Trump signs bill to release Epstein files; explosive Gates allegations

Donald Trump has signed legislation forcing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as new messages reveal more about Bill Gates’ friendship with the convicted sex trafficker.

• Epstein’s friendly emails to Keating’s daughter revealed

US President Donald Trump has announced that he has signed congressional legislation forcing the US government to release documents related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!” Mr Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.

“As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this Bill in the House and Senate, respectively,” the President added.

“Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favour of passage.”

US President Donald Trump has signed the bill to release the Epstein files. Picture: AP

The measure Mr Trump signed into law requires the Department of Justice turn over all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” — and all classified information to the maximum extent possible — to Congress within 30 days.

It comes after text messages have revealed new details about the friendship between tech billionaire Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein.

In the series of messages from 2017, convicted sex offender Epstein wrote to one of Gates’ apparent advisers about a fund he wanted Gates to get on board with – only to be told that Gates’s then-wife, Melinda, had banned her husband from contacting him

“He wants to talk to you but his wife won’t let him,” the adviser wrote to Epstein, adding that Gates “loves you” and “says hi” and “feels bad about the (business proposals) btw”.

Melinda Gates banned former husband Bill Gates from having contact with Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: Getty Images

Melinda and Bill Gates divorced in August 2021 after 27 years of marriage, and Melinda has said his friendship with Epstein was a key factor in their split.

“I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. I made that clear to him,” she told Vanity Fair at the time, adding that she met the sex offender “exactly one time”.

Bill Gates has not been charged with any crimes in connection with his friendship with Epstein.

“Meeting with Epstein was a mistake that I regret deeply. It was a substantial error in judgement,” Gates told CBS News in a 2022 statement. 

Jeffrey Epstein appears in an undated photograph made public by the US House Oversight Committee.

“I remain dedicated to my work at the Gates Foundation in partnership with Melinda, where our focus is to help reduce global inequities, giving every person the chance to live a healthy and productive life,” he added. 

It came as one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims revealed the convicted pedophile had an “extremely deformed” penis.

Rina Oh, who has long claimed she was among the scores of young women preyed on and abused by Epstein, dropped the unsettling revelation in a recent Substack interview with magazine maven Tina Brown.

“He had an extremely deformed penis,” Oh, 46, told Brown before describing the nature of the defect in graphic detail.

Tina Brown was editor of New York's Daily Beast website.

“Some people have described it as the shape of an egg. I think it was more of the shape of a lemon, and it was really small when it was fully erect. It was probably like two inches.”

Rumours about Epstein’s apparent egg-shaped genitalia emerged when he was grilled by a lawyer in 2009 as part of a civil lawsuit brought by a number of underage alleged victims.

A newly resurfaced clip of the awkward exchange showed the attorney bluntly asking: “Is it true, sir, that you have what is described as an egg-shaped penis?”

Epstein’s own lawyer quickly jumped in and warned that the deposition would be cut short if the embarrassing line of questioning continued.

Jeffrey Epstein pictured with his private jet. Picture: US Department of Justice.

“One witness described your penis as oval-shaped, it was thick towards the bottom but was thin and small towards the head portion and called it egg-shaped,” the lawyer continued – just seconds before Epstein’s attorney called it quits on the interview.

Ms Oh speculated that Epstein’s genital deformity was likely a core driver in his behaviour.

The mum of two has alleged Epstein and his madam Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her as early as 2000 when they faked an interest in her art.

She claims she later witnessed a toxic relationship develop between Epstein and Maxwell, which was largely driven by the madam’s own jealousy.

“Their relationship was very awful, very strange,” she said.

“I actually didn’t ever suspect that the two of them were having any type of a romantic relationship. I thought she was an associate of his, especially when I saw them fighting. Ghislaine was snickering at him in that British accent and they were throwing insults at each other.”

‘CALL FROM A CONSTITUENT’: DEMOCRAT’S WILD EPSTEIN TEXTS EXCUSE

A top Democrat was called out by the Trump White House for shrugging off a colleague’s texts with Epstein as merely “taking a phone call from her constituent.”

Representative Jamie Raskin made the jaw-dropping comment during a debate on censuring Delegate Stacey Plaskett over her co-ordination with Epstein during a February 27, 2019 House Oversight Committee hearing at which Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen, appeared.

Many victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are glad the files are to be released in full. Picture: US Attorney’s Office

“They’ve arraigned a Democratic member for taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing,” Mr Raskin said during floor debate on the resolution. “And of course, I don’t think there’s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing.”

“I still don’t see what the charge is,” Mr Raskin went on, directing his comments toward Republicans.

“Where is the ethical transgression? Where is the legal transgression? Are you saying anybody on your side of the aisle who had a phone call with Jeffrey Epstein should be censured? Be careful your answer there, because there’s a lot more that’s about to come out, right? So you should think about what is the principle behind this rush to judge.”

The White House Rapid Response X account slammed the excuse.

Danielle Bensky, victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reacts after learning that the US Senate passed the "Epstein Files Transparency Act" during a candlelight vigil to honour survivors of his crimes in Washington, DC. Picture: AFP

“Jamie Raskin – one of the worst to ever disgrace the halls of Congress – says @StaceyPlaskett was just ‘taking a phone call from her constituent’ when she colluded with a convicted sex offender during a committee hearing. These people are SICK!” the post reads.

“Why is Raskin trying to downplay his colleague chatting with a convicted sex offender?” asked White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in a separate X post.

“Is it because he knows his colleague (House Minority Leader) Hakeem (Jeffries) also wanted dinner with Epstein? Or is it because he’s worried about what else will be revealed about Dems…?”

A motion to censure Ms Plaskett and remove her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence failed 214-209.

Annie Farmer and Jena-Lisa Jones, survivors of Epstein, are pleased the truth will come out. Picture: AFP

Copies of the exchanges between Epstein and Ms Plaskett, a non-voting delegate for the Virgin Islands, were included in a tranche of 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate released by the House Oversight Committee November 12.

In the messages, Epstein advised Plaskett on how to direct her questions to Cohen, telling her at one point that the 45th president’s then-personal lawyer “opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at trump org.”

“Yup. Very aware and waiting my turn,” she responded.

When Ms Plaskett did get her chance to grill Cohen, she asked him point-blank: “Are there other people that we should be meeting with?”

One minute after Plaskett finished her questioning, Epstein texted her: “Good work.”

TRUMP POISED TO SIGN EPSTEIN FILES BILL

President Trump is expected to sign the Jeffrey Epstein files bill as soon as it heads to his desk.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure and sent the bill to the White House.

The chamber received no objection.

The measure would mandate the Department of Justice turn over all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” – and all classified information to the maximum extent possible – within 30 days of becoming law.

US President Donald Trump said he will sign the bill as soon as he gets it. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump said he would sign it “whenever it gets to the White House.”

It’s not immediately clear when the files will be made public.

As of shortly after 2am Thursday AEDT, the Senate sent the Epstein files bill to Mr Trump for his signing.

OPENAI’S LARRY SUMMERS RESIGNS AFTER EPSTEIN EMAIL SCANDAL

Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, has resigned from the board of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in the wake of a firestorm over his ties to Epstein.

Summers’ exit from the high-profile artificial intelligence firm came just two days after he announced he was stepping back from all public commitments following the release of thousands of his emails with the disgraced financier.

Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers has stepped down from the OpenAI board. Picture: AFP

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC.

OpenAI’s board said it respected Summers’ decision.

“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the board said in a statement.

The controversy erupted last week when fresh documents were released by Epstein’s estate, revealing a chummy relationship between Summers and the notorious pedophile.

The emails, which continued until the day before Epstein’s 2019 arrest, showed the two men corresponding about a woman Summers was interested in, among other topics for years after the disgraced financier’s 2008 conviction.

Harvard University is probing additional faculty ties to Epstein after the bombshell revelation that former president Larry Summers had corresponded with him.

The elite school will review a freshly released batch of emails between Epstein and Summers as well as others connected to the university, The Harvard Crimson and Boston Globe first reported.

“The university is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted,” Harvard spokesman Jason Newton told The New York Times.

— with the New York Post

Originally published as Trump signs bill to release Epstein files; explosive Gates allegations