ and ‘not accept this as being OK’, in clips released ahead of a BBC Panorama interview.
– 2020
In January, a US prosecutor claims Andrew has ‘provided zero co-operation’ over the Epstein sex trafficking inquiry.
Speaking at a news conference outside Epstein’s New York mansion, US attorney Geoffrey Berman said Andrew’s lawyers had been contacted by prosecutors and the FBI who requested to interview him as part of the investigation.
Ms Giuffre, writing on social media a few days later, urges Andrew to ‘do the right thing’ and talk to FBI investigators.
In June, Andrew’s lawyers said he offered to assist the US department of justice ‘on at least three occasions this year’ in its investigation into Epstein.
Just a few hours later, prosecutor Mr Berman – who was leading the investigation into Epstein at the time – said Andrew had ‘yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate’ although he ‘has repeatedly declined’ requests to schedule an interview.
Speaking in a documentary, Ms Giuffre claims Andrew played a ‘guessing game’ about her age and compared her with his daughters during the alleged March 2001 encounter at Maxwell’s home.
A former Epstein employee tells a Netflix documentary he saw Andrew frolicking with a topless Ms Giuffre in a pool on the paedophile’s island.
– 2021
In August, Ms Giuffre starts legal action against Andrew, saying it was ‘past the time for him to be held to account’ for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.
Lawyers for Ms Giuffre filed a civil suit seeking unspecified damages at a federal court in New York, where documents claim she was ‘lent out for sexual purposes’ by Epstein, including while she was still a minor under US law.
Andrew is named as the only defendant in the 15-page suit, brought under New York state’s Child Victims Act, though Epstein and Maxwell are mentioned frequently throughout.
In December, Maxwell is convicted in a New York court of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
– 2022
In January, a US judge rules the civil case against Andrew can go ahead, in what is a huge blow for the royal whose lawyer had argued it should be thrown out.
Andrew’s status as a member of the royal family is left in tatters after Queen Elizabeth II strips him of his honorary military roles and he gives up his HRH style in a dramatic fallout from his civil sex case.
He is also stripped of his remaining royal patronages.
The development came after more than 150 veterans joined forces to express their outrage, writing to the late Queen to demand the removal of the honorary military positions.
Buckingham Palace says in a statement that Andrew ‘will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen’.
In February, court documents show Andrew and Ms Giuffre have reached a ‘settlement in principle’ in the civil sex claim.
The documents show Andrew will make a ‘substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights’, and has pledged to ‘demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein’ by supporting the ‘fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims’.
Commentators say while he ‘at last’ appears to have got the tone and language right, it is unlikely he will ever return to public royal life, with one branding him ‘reputationally toast’.
Calls are renewed for him to lose his dukedom after he pays millions of pounds to a woman he claims never to have met.
– 2024
Allegations against Andrew resurface in unsealed documents as part of Ms Giuffre’s civil claim against Maxwell – with claims such as him being involved in sex tapes, as well as resurfaced allegations of his participation in an under-age orgy.
– 2025
Ms Giuffre dies aged 41 in April.
Buckingham Palace announces Andrew will stop using his titles and honours, including the Duke of York.
Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs claim Andrew’s ‘team’ tried to hire ‘internet trolls to hassle’ her.
The Metropolitan Police said it would look into claims Andrew had passed Ms Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 and asked him to investigate.
Questions are raised about whether Andrew should have the right to continue living at the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor.
A copy of the leasehold agreement, shared with the Press Association by the Crown Estate, which oversees the royal family’s land and property holdings, shows Andrew signed a 75-year lease on the property in 2003.
It reveals he paid £1 million for the lease and that since then he has paid ‘one peppercorn’ of rent ‘if demanded’ per year.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says there should be ‘proper scrutiny’ of Andrew’s rent-free mansion.
It later emerges that the Public Accounts Committee is seeking further information about the peppercorn rent lease arrangement.
After speculation around whether Andrew will leave the Royal Lodge, Buckingham Palace announces the King has begun a process to remove his titles, style and honours.
Notice has also been served to surrender Andrew’s lease on the lodge and it emerges he will move to new accommodation on the private Sandringham estate.
The King formally strips his brother of his prince title and HRH style in November.
Andrew is also struck off the official roll of the peerage.
He is accused by US legislators of ‘hiding’ from them after he ignored a request to sit for a transcribed interview about his links to Epstein.
He is further stripped in December of his prestigious Order of the Garter and Royal Victorian Order honours.
Later in the month, photographs of Andrew emerge among releases of images from the so-called Epstein files, including one which appears to show him reclining across the legs of five people with his head near a woman’s lap.
Emails also come to light which increase scrutiny on Andrew.
One email sent from Balmoral signed ‘A’ asked Maxwell in August 2001: ‘Have you found me some inappropriate friends?’
Andrew does not join the royal family for the traditional Christmas Day church service on the King’s Sandringham Estate.
– 2026
Further photographs and emails are released as part of the Epstein files, revealing more about Andrew’s contact with the sex offender.
Photos appear to capture him crouched over an unidentified woman, while emails appear to show him exchanging messages with Epstein about a ‘beautiful’ Russian woman and inviting him to Buckingham Palace in an August 2010 exchange.
Members of the royal family start to comment publicly about the files, with the Prince and Princess of Wales saying they have been ‘deeply concerned’ by the ongoing revelations and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, said it is ‘really important, always, to remember the victims’.
Thames Valley Police say they are assessing claims Andrew shared confidential reports from his role as the UK’s trade envoy with Epstein.
The King makes clear his ‘profound concern’ at allegations over Andrew’s conduct and that he will ‘stand ready to support’ the police if approached over the claims.
On February 19, Thames Valley Police announce Andrew has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Hong Kong: Rejected appeals in ‘HK 47’ case a missed opportunity to start restoring justice
Responding to the Hong Kong Court of Appeal rejecting the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case, Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said:
“The court’s dismissal of these appeals underlines the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong and once again demonstrates the politically motivated nature of the Hong Kong 47 case.
“None of these 12 defendants committed an internationally recognized crime; they have been serving lengthy sentences simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and participation in public affairs.
“It is deeply concerning that, since the introduction of ‘Article 23’ in 2024, at least eight defendants in the Hong Kong 47 case have reportedly been denied early release on the basis of vague and new national security justifications, in contrast to previous long-standing practice in Hong Kong.
“This shows how ‘Article 23’, like the Beijing-imposed National Security Law used to prosecute the Hong Kong 47, has been weaponized to impose additional punitive and retroactive measures against dissidents, including silencing those already behind bars.
“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice.
“Peaceful opposition to a government is not a crime, and all remaining jailed members of the Hong Kong 47 should be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Background
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case.
In Hong Kong’s largest prosecution under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, which was enacted in June 2020, 47 opposition figures were jointly charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion”. Thirty-one of the 47 pleaded guilty to the charge while 16 pleaded not guilty, two of whom were acquitted.
The charges against the “Hong Kong 47” relate to their organization and participation in self-organized “primaries” for the 2020 Legislative Council elections that were ultimately postponed by authorities on Covid-19 grounds before a new electoral system that strictly vetted who could stand for office was brought in.
To treat self-organized “primaries” conducted by political parties to select candidates to put forward for elections as a genuine threat to Hong Kong’s existence, territorial integrity or political independence does not meet the high threshold of application for “national security” that international human rights standards require.
In March 2024, Hong Kong introduced its Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, often referred to as the ‘Article 23’ law. The law has further squeezed people’s freedoms and enabled authorities to intensify their crackdown on peaceful activism in the city and beyond.
‘Article 23’ has also been used to impose additional punitive measures against dissidents already serving sentences. Before the enactment of ‘Article 23’, the Prison Rules provided that prisoners with good conduct were eligible for early release after serving two-thirds of their sentences. However, under new rules introduced pursuant to ‘Article 23’, the prison authorities can deny the early release on “national security” grounds.
He was close to then Lord Peter Mandelson and encouraged Keir Starmer to appoint Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States.
Peter Mandelson arrested amid Epstein fallout
The Metropolitan Police said a 72-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Emails released as part of the Epstein files in the United States appeared to show the then-business secretary forwarding on correspondence to Epstein, triggering fresh scrutiny of his relationship with the late, disgraced financier. | Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images
Gordon Brown has said he deeply regrets bringing Peter Mandelson into his government, and that revelations about Jeffrey Epstein’s influence on UK politics had caused him revulsion.
Writing in the Guardian, Brown said the news that Mandelson was passing information to Epstein while he was business secretary was “a betrayal of everything we stand for as a country”.
Brown said he was at fault for making Mandelson a peer and bringing him back into government in 2008, after Mandelson had quit as an MP to become EU trade commissioner.
“I have to take personal responsibility for appointing Mandelson to his ministerial role in 2008. I greatly regret this appointment,” he wrote, saying that at the time he was told that Mandelson’s record in Brussels had been “unblemished” and he did not know about any Epstein links.
“I did so in spite of him being anything but a friend to me, because I thought that his unquestioned knowledge of Europe and beyond could help us as we dealt with the global financial crisis,” Brown wrote.
“I now know that I was wrong. He seems to have used market-sensitive inside information to betray the principles in which he said he believed, and he betrayed the people who believed in them – and him.”
Mandelson was sacked as Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US in September after new details emerged of his friendship with Epstein, ties that lasted beyond the late child sex offender’s jailing in 2008.
But the release this week of masses of new documents about Epstein and his contacts showed the closeness of their ties. They also suggested Mandelson had received money from Epstein, and had leaked market-sensitive information to the financier, which is now the subject of a criminal investigation.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Met said officers were searching two homes connected to Mandelson, in north London and Wiltshire. Mandelson has been living in a rented property in Wiltshire since returning to the UK.
The Israeli government installed security equipment and controlled access to a Manhattan apartment building managed by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to an investigation published by Drop Site News.
Based on a tranche of emails recently released by the United States Department of Justice, the report detailed how Israeli officials coordinated directly with Epstein’s staff starting in early 2016 to secure a residence at 301 East 66th Street. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak frequently used the apartment for extended stays.
While the property was technically owned by a company linked to Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, the disgraced financier essentially controlled it. The units in the building were frequently loaned to Epstein’s associates and used to house underage models, the report said.
Barak served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001. Under Israeli law, former prime ministers receive state-funded security after leaving office. The documents expose a direct operational relationship between Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations and Epstein’s enterprise.
Rafi Shlomo, the former director of protective services at the Israeli mission and head of Barak’s security detail, personally controlled access to the apartment. Shlomo conducted background checks on Epstein’s employees and cleaning staff and held meetings with them to coordinate the installation of surveillance equipment.
Coordinated surveillance
The structural modifications carried out by the Israeli government required permission from Epstein.
Epstein Island Cameras Installed by Israeli Government – Files Expose Shocking Ties
Unsealed documents hint at intelligence operations and blackmail schemes involving global elites
By Rohit David Published 19 February 2026, 10:46 AM GMT
Fresh documents released by the US Department of Justice have reignited claims of Jeffrey Epstein’s Mossad ties, with references to Israeli intelligence and secret surveillance equipment in his properties. The tranche, made public in early February 2026, includes emails and an FBI memo suggesting the disgraced financier may have operated as an intelligence asset.
Allegations centre on blackmail operations targeting global elites, though no concrete evidence ties the Israeli government directly to installations on Epstein’s private island. This follows years of speculation about his network.
Unsealed Files and Intelligence Claims
The latest release encompasses over three million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images from the Epstein investigation. Among them, a 2020 FBI memo cites a confidential source alleging Epstein was ‘trained as a spy‘ and relayed information to Mossad through intermediaries.
The document mentions phone calls between Epstein and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz reportedly shared with Israeli intelligence, alongside links to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Such claims echo earlier reports from sources like former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe, who asserted Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ran a Mossad honeytrap in the 1980s.
Leaked emails from 2015 show Epstein partnering with Barak to invest in a security tech startup, later renamed Carbyne, staffed by ex-Israeli intelligence operatives. These connections extend to deals involving facial recognition technology tested in Gaza and sold to Nigeria. Hardly a surprise, given Epstein’s funding of pro-Israel groups like the Jewish National Fund.
Surveillance Systems and Blackmail Allegations
Epstein’s properties were reportedly equipped with extensive surveillance, fuelling theories of a blackmail scheme. Emails from 2014 reveal him directing an aide to install hidden, motion-activated cameras in his Palm Beach home, concealed in items like Kleenex boxes. Similar setups existed across his residences, with former employees confirming 24-hour cameras in every room.
On Little St James, his private island, ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou has claimed hidden video cameras were placed literally everywhere, including bathrooms, to capture compromising footage.
Bombshell report says Epstein stashed photos and hard drives in a half dozen storage units arond US
03:30, 23 Feb 2026, updated 15:44, 23 Feb 2026By JENSEN BIRD
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein hid hard drives and photos from authorities in multiple storage lockers across the country, a report said.
The pedophile rented at least six units, the majority of which were in Florida, paying thousands between 2003 and 2019, according to an investigation by The Telegraph.
The lockers may have remained uncovered by US authorities, suggesting they held never-before-seen evidence in Epstein’s long string of horrific crimes.
The outlet obtained files and credit card statements detailing Epstein’s various secret hiding places for computers, CDs, pictures and files.
His lockers could point to answers after authorities long suspected that Epstein received insider information about raids of his properties.
Former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter told NBC that during a 2005 search, the sex offender’s place ‘had been cleaned up.’
Epstein allegedly recruited detectives to move documents, photographs and computers to one of his multiple storage lockers.
Uncovered credit card statements suggested that he paid a private detective agency $38,500 from January to May 2010 alone.
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Florida units were traced just miles from his Sunshine State home outside of Palm Beach and Delray Beach.
Epstein allegedly began leasing one locker at Uncle Bob’s in Florida in 2003, paying $374.13 per month until March 2015. Smaller payments continued until 2016.
At least one Florida unit, which he used between 2009 and 2011, was accessible to patrons 24 hours a day and was capable of storing vehicles.
Payments pointed to more units in Florida, which Epstein leased across a decade.
One detailed monthly payment of $140 for a Royal Palm Beach location until 2019.
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He also asked investigators to rent out a unit on his behalf in New York beginning in 2010 at around $500 per month.
Another unit, just five minutes from his New York City mansion, mainly contained furniture, equipment and computers.
New Mexico ranch
Pictures taken by staff in 2012 from one of the units showed furniture and cardboard boxes jammed in the cluttered unit.
Files also suggested Epstein was interested in a ‘secret storage unit’ near his New Mexico ranch.
Much of the confusion in the debate over whether social media1 is harming young people can be cleared away by distinguishing two different questions, only one of which urgently needs an answer:
The historical trends question:Was the spread of social media in the early 2010s (as smartphones were widely adopted) a major contributing cause of the big increases in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm that began in the U.S. and many other Western countries soon afterward?
The product safety question: Is social media safe today for children and adolescents? When used in the ordinary way (which is now five hours a day), does this consumer product expose young people to unreasonable levels of risk and harm?
Social scientists are actively debating the historical trends question — we raised it in Chapter 1 of The Anxious Generation — but that’s not the one that matters to parents and legislators. They face decisions today and they need an answer to the product safety question. They want to know if social media is a reasonably safe consumer product, or if they should keep their kids (or all kids) away from it until they reach a certain age (as Australia is doing).
Social scientists have been debating this question intensively since 2017. That’s when Jean Twenge suggested an answer to both questions in her provocative article in The Atlantic: “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” In it, she showed a historical correlation: adolescent behavior changed and their mental health collapsed just at the point in time when they traded in their flip phones for smartphones with always-available social media. She also showed a correlation relevant to the product safety question: The kids who spend the most time on screens (especially for social media) are the ones with the worst mental health. She concluded that “it’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen [Gen Z] as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.”
The Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, testified at a landmark trial of social media companies on Wednesday. Plaintiffs’ lawyers grilled Zuckerberg about internal complaints that not enough was being done to verify whether children under 13 were using the platform.
Zuckerberg claimed Meta had improved in identifying underage users but also said: “I always wish that we could have gotten there sooner.”
Zuckerberg also said some users lie about their age when joining Instagram and that the company removes those it identifies as underage. The plaintiffs’ lawyers hit back at those claims: “You expect a nine-year-old to read all of the fine print? That’s your basis for swearing under oath that children under 13 are not allowed?” After repeated questioning about age verification, Zuckerberg said: “I don’t see why this is so complicated.”
In response to questioning by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Zuckerberg also said: “I think a reasonable company should try to help the people that use its services.”
Asked about media training and his famously stiff responses to public questioning: he said: “I think I’m actually well-known to be sort of bad at this.”
FIRST, the Manchester-based youth science organization founded by New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, says it has placed him on leave from “all activities” related to its work, while it reviews recent revelations of Kamen’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement posted on FIRST’s website over the weekend, Board Chair Laurie Leshin said: “FIRST® is aware of the recent disclosures released by the U.S. Department of Justice involving FIRST Founder Dean Kamen’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. The FIRST Board of Directors has engaged an outside law firm to conduct an independent review, and Dean has indicated he will cooperate fully with the review.”
Part of that cooperation, the statement read, entails Kamen stepping away from all activities related to FIRST, which he founded in 1989. The robotics program was originally focused on New Hampshire, but now has a global reach, with teams in more than 30 countries.
The Epstein files are creating headaches for the Sununus and Shaheens in New Hampshire
The founder of Segway has longstanding ties with the Sununu and Shaheen families — and, we now know, Jeffrey Epstein.
Dean Kamen arrives at the ninth Breakthrough Prize Awards on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) | AP
A New Hampshire magnate with ties to power players in both parties has appeared in successive batches of the Epstein files, roiling politics in his home state and threatening its two most influential political dynasties.
Documents recently released by the Department of Justice suggest that entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway and other devices, kept in contact with Jeffrey Epstein long after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, with emails indicating he visited the disgraced financier’s Caribbean island in 2013. Kamen has not been accused of wrongdoing and did not respond to requests for comment through his companies Monday.
The recently released files indicate a closer relationship between the two than was previously known. The disclosures have prompted Kamen’s organizations to launch investigations into their ties. And the situation has ratcheted up scrutiny of the New Hampshire politicians who have worked with him, received campaign contributions from him or helped his organizations secure tens of millions in federal funds.
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