The US Justice Department has released many more records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, resuming disclosures under a law intended to reveal what the government knew about the millionaire financier's sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with rich and powerful people such as Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would be releasing more than three million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files, posted to the department’s website on Friday, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release in December.

Included were documents concerning some of Epstein's famous associates, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew, and email correspondence between Epstein and Elon Musk and other prominent contacts from across the political spectrum.

Friday's disclosure represents the largest document dump to date about a saga the Trump administration has struggled to shake because of the president's previous association with Epstein. Criminal investigations into the financier have long animated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and others who have suspected government cover-ups and clamoured for a full accounting, demands that Blanche acknowledged might not be satisfied by the latest release.

After missing a December 19 deadline set by Congress to release all the files, the Justice Department said it tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needed to be redacted, or blacked out. It denied any effort to shield Trump, who says he cut ties with Epstein years ago after an earlier friendship, from potential embarrassment.

The records have thousands of references to Trump, including emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles about him, commented on his policies or politics, or gossiped about him and his family. Also included was a spreadsheet created in August summarizing calls to the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center or to a hotline established by prosecutors from people claiming without corroboration to have some knowledge of wrongdoing by Trump.

The records also show Musk, the billionaire Tesla founder, reached out to Epstein on at least two occasions to plan visits to the Caribbean island where many of the allegations of sexual abuse purportedly occurred.

In a 2012 exchange, Epstein asked how many people Musk would like flown by helicopter to the island he owned.

“Probably just Talulah and me,” Musk responded, referencing his then-partner, actress Talulah Riley. “What day/night will be the wildest party on our island?” It’s not immediately clear if the island visit plans of Musk, who has said he repeatedly rebuffed Epstein's overtures, ever happened.

Epstein also appears to have tried to connect New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch with women, according to emails. In one exchange, Tisch told Epstein he had had lunch with one of Epstein’s assistant’s friends. He described her as a “very sweet girl” and asked if Epstein knew anything about her.

“No, but i will ask,” said Epstein, before inquiring if Tisch had contacted another woman, crudely describing her physical features.

Tisch said in a statement that he had a “brief association” with Epstein where they emailed about adult women and other topics. He said he “never went to his island” and that he “deeply regrets” the association.

The documents show that Steve Bannon, a conservative activist who served as Trump’s White House strategist during the president’s first term, bantered over politics with the financier, discussed get-togethers with him over breakfast, lunch or dinner and, on March 29, 2019, asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome.

In December 2012, Epstein invited Howard Lutnick, now Trump's commerce secretary, to his private island for lunch, the records show. Lutnick’s wife accepted the invitation and said they would arrive on a yacht with their children.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. (AP)