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Four United Nations rights experts on Wednesday condemned the US partial naval blockade of Venezuela, determining it illegal armed aggression and calling on the US Congress to intervene.The United States has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers to be under sanctions.”There is no right to enforce unilateral sanctions through an armed blockade,” the UN experts said in a joint statement.A blockade is a prohibited use of military force against another country under the UN Charter, they added.”It is such a serious use of force that it is also expressly recognised as illegal armed aggression under the General Assembly’s 1974 Definition of Aggression,” they said.”As such, it is an armed attack under article 51 of the Charter — in principle giving the victim state a right of self-defence.”US President Donald Trump accuses Venezuela of using oil, the South American country’s main resource, to finance “narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murders, and kidnappings”.Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking. It says Washington is seeking to overthrow its president, Nicolas Maduro, in order to seize Venezuelan oil reserves, the largest in the world.Since September, US forces have launched dozens of air strikes on boats that Washington alleges, without showing evidence, were transporting drugs. More than 100 people have been killed.- Congress should ‘intervene’ -“These killings amount to violations of the right to life. They must be investigated and those responsible held accountable,” said the experts.”Meanwhile, the US Congress should intervene to prevent further attacks and lift the blockade,” they added.They called on countries to take measures to stop the blockade and illegal killings, and bring perpetrators justice.The four who signed the joint statement are: Ben Saul, special rapporteur on protecting human rights while countering terrorism; George Katrougalos, the expert on promoting a democratic and equitable international order; development expert Surya Deva; and Gina Romero, who covers the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.UN experts are independent figures mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to report their findings. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.On Tuesday at the UN in New York, Venezuela, having requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council, accused Washington of “the greatest extortion known in our history”.

El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele on Tuesday defended a huge prison that has become key to deportations from the United States under President Donald Trump, after drawing criticism for alleged rights abuses.The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is a maximum security facility lauded by Bukele as part of his attempts to rid the Central American country of prolific narco-gangs.US broadcaster CBS News had been due to air an investigation Sunday about alleged abuses at CECOT on its flagship “60 Minutes” program, but it was pulled at the last minute, leading to accusations of political meddling. Bukele fired back Tuesday against allegations about the prison’s conditions, saying that “if you are convinced that torture is taking place at CECOT, El Salvador is ready to cooperate fully” by releasing the entire prison population to any country willing to take them.”The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone,” Bukele said in the social media post, specifying that this would include “all gang leaders and all those described as political prisoners.”Bukele’s post follows former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton labeling the prison “brutal” on social media Monday.”Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison,” Clinton said in the post in which she also shared an 11-minute video of the PBS Frontline documentary titled: “Surviving CECOT.”- Centuries-long sentences – CECOT has also been at the center of a major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the United States.Several deportees who have since been released have made claims of repeated abuse at the facility, with human rights groups echoing these allegations.According to rights group Socorro Juridico Humanitario, 454 Salvadorans have died in prisons since Bukele’s crackdown began.Since March 2022, Bukele has been cracking down on gangs under a state of emergency that allows for arrests without warrants.More than 90,000 people have been detained, and some 8,000 have been released after being found not guilty, according to official sources.On Sunday, El Salvador announced prison sentences for hundreds of convicted gang members, with some of them receiving centuries-long terms.The Salvadoran government says gang violence is responsible for 200,000 deaths over the past three decades.

The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown on Tuesday by blocking his deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago.The conservative-dominated court kept in place for now a lower court order barring the deployment of troops on the streets of the city in the midwestern state of Illinois.”At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in an unsigned order.Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — dissented.The Republican president has sent National Guard troops to three Democratic-led cities this year — Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis — but his efforts to deploy soldiers in Portland and Chicago have been tied up in the courts. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, reacting to the court ruling, said the president “activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property.””Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda,” Jackson said.JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, who strongly opposed the deployment along with the Democratic mayor of Chicago, welcomed the ruling, calling it a “big win for Illinois and American democracy.””This is an important step in curbing the Trump Administration’s consistent abuse of power and slowing Trump’s march toward authoritarianism,” Pritzker said.After two lower courts blocked Trump from sending troops into Chicago, his administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.In his filing with the top court, Solicitor General John Sauer claimed federal agents in Chicago were being “forced to operate under the constant threat of mob violence.”The court order blocking deployment of the National Guard “improperly impinges on the president’s authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property,” Sauer added.The Supreme Court rebuff of the emergency appeal was a rare defeat for Trump at the top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.It was not immediately clear how Tuesday’s decision would affect the other cases where Democratic-ruled states have challenged Trump’s National Guard deployment.California and Oregon have both filed legal challenges against the Trump administration’s extraordinary domestic use of the National Guard.Trump sent troops to Los Angeles earlier this year to quell demonstrations sparked by a federal crackdown on undocumented migrants.A district court judge ruled it unlawful, but an appeals court panel allowed the Los Angeles deployment to proceed.Some 300 National Guard troops remain activated in the Chicago area but are not engaged in operations.

A new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released Tuesday contains numerous references to President Donald Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on his then friend’s private jet, and other claims that his Justice Department described as “untrue and sensationalist.”The latest release contains reams of previously unseen material from the investigation into Epstein, a wealthy US financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.A first collection of heavily redacted files made public last Friday sparked criticism that the Justice Department was deliberately excluding references to Trump.Trump figures prominently, however, in the thousands of documents published on Tuesday, underlining his close ties to the disgraced financier who was already a convicted sex offender when the more serious trafficking case began.The Justice Department issued a statement defending the 79-year-old Republican shortly after the files dropped, saying some documents “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump.”Trump, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein.But a rebellion inside Trump’s Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents.The extraordinary move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump’s own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up to protect rich and powerful men in Epstein’s orbit.- Private jet trips -Trump said Monday he did not approve of the file dumps, expressing concern that people who “innocently met” Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.”Everybody was friendly with this guy,” he said.He did not immediately react to Tuesday’s release.Despite attempts to distance himself, Trump was friends for years with Epstein and has given different accounts of how he ended their relationship.Most recently, he said he threw him out of his Florida golf club for being “a creep.”However, he has also said they fell out when Epstein “stole” young women working in the spa at his club.The latest documents add to evidence that Trump was close to Epstein.They include a January 2020 note from New York federal prosecutors who were investigating Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, detailing Trump’s repeated travel — eight trips between 1993 and 1996 — on the financier’s private jet.”Records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware),” it says.One flight reportedly had just three passengers: Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old.- Delays -One Trump reference was swiftly disputed by the Department of Justice.A handwritten letter released in Tuesday’s tranche was purportedly written by Epstein, while in jail, to Larry Nassar, the former US gymnastics doctor who was imprisoned over rampant abuse of female athletes.Epstein is shown complaining to Nassar that they are incarcerated while the “president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch.'”In a statement the DOJ said the FBI “has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE,” saying it was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death, and entered the mail system in Virginia, despite him being jailed in New York.Trump critics say the government continues to slow-walk the release of embarrassing material.At least two emails in the cache mention 10 unidentified “co-conspirators” of Epstein, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Justice Department to look into potential Epstein accomplices.”The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute,” the senator said.Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes.

The newest US document dump on Jeffrey Epstein is sprawling, uneven and heavily redacted — but tucked inside are moments that have sharpened scrutiny on President Donald Trump’s long-acknowledged past association with the notorious sex offender.The files do not rewrite the public record on Trump, although there is material that may prove embarrassing to the president.Trump has long denied any wrongdoing and the Justice Department says some claims in the files are flatly false.However, the documents do illuminate how federal investigators documented his proximity to Epstein — what they flagged, what they questioned, and what they ultimately set aside.The result is a collection of fragments rather than conclusions, ranging from flight records to internal emails and an unsettling piece of correspondence involving another convicted abuser.Here are five takeaways from the documents now in public view.- Trump’s travel on Epstein’s jet -The most concrete new detail is an internal email dated January 7, 2020, in which a New York prosecutor said flight records showed Trump took eight trips on Epstein’s private jet between 1993 and 1996 — more than investigators were aware of at the time.The email — marking the most detailed account yet of Trump’s travel alongside Epstein — says Ghislaine Maxwell was aboard at least four of those flights. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for offenses including sex trafficking a minor.It also describes one flight where the only passengers were Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old whose name is redacted, plus two other flights involving women described as possible Maxwell-case witnesses.- Mar-a-Lago subpoena – The newly released documents show that prosecutors issued a November 2021 subpoena to Trump’s south Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago, seeking records relevant to the government’s case against Maxwell.Attached was a letter dated February 2015, on Mar-a-Lago letterhead, in which club officials indicate they did not have the employment records from 1999 to 2001 that federal agents were seeking.The presence of a subpoena does not imply wrongdoing by its recipient, but it does show investigators formally sought information from Trump’s property as they pursued Maxwell.- Photo with Trump and Maxwell -One newly disclosed email says someone reviewing data obtained from close Trump ally Steve Bannon’s cellphone found an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The DOJ released the reference while redacting the photo itself.- Claims the DOJ calls false -In an unusual move, the DOJ explicitly warned that certain claims against Trump in documents submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election were “untrue and sensationalist.”The batch of newly released files describes FBI “tips” collected about Trump and Epstein-era parties in the early 2000s, with no clear indication in the documents of follow-up or corroboration.A tip from October 2020 alleges that Epstein hosted a party in 2000 where someone named Ghislaine Villeneuve brought the tipster. Someone at the party said Trump “had invited them all to a party at Mar-a-Lago” and the tipster indicated that she wanted to go but was told “it wasn’t that kind of party — it was for prostitutes.” The document doesn’t confirm follow-up and remains unverified.- Letter to Larry Nassar -The Justice Department said a disturbing handwritten letter among the newly released paperwork — purported to be from Epstein to disgraced former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar — was among the false claims and fake material.The message appeared to have been sent in August 2019, the month Epstein died by suicide — although DOJ officials said the postmark, return address and omission of an inmate number suggest it may not be genuine.They added that the handwriting didn’t appear to match Epstein’s.The letter’s author writes that Trump “shares our love of young, nubile girls,” a sentence that had no verified context but had captured media attention due to its graphic tone. The letter started, “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home.” US media had taken the phrase to be a dark euphemism for Epstein’s suicide.

A man who appears to be Britain’s former prince Andrew discussed arranging meetings with “inappropriate friends” with Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to newly released US government documents.The emails are among nearly 30,000 pages made public by the US Justice Department under a transparency law and add fresh detail to the long-running controversy surrounding Andrew’s links to Epstein and Maxwell.The correspondence dates from 2001 and 2002 and was sent from an account using the alias “The Invisible Man” and signing off as “A.” In one August 2001 message, the writer says he is staying at Balmoral, the British royal family’s summer residence in Scotland, and asks Maxwell: “Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”While the author is not explicitly named, several details point toward the former prince, whose royal titles were stripped in the fallout from the scandal.The emails refer to Balmoral, to a valet who had served the writer since childhood and to leaving the “RN” — a reference to the Royal Navy, which Andrew left in July 2001. Andrew has previously acknowledged his friendship with Maxwell and Epstein but has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.In the exchange, Maxwell replies apologetically that she has found only “appropriate” friends, prompting a terse response from “A”: “Distraught!” In another email chain from early 2002, Maxwell forwards correspondence about a proposed trip to Peru that includes plans to introduce “Andrew” to companions described as “friendly and discreet.”Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for sex trafficking, suggests to her acquaintance that he organize some “two-legged sight-seeing.”Files highlighted by American media also illuminate tensions between Andrew and US prosecutors, with internal Justice Department emails showing lawyers debating how to respond publicly to claims by his legal team that he was willing to cooperate.Prosecutors privately disputed those claims and later accused him of offering “zero cooperation” when asked to submit to an interview.US authorities sought to question Andrew in connection with investigations into Epstein — whose 2019 jailhouse death has been ruled a suicide — although the royal was not a criminal target.Andrew settled a US civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with the royal when she was a teenager. He did not admit liability.Giuffre died by suicide in April and fallout from the posthumous publication of her memoir six months later ultimately saw Andrew stripped of his remaining royal titles.

US consumer confidence languished at a multi-month low in December as a slowing job market offset better sentiment after the government shutdown ended, according to a survey released Tuesday.The Conference Board’s reading for the month was 89.1, down from the 92.9 figure and the lowest since April. The November figure was revised up from an initial 88.7, reflecting a lift from survey data collected after the government shutdown ended on November 12.  “Despite an upward revision in November related to the end of the shutdown, consumer confidence fell again in December and remained well below this year’s January peak,” said Conference Board Chief Economist Dana Peterson.The report covers part of the crucial end-of-year holiday shopping period, which can account for about one-fifth or more of retailer annual revenues. The board pointed in particular to a drop in perceptions of the labor market, with 26.7 percent in December calling jobs “plentiful” compared with 37.1 percent a year earlier.More now say jobs are “not so plentiful” or “hard to get,” according to the survey.While consumers’ expectations index held steady in December, the present situation index plummeted compared with the prior month.The write-in responses on surveys continued to emphasize affordability concerns such as inflation and tariffs. “The responses continued to skew pessimistic but less so than November, “said Peterson, who pointed to less negative sentiment about politics, as well as a lift from Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.US consumer sentiment data has in recent years often been weak, while actual retail sales have sometimes topped estimates. Analysts have described the US consumer as resilient, although wealthier consumers account for a disproportionate amount of sales.Among different generations, confidence dipped across the spectrum, but consumers under 35 continued to be more confident than consumers 35 and older.

US economic growth in the third quarter came in at 4.3 percent on an annualized basis, easily topping expectations, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday.The report, which also showed an acceleration in inflation, provides reassurance about the world’s largest economy after other recent data showing a weakening labor market. It comes as worries have moderated over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and as large tech companies advance massive investments to build new artificial intelligence infrastructure.The gross domestic product report — delayed for nearly two months due to a government shutdown — reflects increases in consumer spending, exports and government spending, partially offset by a decrease in investment, according to the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.The reading, an initial estimate expected to be updated in early 2026, marks the highest GDP in two years. Analysts had expected 3.2 percent growth, according to consensus estimates from MarketWatch and Trading Economics.The report also showed the price index for domestic purchases rose 3.4 percent, a much higher inflation reading compared with 2.0 percent in the second quarter.The data suggest faster growth and higher inflation than markets had expected — potentially changing the calculus for upcoming US monetary policy decisions. Trump pointed to the report as evidence that the “Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the product of a “genius” policy on tariffs and “NO INFLATION,” disregarding line-item aspects of the data showing otherwise.Other recent data has shown a weakening job market that has prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at the last three meetings, viewing the employment picture as its prime concern even as inflation has lingered above two percent.- ‘Resiliency of US consumers’ -Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote that the report shows the resiliency of US consumers, boding “well for 2026.””If the economy can avoid widespread layoffs, most American consumers can keep spending,” she said.Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, said the GDP data suggest that while growth has been robust, job creation remains “soft” and this dynamic “is likely to be the major economic narrative looking forward into 2025.”The report also falls into the trend of what economists have described as “K-shaped,” where consumption is driven by the wealthy, Brusuelas wrote.US stocks were little changed following the GDP data, as some saw lower odds that the Fed will again cut next month.”I think the implication is that with the GDP numbers being as strong as they are, that gives the Fed additional reason to be on hold at the January (Fed) meeting,” said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall.While inflation remains well above the Fed’s two percent target, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have described the weakening employment market as the greater concern at the moment.The Fed’s median 2026 GDP forecast is 2.3 percent, up from 1.7 percent projected in 2025, according to a summary of the central bank’s outlook.The data shows “an economy that is growing, but unevenly, one where inflation is still running well above the (Fed’s) target,” said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, who predicted just one rate cut in 2026.- Ebbing tariff angst -Tuesday’s report reflects a much improved US macroeconomic outlook compared with earlier in 2025, when worries about Trump’s aggressive trade policy changes weighed on sentiment. But by the latter stages of 2025, Trump’s administration had negotiated agreements with China and other major economies that prevented enactment of the most onerous tariffs. Meanwhile, an AI investment boom by Chat GPT-maker OpenAI, Google and other tech giants continued to pick up momentum, keeping the US stock market near record levels.A December 18 outlook piece from S&P Global Ratings said AI investment would likely buoy the economy but could be offset by political uncertainty under Trump.”US trade policy uncertainty has settled down, but not US policy drama overall,” S&P said. “Statutory US tariff rates may not move much in 2026, but uncertainty around laws, norms, investment rules, military actions and geopolitics more generally will remain elevated,” S&P said. “This uncertainty will likely dampen investment and discretionary consumption.”

The newest US document dump on Jeffrey Epstein is sprawling, uneven and heavily redacted — but tucked inside are moments that have sharpened scrutiny on President Donald Trump’s long-acknowledged past association with the notorious sex offender.The files do not rewrite the public record on Trump, although there is material that may prove embarrassing to the president.Trump has long denied any wrongdoing and the Justice Department says some claims in the files are flatly false.However, the documents do illuminate how federal investigators documented his proximity to Epstein — what they flagged, what they questioned, and what they ultimately set aside.The result is a collection of fragments rather than conclusions, ranging from flight records to internal emails and an unsettling piece of correspondence involving another convicted abuser.These are five takeaways from the documents now in public view.- Trump’s travel on Epstein’s jet -The most concrete new detail is an internal email dated January 7, 2020, in which a New York prosecutor said flight records showed Trump took eight trips on Epstein’s private jet between 1993 and 1996 — more than investigators were aware of at the time.The email — marking the most detailed account yet of Trump’s travel alongside Epstein — says Ghislaine Maxwell was aboard at least four of those flights. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for offenses including sex trafficking a minor.It also describes one flight where the only passengers were Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old woman, plus two other flights involving women described as possible Maxwell-case witnesses. – Mar-a-Lago subpoena – The newly released documents show that prosecutors issued a 2021 subpoena to Trump’s south Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago, seeking records relevant to the government’s case against Maxwell. The presence of a subpoena does not imply wrongdoing by its recipient, but it does show investigators formally sought information from Trump’s property as they pursued Maxwell.- Chilling letter to Larry Nassar -Among the newly released paperwork is a disturbing handwritten letter, apparently from Epstein to disgraced former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, referencing shared predatory inclinations and including an explicit comment about Trump. The message appears to have been sent in August 2019, the month Epstein died by suicide.In it, Epstein wrote that Trump “shares our love of young, nubile girls,” a sentence that has no verified context and is not evidence of wrongdoing by Trump but has captured media attention due to its graphic tone. The letter starts, “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home.” US media have taken this phrase to be a dark euphemism for Epstein’s suicide.- Photo with Trump and Maxwell -One newly disclosed email says someone reviewing data obtained from close Trump ally Steve Bannon’s cellphone found an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The DOJ released the reference while redacting the photo itself.- Claims the DOJ calls false -In an unusual move, DOJ explicitly warned that certain claims against Trump in documents submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election were “untrue and sensationalist.”The batch of newly released files describes FBI “tips” collected about Trump and Epstein-era parties in the early 2000s, with no clear indication in the documents of follow-up or corroboration.A tip from October 2020 alleges that Epstein hosted a party in 2000 where someone named Ghislaine Villeneuve brought a woman who “wanted to go” but was told “it wasn’t that kind of party — it was for prostitutes.” The tip claims Trump “had invited them all to a party at Mar-a-Lago.” The document doesn’t confirm follow-up and remains unverified.

Thousands of new documents linked to the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made available Tuesday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), amid mounting criticism over the pace of the publication and heavy redactions.At least 8,000 files were posted online, including hundreds of videos or audio recordings, notably surveillance footage from August 2019, the month Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.The DOJ posted around 11,000 links to new documents online, but some of them appeared to lead nowhere.The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, mandated the complete release of the Epstein files by Friday of last week.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has blamed the delay on the need to redact the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 victims from the hundreds of thousands of documents and photos in the government’s possession.EFTA co-sponsors Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican, threatened over the weekend to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to comply with the law.Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution on Monday calling for legal action against the Trump administration for failing to release the complete Epstein files.”Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,” Schumer said in a statement.”This is a blatant cover-up. Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche are shielding Donald Trump from accountability, and the Senate has a duty to act.”Blanche denied on Sunday that the Justice Department was redacting the files to protect Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein.”We are not redacting information around President Trump,” Blanche, a former personal lawyer to the president, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Blanche said one picture of Trump was briefly removed over concerns for victims. It was later reposted after the Justice Department determined there was “no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted.”- ‘Need no such protection’ -Trump initially tried to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, a wealthy financier with rich and powerful connections.The president, who cut ties with Epstein years before his arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing, finally bowed to mounting pressure from Congress and signed the law compelling publication of the files.The sweeping blackouts across many of the documents — combined with tight control over the release by officials in Trump’s administration — have stoked skepticism over whether the disclosure will silence conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.The tranche of materials released on Friday included photographs of former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other famous names, such as pop stars Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, who were in Epstein’s social circle.Clinton, in a statement released by his spokesman Angel Urena, urged the Justice Department to release any materials in the files related to the former president, saying he had nothing to hide.”Someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection,” Clinton said.”The Department of Justice’s actions to date are not about transparency, but about insinuation using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice,” he added.Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former financier.