Epstein files reveal FBI email ordering ‘derogatory’ review of Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew and others

The new tranche of Epstein files released on January 30, 2026 features an FBI mail with directions to investigators to compile a spreadsheet with “all the derog” on a list of individuals which include US President Donald Trump and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates associate Jes Staley, billionaire financiers Leon Black and Les Wexner, and former US Attorney General William Barr. The email dated July 24, 2025 asks to interview Epstein's cellmate regarding the 1st suicide attempt of Epstein.

Screenshot of EFTA01648955 Photograph: (DOJ)

Notably, Jeffrey Epstein was found unconscious and injured in his cell on July 23, 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York. Epstein claimed that he had been assaulted by his cellmate. But the authorities described the incident as an apparent suicide attempt. The US Justice Department said that it was inconclusive from the evidence whether it was a suicide attempt or assault.

The Federal authorities were investigating possible foul play, as the lawyer made a claim that Epstein's cellmate tried to kill him. In 2023, US Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released a report concluding that Epstein died by suicide on August 10, 2019. However the incident of July could not be conclusively determined.

Epstein cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former New York police officer who was awaiting trial on multiple murder charges. He had been sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2024. The mail however reflects a retrospective scrutiny, the FBI was seperately investigating an unresolved jail incidents at the same time collecting dirt on the individuals listed. However it remains unclear why these two tasks were mentioned in the same email and if they were hinting at possible involvement. But all of those individuals mentioned at the list have documented personal, financial, or social contact with Epstein, established through flight logs, DOJ release of unclassified files.