Republicans have accused rivals of hiding documents that contain names of their backers
House Democrats have released a new batch of documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that mention billionaire Elon Musk, ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and investor Peter Thiel, fueling political controversy over the late financier’s ties to powerful men.
The Oversight Committee’s minority published six heavily redacted pages on Friday, part of the 8,544 documents turned over by Epstein’s estate. Among them was a 2014 calendar entry reading: “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?).” Epstein owned a private island in the US Virgin Islands at the time.
Musk denied that he had ever traveled to Epstein’s island, posting on X on Friday: “This is false.” The Tesla and SpaceX chief has previously acknowledged meeting Epstein at his New York townhouse years earlier but said he rejected repeated invitations to the island and considered Epstein “obviously a creep.”
Other entries listed a planned lunch with Thiel in November 2017 and a February 2019 breakfast with Bannon. It remains unclear whether the meetings actually occurred. None of the three has been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, who allegedly committed suicide in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of minors.
Democratic committee spokesperson Sara Guerrero said the documents showed Epstein was “friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world” and pledged to continue releasing records. “Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims,” she said.
Republicans pushed back, accusing Democrats of selectively publishing material that highlights only their political opponents. “They are intentionally withholding documents that contain names of Democrat officials, and the information they released today is old news,” a GOP Oversight spokesperson told Fox News. Republicans said they intend to publish the files in full at a later date.
The release also included a flight log showing Prince Andrew traveling with Epstein from New Jersey to Florida in 2000. The files mentioned that Epstein booked a “tentative breakfast party” with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in December 2014. Both men have long faced scrutiny over their ties to Epstein and his’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022.
