You've probably seen the headlines or the blurry social media thumbnails lately. The internet is buzzing again because of new photos of Trump and Epstein that just hit the public record.
Honestly, it feels like we’ve been here a dozen times before. But this time is a bit different. We aren't just looking at the same three grainy 1992 party shots we've seen since 2019. This new batch, released late in 2025 and moving into 2026, comes directly from the Department of Justice and the Epstein estate's own digital archives.
It’s messy. It’s weird. And it’s a lot to dig through.
What’s actually in the new photos?
The latest data dump wasn't just a few files. We are talking about tens of thousands of documents and images. On December 12, 2025, House Oversight Committee Democrats dropped a bombshell: a collection of roughly 95,000 photos and emails.
Among those were images that hadn't seen the light of day.
One photo shows a younger Donald Trump standing with six women at a party. They're all wearing Hawaiian-style leis. It looks like a typical high-society bash from the 90s, but the context is what makes people uneasy now. Another undated shot shows Trump leaning in, talking to a woman, while Jeffrey Epstein stands right next to him.
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Then there's the desk drawer photo.
This one caused a massive stir in late December. The DOJ originally posted it, then yanked it down, then put it back up. It shows the inside of a desk in Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. Tucked inside are framed photos—one of which features Trump, Melania, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The "Trump Condom" incident
Perhaps the most bizarre detail to emerge from the Epstein estate collection is a photo of novelty condoms. They literally have Trump’s face on them. They were spread out on a table with a sign that said "Trump Condom $4.50."
Why? Nobody really knows. It’s one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" details that makes this whole saga so exhausting to track.
Why this matters right now
For years, the narrative from the Trump camp has been that they weren't really friends. Trump famously said in 2019 that he "wasn't a fan" and that they had a falling out fifteen years prior.
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But these photos tell a story of a much more integrated social life.
We now know Epstein didn't just "hang out" at Mar-a-Lago; he was at Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. CNN uncovered footage of them laughing together at a Victoria’s Secret event in 1999. These aren't just two guys who happened to live in the same town. They were in the same room, at the same VIP tables, for over a decade.
- 1992: The NBC footage of the "calendar girl" party at Mar-a-Lago.
- 1993: Epstein attending the Trump-Maples wedding at the Plaza Hotel.
- 1997: They're spotted together at a Victoria's Secret Angels event.
- 2000: A charity fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago where Prince Andrew was also present.
The falling out
The "official" story is that they stopped talking around 2004. Trump claims it was because Epstein "hired help" from the Mar-a-Lago spa that was inappropriate, or because they got into a bidding war over a Palm Beach property.
By 2007, Trump had reportedly banned Epstein from his club.
While the new photos don't prove criminal wrongdoing by the former president, they do make the "we barely knew each other" defense a lot harder to maintain. People want to know if the relationship was purely social or if there was something more transactional happening behind the scenes.
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Breaking down the misinformation
You have to be careful with what you click on.
A lot of the "new" photos you see on X (formerly Twitter) are actually old ones or, worse, AI-generated fakes. There was a famous one circulating that showed Epstein with a young Ivanka Trump. That was debunked—it was a composite of two different photos taken years apart.
The real photos from the 2025 DOJ release are often heavily redacted. Faces are blacked out to protect the privacy of potential victims. When you see a "clear" version of a photo that the DOJ says is redacted, it's a huge red flag.
What happens next?
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump himself signed, is what's driving this current wave of releases. The DOJ is still sitting on thousands of pages. They say they're going slowly to protect the survivors, but the House Oversight Committee is pushing for everything to be unmasked.
We are likely to see more emails and potentially more digital media from Epstein’s seized hard drives throughout the rest of 2026.
Actionable Steps for Staying Informed:
- Check the Source: Only trust photos hosted on official government domains (like .gov) or reported by primary news outlets like the Associated Press or PBS Newshour, who have teams actually vetting the DOJ metadata.
- Look for Redactions: Legitimate DOJ releases almost always have black boxes over the faces of non-public figures. If a "new" photo shows a group of unidentified young women with clear faces, it hasn't been officially cleared for release yet or is likely a leak.
- Read the Transcripts: Often, the flight logs and emails provide more context than a single photo. The 2025 release confirmed at least seven flights Trump took on Epstein's planes in the 90s, which is a matter of record, not just visual speculation.
The story isn't over. As more of the 95,000 files get processed, the picture of how the world's most powerful people moved in the same circles will only get clearer.