DOJ releases ‘first phase’ of Epstein files, including an evidence list
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(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice released files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein Thursday evening.
The material released contained previously published pilot logs from the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell. The records include redactions performed by prosecutors on the case to protect the identities of potential victims. Also published is Epstein’s so-called “black book” that has previously been made public.
One document never before seen is what the Justice Department is calling “Evidence List,” a three-page catalog of material apparently obtained through searches of Epstein’s properties in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Among the items investigators obtained, according to the document, is “one CD labelled ‘girl pics nude book 4′” and a folder titled “LSJ logbook,” which appears to be a reference to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James.
Investigators also recovered a bag “containing one yellow envelope marked ‘SK’ dated 08/27/08 containing multiple smaller envelopes containing $17,115” in U.S. currency.
The date is notable because it coincides with the time Epstein was in jail in Palm Beach, Florida. SK could be a reference to one of Epstein’s former associates.
The evidence list also contained dozens of recording devices, computers, hard drives and memory sticks along with “1 brown bust sculpture of female breasts,” one folder containing “1 vibrator, 3 buttplugs, 1 set of cuffs, 1 dildo, 1 leash, 1 box of condoms, 1 nurse cap, 1 stethoscope.”
The list also included several massage tables – one of which was wheeled into court during Maxwell’s trial – numerous photo albums and pictures, including one that said “photo album of girl and Epstein” and a bag containing “1 set of copper handcuffs and whip.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi had instructed FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate what she describes as an apparent withholding of investigative files related to Epstein.
In her letter to Patel, Bondi said prior to his confirmation she had requested all files related to Epstein — but late Wednesday evening was informed by “a source” that the FBI field office in New York was in possession of “thousands of pages of documents” that had not been handed over.
In recent media appearances on Fox News, Bondi has teased out the pending release of documents in the Justice Department’s holdings related to its investigation of Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
(NEW YORK) — In a remarkable coincidence, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will mark his 70th birthday with a fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, capping off his fourth mission to space, the agency said in a release.
Pettit, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will bid farewell to their orbital home of more than seven months when they undock from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. ET Saturday.
The trio’s journey back to Earth is scheduled to end at 9:20 p.m. ET, NASA noted. It will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan, where recovery teams will be waiting to extract them from their capsule.
During their 220-day mission, the crew circled the Earth an astounding 3,520 times, traveling approximately 93.3 million miles.
The departure marks another milestone for the crew members: Ovchinin concludes his fourth spaceflight with 595 days in orbit. Vagner adds to his impressive record with 416 cumulative days across two missions.
Before their departure, a change of command ceremony will take place on Friday, with Ovchinin transferring leadership of the space station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who will command Expedition 73.
After touchdown, NASA noted that the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, they’ll part ways — Pettit heading back to Houston while his Russian crewmates return to their training base in Star City, near Moscow.
The mission highlights the continuing international cooperation aboard the ISS, which has maintained continuous human presence for over two decades.
NASA’s release also stated that the ISS remains a crucial platform for scientific research and testing technologies for deep space exploration as the agency shifts its focus toward ambitious Moon and Mars missions under the Artemis program.
NASA will provide live coverage of the crew’s return journey on NASA+, starting with Friday’s change of command ceremony and continuing through Saturday’s landing.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday denied a request from U.S. Agency for International Development contractors to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s mass termination of their contracts.
The Personal Service Contractor Association, an advocacy group for U.S. personal services contractors employed by USAID, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration last month after the secretary of state issued a stop-work order for all foreign assistance and contracts.
The contractors alleged the stop-work order prevented the association’s members from carrying out work for “which their positions were created and exist by law and from overseeing often lifesaving humanitarian relief.”
According to the complaint, the contractors were “irreparably injured” because they say the stop-word order cut “essential communication and network access, endangering their personal safety and security” and water and electricity for their homes overseas due to the funding freeze.
“The impact around the world of freezing foreign aid funding and stopping foreign aid programs has been and remains calamitous,” the contractors said in the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols denied the contractors’ request for the temporary restraining order.
(WASHINGTON) — Last month, Jose Franco Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year old Venezuelan migrant who was seeking asylum in the U.S., showed up to his routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, Texas, when authorities detained him, his wife told ABC News.
Ivannoa Sanchez, 22, told ABC News she believes her husband is one of the hundreds of Venezuelan men who this past weekend were sent by plane to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.
According to Sanchez, the couple crossed the U.S. border in November 2023 and surrendered to authorities. After claiming asylum and being detained for a few days, ICE released them and ordered them to check in routinely with the federal agency.
Sanchez said the couple had gone to several of their scheduled check-ins without experiencing any issues. But on Feb. 3, Tiapa was not allowed to return home with his wife despite being scheduled to have his first court appearance in his asylum case in March.
Sanchez provided ABC News with documents that confirmed Tiapa’s scheduled appointment with an immigration judge on March 19.
“He went to his routine ICE appointment and he didn’t come out,” Sanchez told ABC News.
She said she was able to complete her check-in with ICE that day and has not yet received an appointment for another check-in.
Similarly, ABC News spoke with Sebastian Garcia Casique, who claims his brother was detained by ICE after his routine-check-in.
According to Casique, his brother Francisco Garcia Casique. who entered the United States in December 2023 and surrendered to authorities, was detained after going to an ICE office last month for his appointment.
“There, some police officers detained him because they saw his tattoos and said they were going to investigate him because of them,” Casique told ABC News.
Casique said that on Friday, his brother called his family from the detention center in Texas where he was being held to let them know that he believed he was being deported to Venezuela. But on Sunday, Casique said that he and his family recognized his brother in a photo posted on social media by the White House.
“It’s a nightmare,” Casique told ABC News.
Sanchez said that after being detained in Dallas, her husband was transferred to a detention center in Laredo, Texas, where she was able to speak with him regularly.
But on Saturday, she said her husband told her that he believed he was going to be transferred and possibly deported.
On Sunday morning, after Sanchez saw the video posted on X by the president of El Salvador showing Venezuelan migrants being sent there, she checked the ICE locator website that shares updated information about where migrants are being detained.
“I check the system, and he doesn’t show up,” Sanchez told ABC News. “I constantly think and know he’s there because he has tattoos, because he’s a barber, but he has no involvement with the group they’re associating him with.”
Sanchez said that her husband is being unfairly targeted by the Trump administration for being Venezuelan and having tattoos, after Trump on Saturday said he was invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
She provided ABC News with documents that show Tiapa does not have any criminal records in Venezuela.
Casique also told ABC News his brother has not committed any crimes beyond crossing the U.S. border.
Casique claims that after his brother surrendered to authorities, he was detained and investigated for a few days, then appeared before an immigration judge who ordered him to be released with an ankle monitor to be tracked.
Casique said his brother turned 24 while being detained
“Never in his life had he spent a birthday in that situation,” he said. “The depression must be getting to him.”
Casique said his brother had the American Dream of working as a barber in the U.S.
“[He] was hoping for a better future to help us, help all the family members, and look at the situation now,” Casique said.
A review of federal court records found no criminal court cases associated with Garcia Casique or Tiapa.
ABC News previously reported that advocacy groups and relatives of some of the Venezuelan migrants who were recently sent to the prison in Guantanamo Bay claim the administration provided no evidence the migrants were “high-threat” criminals or that they belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration, over the weekend, announced that would begin deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that allows for the arrest and removal of non-U.S. citizens when their nation or government is at war with the United States. The Trump administration designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, calling it a “hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States.”
After the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was challenged in court on Saturday, a federal judge verbally ordered two planes carrying alleged gang members to El Salvador to turn around and return to the U.S., but sources said administration officials made the determination that since the flights were already over international waters, the judge’s order did not apply, and the planes were not turned around.
On Monday, the judge held a “fact-finding” hearing over the whether the administration knowingly violated his court order, but did not issue ruling on the matter.
Sanchez and Casique told ABC News they reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland security several times. but that the agencies have not provided any information about their relatives.
ICE and DHS officials did not responded to ABC News’ request for information on Tiapa or Garcia Casique.
“He has never done anything, not even a fine, absolutely nothing,” Sanchez said of her husband. “We chose this country because it offers more security, more freedom, more peace of mind. But we didn’t know it would turn into chaos.”
