New files turned over to congressional investigators from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein suggest the convicted sex offender, in the last years of his life, had ties with President Donald Trump’s former adviser Elon Musk.
The documents, which were delivered to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and published Friday by the panel’s Democrats, come in response to the committee probe into the Epstein case. In what appears to be a copy of Epstein’s itinerary, Musk had a tentative trip to Epstein’s island on Dec. 6, 2014. A note appended to that plan reads, “is this still happening?” At the time, Epstein owned a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Another schedule notes a planned lunch with tech billionaire Peter Thiel on Nov. 27, 2017, and a breakfast with conservative political strategist Steve Bannon on Feb. 16, 2019 — just months before Epstein was charged with sex trafficking of minors. Bannon was Trump’s chief strategist, and Thiel is a prominent Republican megadonor.
These new files are notable in that they suggest all three powerful men had a relationship with Epstein after his controversial plea deal that forced him to register as a sex offender. Many people have argued that the non-prosecution agreement, which was signed in 2007, allowed Epstein to continue to prey on young women and girls for years before his subsequent 2019 arrest.
“It should be clear to every American that Jeffrey Epstein was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world,” said Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for Oversight Democrats, in a statement. “Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims.”
Musk, Bannon and a press contact for Thiel’s foundation did not immediately return a request for comment.
A GOP spokesperson for the Oversight panel blasted the Democrats’ decision to release information unilaterally.
“It’s unfortunate that Democrats continue to meaninglessly cherry-pick documents and politicize this investigation,” the spokesperson said. “They are intentionally withholding documents that contain names of Democrat officials, and the information they released today is old news.”
However, the person speaking on behalf of the GOP majority declined to name those Democratic officials, saying Republicans would wait to release the files in full once victims’ names were redacted.
Musk’s mention is also significant because he had previously broken with President Donald Trump in pushing for the release of further information in the Epstein case.
In the midst of his fallout with Trump earlier this year, Musk had accused the administration of failing to release the materials in the Epstein case because the files mentioned Trump. In a separate post on X, Musk also questioned, “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?”
Also according to the newly released files, Microsoft founder Bill Gates had a tentative breakfast party in 2014 with Epstein.
A ledger for Epstein, which Oversight Democrats published Friday, lists massages for Prince Andrew, while what appears to be a record of a flight in 2000 details a trip with Epstein, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew and others from Teterboro, New Jersey, to West Palm Beach, Florida.
Epstein’s relationships with Gates and Prince Andrew have been extensively scrutinized.
The materials turned over by the Epstein estate include phone message logs, which had already been produced in earlier litigation; flight logs and flight manifests from 1990-2019; and ledgers detailing Epstein’s and businesses’ cash transactions, and schedules, from 2010-2019.
All told, the Oversight panel received 8,544 documents, according to committee Democrats.
