Washington (United States) (AFP) - The US Justice Department on Friday began releasing the long-awaited records from the investigation into the politically explosive case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The files are expected to shed light on the disgraced financier’s connections with high-profile business executives, celebrities, academics and politicians, including President Donald Trump.

However it is unclear how much Trump’s department – which has total control over the release – will allow to see the light of day or even how it is selecting documents.

The huge trove of documents included seven pages listing the names of 254 masseuses are entirely blacked out, alongside the explanation “redacted to protect potential victim information.”

The release also included numerous photographs not previously made public – including one depicting a younger-looking former president Bill Clinton reclining in a hot tub, with part of the image obscured by a black rectangle.

Another image depicts Clinton swimming with a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Trump’s name appears in a contact book found in the files, although it is not clear whom the book belonged to.

Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, fought for months to prevent the release of the records related to the investigation of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The Republican president eventually caved to pressure from Congress, including from his own party, and signed a law last month compelling publication of the materials.

Friday was the deadline set by Congress for release of the records.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in an interview with “Fox and Friends,” said several hundred thousand documents would be released on Friday and several hundred thousand more in the coming weeks.

Prosecutors have the latitude to withhold material related to active investigations and Blanche said the files will also be painstakingly redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s hundreds of victims.

He said “no new charges” were imminent in a scandal that continues to convulse America.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the partial release.

“This is nothing more than a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past,” Schumer said in a statement.

- ‘Democrat hoax’ -

For Trump, the moment carries enormous personal and political sensitivity.

The president was once a close friend of Epstein moving in the same Palm Beach and New York social circles in the 1990s and appearing together at parties for years. Trump severed ties with Epstein years before the 2019 arrest and is not accused of wrongdoing in the case.

But his right-wing base has long been obsessed by the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories that the financier oversaw a sex trafficking ring for the world’s elite.

Running for the White House, Trump promised to release all the files.

However, after returning to office, Trump dismissed the push for transparency as a “Democrat hoax.”

Trump’s FBI and Justice Department triggered a political furor in July with a memo stating that there would be no further disclosures of evidence from the Epstein probe.

The memo said there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions” or had a “client list.”

Trump then fought Congress over its drive to get the records out in public, only relenting in the face of a populist revolt.

- Ghislaine Maxwell -

Epstein’s former girlfriend Maxwell is the only person convicted in connection with Epstein, even if Trump’s MAGA supporters have for years believed that “deep state” elites are protecting a Who’s Who of Democratic politicians and Hollywood figures.

Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein, whose death was ruled a suicide.

For the public and victims, the release of the files marks the clearest opportunity yet to shed light on the scandal.

The newly released records could clarify how Epstein operated, who assisted him and why prosecutors stalled for years before bringing charges against him.