The Epstein Files

The case of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy sex offender with links to President Trump and a vast number of other rich and powerful figures in the U.S. and beyond, made headlines for years. The Epstein files, are everything that prosecutors have accumulated since they began thier investigation of Epstein in 2005 on allegations of abusing underage girls in Florida. Since November 2025, overthree million-odd pages’ worth of documents have been released.

These documents come from two criminal investigations between 2006 and 2019. Epstein has been on the sex offender registry since 2008. But it’s not all information related to sex trafficking. There are also his clients’ financial documents and personal email and text message exchanges and videos and photos.

Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein's relationship explainedFollow the latest headlines from ABC News, Australia's most trusted media source, with live events, audio and on-demand video from the national broadcaster.

The majority of the people involved are American. But yes, there are lots of international names mentioned in the files. Everyone knows about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince. Others include Peter Mandelson, the ex-British ambassador to the U.S.; Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister; the Norwegian royals.

At the end of January 2026, the Justice Department released its largest batch yet of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose crimes and connections to the rich and powerful have become one of the most headline-generating and controversy-stirring stories of the second Trump administration. With three million pages of documents, 180,000 photos, and 2,000 videos to comb through

ISSUE: Congress checks and Balances

The Epstein files neatly illustrate the relationship between Congress and the president since while President Trump when he was running for office had promised to release all the files He hesitated to do so when he actually became president. Used his influence with the Republican Party in Congress and Republican leaders to block the release of the Epstein files. However with of a number of Republicans the Democrats were able to pass a bill compelling the Justice Department to release the Epstein files they held.July–September 2025: A bipartisan group led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Initial efforts were blocked by House leadership, with Speaker Mike Johnson at one point calling the push a "Democrat hoax".November 2025: After a successful "discharge petition" forced a floor vote, the House passed the bill 427-1. President Trump, who had previously lobbied Republicans to kill the bill, reversed his stance and signed it into law on 19 November 2025.

While this seems to be a victory for congressional power scrutiny or oversight The Justice Department still delayed their release beyond the deadline of December 2025 and instead release them in batches claiming they needed to be carefully prepared to avoid revealing the identity victims. When they were released they were heavily redacted and there claims that they'd been carefully selected to avoid implicating the president. Pressure from Democrats in Congress allowed some access to the unredacted files the Democratic congressman Ro Khanna said that he and his Republican colleague Thomas Massie had forced the justice department to disclose the “hidden” names of six wealthy men they say are “likely incriminated” by their inclusion in the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files.

ISSUE: US and UK Politics compared

The Epstein Files are also a useful comparison between politics in the United States and politics in the UK. In the UK revelations about former Prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson have become a political issue they have led to Andrew being stripped of his royal titles and of the significant possibility that the Prime Minister would lose his job. However in the United States clear links and an ongoing friendship between Trump and Epstein have largely resulted in limited action or controversy. The structural reasons for this that the Republican Party are in a majority in both houses of Congress and disinclined to pursue the issue This also makes rational sense for the Republican members of Congress who see their linked to Trump's in the forthcoming mid term elections.

There is also a cultural difference between UK politics and American politics in that Americans have a low expectation of the moral behavior of their politicians was in the using public office for self enrichment is highly objected to. For example it's possible to contrast Trump's egregious use of the presidency to enrich his family and Prime Minister Keir Star who was forced to apologize for taking free spectacles from a donor to the Labor Party.

ISSUE Power of Prime Ministers

In UK Politics the release of the Epstein files also illustrates the fragility of the Prime Minister's position although it is often noted that British Prime ministers can be seen at times to be elective dictators their position depends upon the support they have from their cabinet and backbench MPS. Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson to Ambassador to the United States Subsequent revelations that Peter Mendelson had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein the pedophile and further revelations let Peter Mandelson had supplied Epstein with commercially sensitive information while he was a minister, led to the suggestion that Starmer should resign. Although Starmer survived it is generally thought that he is in now in a much weaker position and will face further leadership challenges especially if the local Elections May 2026 are, as expected, very bad for Labour.

Cartoonist Martin Rowson sees the Epstein files as having damaged not only Keir Starmer but also the image of the Labour Party. The wilted is the symbol of New Labor. On a card next to the you can see '1997 rose of the year' referring the election of Tony Blair we can the new labour project. Peter was seen as one of the key architects of new Labour. There are links between Lord Mandelson’s lobbying firm, Global Counsel, and Palantir. Allegations suggest he may have been involved in securing government meetings for Palantir while maintaining close ties to the firm.Palantir is a US-based big data analytics company that provides software and services to the UK government, particularly in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and NHS England.

Another test for Starmer?

Compounding the problems faced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer is the upcoming by election. Well incumbent governments tend to do badly in by elections this particular election may to be crucial for the fortunes of the Prime minister Who has been seriously weakened by the Peter Mendelson Epstein affair.

The by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Gorton and Denton will be held on Thursday, 26 February 2026. It was triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, who was sitting as an independent following his suspension from the Labour Party in February 2025. Gwynne said his resignation was due to "significant ill health", and advice from his doctor that it was unsafe for him to return to work.

It will be the second parliamentary by-election during Keir Starmer's tenure as prime minister, after the Runcorn and Helsby by-election of 1 May 2025. Candidates representing 11 parties are standing, but numerous commentators have described it as a three-way race between Labour, the Green Party and Reform UK.

Andy Burnham, the incumbent mayor of Greater Manchester, applied to be the Labour Party candidate, but his candidacy was blocked by the party's National Executive Committee (NEC). Commentators described his bid as a potential route back to Westminster, and a possible springboard for a future leadership challenge to Starmer.