First batch of Epstein files released

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:46I'm Paul Moss and in the early hours of Saturday, the 20th of December, these are our main stories. The US has released 300 ,000 official documents, photographs and video recordings relating to Jeffrey Epstein. American forces have struck suspected Islamic State targets in Syria, and the BBC has heard claims from Palestinian prisoners that they were sexually abused while in Israeli custody. Also in this programme... He's going upstairs without a light. Yes, he likes to move around in the dark, poor man. More than four decades after his death, a radio play written by Tennessee Williams is heard for the first time.

1:33So, Bill Clinton is in a hot tub. Britain's former Prince Andrew is stretched across the laps of what looked to be five women. And the photographs released as part of the Epstein files also show Mick Jagger and Ghislaine Maxwell at a dinner table, while Michael Jackson and Diana Ross also put in an appearance. The US Justice Department released more than 300 ,000 pages from its investigations into Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, not just photographs, but also audio recordings and documents about the original criminal case against Epstein. Now, to be very clear, being in a photograph with someone or being close friends with them does not in itself constitute wrongdoing.

2:16And indeed, that's the argument that's been made consistently by President Trump. He, of course, appears in that much viewed video clip, apparently laughing and joking with Epstein at a social event. But he dismissed the importance of a previous batch of photographs released just a week ago. I haven't seen it, but I mean, everybody knew this man. He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him. So that's no big deal. I know nothing about it. What's frustrating for those trying to learn anything from these files is that the photographs have no dates or locations, no context at all.

2:54And much of it is, in any case, redacted. Faces covered up, whole chunks of text blacked out. The Justice Department says it's identified more than 1 ,200 Epstein victims or their relatives. And that explains, it says, why the files have been so heavily redacted to protect these people's identities. Democrats have blasted this limited release, saying the Justice Department's choice is unlawful and Epstein's victims have expressed similar frustrations. Marina Lacerda was just 14 when she was first groomed and abused by Epstein in New York. She's chosen to waive her right to anonymity and expressed her doubts.

3:33We waited for this day. We waited for this moment. And we are a little bit disappointed that they're now still lingering on and, you know, distracting us with other things. some of the survivors are still nervous and sceptical about how they are going to release the rest of the files. We are very worried that it will still be redacted in the same way that it was today. It's very nerve-wracking for all of us. Within the thousands of files, one Epstein accuser found a sense of vindication. Maria Farmer, who reported on him as early as 1996 for child pornography, found her complaint to the FBI in the files, made years before any investigation into the financier began.

4:18Jennifer Freeman is her lawyer. Had the FBI just listened to her and paid attention, then over a thousand victims could have been spared and 30 years of trauma avoided. It really is tragic. So what have we actually learned so far from these documents? Our North America correspondent Peter Bowes is one of many who've been sifting through them. Well, I've got to say, first of all, it has been quite a task, sifting through these documents. There are many, many pages to go through, and that process is still ongoing. I think one thing that really did draw my attention was this focus on Bill Clinton.

4:53As you've mentioned, several photographs, one of him languishing in a hot tub. It's been notable how the White House, or at least some of its officials, have actually responded, posting online the White House press secretary just commenting, oh my. And the reason that the mention of Bill Clinton's name jumps out is the timing. A few weeks ago, President Trump called on his Justice Department to look into Bill Clinton's involvement and relationship with Epstein. The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, announced a formal government investigation shortly thereafter. Now, a spokesperson for Bill Clinton has responded to this, saying that it isn't about Bill Clinton, never has and never will be, and goes on to say that there are two types of people.

5:39The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him afterwards. We're in the first, the statement says. And I think more generally, some of the other photographs that are published here, reminders of the star-studded circles that Epstein moved in. One other thing I'll mention, it's one of the more chilling lines of text from phone messages, phone logs from 2004 and 2005. A caller whose name remains redacted left two messages for Epstein identical saying, I have a female for him. Now, we have no further context to that, but the words knowing what we know now clearly are deeply disturbing.

6:26There is also a reference to Donald Trump being introduced to a 14-year-old girl. I should stress no suggestion of anything more than that, of anything improper or illegal. But what did you make of that? Well, yes, he allegedly introduced a 14-year-old girl to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the president's home in Florida. This is according to court documents which were part of this huge batch of materials just released. And during the alleged encounter in the 1990s, Epstein allegedly elbowed Donald Trump and playfully asked him in a reference to the girl, this is a good one, right? Now, this quotation and this information has previously been made public because it was part of a lawsuit against Epstein's estate and Ghislaine Maxwell back in 2020.

7:19And as you say, there is no suggestion that Donald Trump did anything wrong and hasn't been accused of anything. But it is certainly a reference to the current sitting president. We heard earlier the reaction of disappointment, I suppose, from the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Is that the general tenor of reaction to this release in political circles as well? Yeah, disappointment might be putting it mildly. I would say there's a lot of anger with the way that this has unfolded. And I'll just mention a few of the sort of political responses. A spokesperson for Senator Dick Durbin, who's the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has accused the Justice Department of failing to fully comply with the law, the law being the Epstein Files Transparency Act, by not releasing everything.

8:06Democratic Senator Adam Schiff says, I think we ought to bring Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, before the Senate Judiciary Committee to demand answers. And then, perhaps even more significantly, the Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, who co-authored the ore that ordered the release of these files in full. He says the Justice Department has grossly violated its legal obligations. Donald Trump was under a lot of pressure to get these documents released by his own people, his own supporters, many of whom are perhaps I could say conspiracy theorists who were convinced there was a cover-up going on.

8:42Do you think they're going to be satisfied by the release that's happened now? I don't think they're going to be satisfied at all, and they've been increasingly outspoken in recent weeks and months. It's noticeable that since the release, President Trump has had nothing to say, and generally that's what he does as he's leaving the White House, getting onto a helicopter. He usually has a few words with the press. He didn't have anything to say over the last few hours when he was given the opportunity. Peter Bowes. While many were still poring through the contents of those newly released files, the US announced it had launched a wave of strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

9:18This, President Trump says, was in retaliation for the killing of two American soldiers in the country last week. The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the operation was not the beginning of a war, instead calling it a declaration of vengeance, intended to eliminate fighters and weapons. The military said more than 70 targets have been hit. Moez Mustafa is the executive director of the US-based organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He told the BBC's Claire Richardson that the Americans' response came as no surprise. I think that this was something that was being built up for over the past week.

9:56As soon as the terrorist attack by the ISIS lone wolf happened on the 13th on that Saturday, the next day, joint Syrian-American military and security operations started. They did about 10 at least in those. They were able to arrest or kill 23 ISIS terrorists, but also confiscate a lot of computers, phones, electronic equipment. With those that were detained, they were interrogated. And with that intel that came out of these raids. And today we see the strikes based on the intel that was collected in all of these over a dozen raids that happened during this time period. So do you think this is a one and done, this strike, is the retaliation that Donald Trump says it is?

10:36Or will we continue to see U.S. action against? I think we will definitely continue to see continued U.S. action and Syrian government forces action, especially in the Badia area. So the Badia area, which is also this desert area in Syria, goes over multiple governorates, including Palmyra, where the terrorist attack happened in this area are the last remnants of ISIS. And so I think what we're going to see is continued raids and continued strike against any ISIS targets based on all the intel that they get in. I think an important point we should just note is that IS itself has not actually claimed responsibility for the attack on the soldiers, but U.S.

11:07intelligence pointing in that direction. How has the fall of the Assad regime in Syria influenced the way that the group is able to operate? The Assad regime's presence in Syria was really important to ISIS in the sense it was a great propaganda recruiting tool, right? People are getting tortured to death and civilians are getting bombed. Come join us. But when people came, they realized ISIS is a terrorist organization that wanted to kill everybody that didn't believe in its insane ideology. With Assad falling, Damascus, which was an enemy, an adversary of the United States and in the sphere of influence of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Hezbollah, what have you, became an ally of the United States and a partner in the fight against ISIS.

11:49Another thing that's important to note is that the current Syrian government and Syrian government forces, they've had to fight against ISIS for years without U.S. weapons, intelligence, funding, air power. Today, you have people that have the expertise and experience in fighting ISIS and understand their thinking, combined with the greatest military in the world, which is the United States military. So I think ISIS really fears what's happening. That's why they lashed out. Mouaz Mustafa from the Syrian Emergency Task force. When South Korea's then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law a year ago, many in the country feared for the future of its democracy.

12:25In the end, the coup failed. Mr Yoon ended up in prison rather than in office. And yet, 12 months on, he seems to be finding new fans, particularly among young, disaffected people. Earlier in December, thousands in their 20s and 30s came out on the street defending Mr Yoon's actions and demanding his release from prison. Our Seoul correspondent Jake Kwon sent us this report.

12:53I'm standing in front of the iconic Gwanghomun Gate where South Korean people gather every weekend to protest and in front of me are thousands of people here waving South Korean flag and waving a sign that says release Yoon Seokyeol and martial law was justified. It really has this air of a festival rather than a political rally. They have food trucks, photo booths, singers and dancers. One booth invited people to a mock presidential podium to declare martial law like Mr. Yun had done. Last year, December, in the middle of the night, Mr. Yun had put the country under military rule. He had made baseless claims that Chinese spies have stolen past elections and that the opposition party was complicit.

13:43When Mr. Yun was eventually removed from the office and jailed, it was considered his political death. But now he has a new life among these young people, as a hero who opposed the Chinese takeover. This is Park Joon-young, the leader of Freedom University. He and his group of far-right students are behind these pro-Yun, anti-China rallies. Korean people's rights are being stolen. Our sovereignty is at risk, and the Chinese are coming in without visa, and crimes are becoming frequent. Their claims were refuted over and over by the government. The police stats show, in fact, that the crime rate among Chinese is lower than among South Koreans.

14:29But that hadn't stopped the group. Their protests are more energized and provocative than any other this country has seen in a long time. Most people joined us because of a simple message. Korea is for Koreans. Park is only 24, but his group had already gained quite a notoriety. The new president, Lee Jae-myung, had ordered his cabinet to end what he called hate and violence-filled rallies. Today, Park's message, spread through social media, is drawing in young people who share his suspicion on China. I'm Imin Sung, 27 years old. There are times when I don't hear Korean on the street. Even when I go to the corner store, I only hear Chinese.

15:21That really scares me.

15:27For Bak and his group, the success of Make America Great Again movement in the U.S. is an inspiration. Here in Seoul, they wear red hats with the words, Make Korea Great Again. And if the American youth voters swung over to bring back an impeached president, why not in Korea?

15:49For years, these people have held a deep grudge for what they saw as lack of opportunities and overbearing woke politics. And when Mr. Yoon named the enemy, they signed up to fight. This is their rebellion. It's in their songs and speeches. Their signs say, never surrender. President Yi promises he will heal the wound Mr Yun had left, but it will not be an easy task.

16:19Jake Kwon reporting. Still to come in this podcast. I think it's a shame because it should be a free attraction, being one of the most important monuments in Rome. I think it's fine to pay. It will add to cleanliness. As Rome tries to manage over-tourism, visitors to the city tell us their thoughts on a new entrance fee for the capital's most famous fountain.

16:51If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

17:30This is the Global News Podcast. It was last month that the United Nations Committee Against Torture said it was worried about reports coming out of Israel, reports which suggested the country had a de facto policy of torturing Palestinian detainees. Israel rejected that claim, but now two Palestinian men have told the BBC they were beaten and sexually abused by prison guards while in Israeli detention. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, John Donison, has this report, and I should warn you, it contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.

18:10This is Sami Al-Sayyid in a promotional video for the furniture shop where he now works in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But he used to be a journalist. I'm Martin Bricko House. He's a free man now, but earlier this year, the 46-year-old Palestinian was released from an Israeli prison after 16 months in detention without charge. He was arrested after working with reporters to arrange interviews with members of Hamas. While in jail, he alleges the guards raped him with a baton. They were laughing and enjoying it. The guard asked me, are you enjoying this? We want to play with you and bring your wife, your sister, your mother and friends here too.

18:56I was hoping to die and be done from that, as the pain was not only caused by the rape, but also from the severe and painful beating. More than a year on, Samir al-Sayy tells me he still feels ashamed. My wife is the one who comforts me the most and the one who understands the most what happened with me. She's my only shelter in the whole of this unjust world. She's my only shelter for anything that may happen with me.

19:31We asked the Israeli prison service for a response. It sent us this statement. We operate in full accordance with the law. It went on, we're not aware of the claims described and to the best of our knowledge, no such incidents have occurred under IPS responsibility. Welcome to NewsHour. It's live from the BBC World... It's not the only such allegation. The Israeli army's former top lawyer has been remanded in custody over leaking a video which allegedly showed Israeli soldiers torturing a Palestinian prisoner. This summer, leaked CCTV footage emerged showing an incident where a Palestinian detainee from Gaza was allegedly raped with a sharp object by guards at an Israeli military prison in July last year, leaving the man with a pierced rectum.

20:23This was a press conference by four of the five Israeli reservist soldiers who've been subsequently charged with abuse.

20:34The case has led to heated debate and divided Israel. Supporters of the far right have held protests backing the soldiers who've been accused. Here an MP from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is challenged in a parliamentary committee over whether anally raping a detainee is acceptable. Shut up, he yells. Yes, everything is legitimate if they're Hamas fighters from October 7th. Everything.

21:14A recent opinion poll indicates the majority of Israelis don't think soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian detainees should be investigated. And these are far from the only allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. I'm just driving back now through the occupied West Bank And I've been speaking to a Palestinian man who was jailed for 12 months in January last year for praising on social media the Hamas attack on October the 7th. Now, he says that while he was in prison, he was regularly beaten by the guards and that on one occasion, the guards used a prison dog to humiliate him.

22:02Now, he doesn't want his identity to be public, so his words are voiced by a BBC producer.

22:32The more I screamed, the more they beat me, until I almost lost consciousness.

22:40We contacted the Israeli prison service to ask for a response, but it did not reply. My client has been in prison since 2002. In Tel Aviv, I met Ben Marmorelli, an Israeli lawyer who represents a Palestinian security detainee. He told me he believed sexual abuse was systematic in Israeli jails. I'm sure it's systematic. My client says that every time I come to see him, he's been raped with a mopstick. Broomstick. Broomstick, mopstick, whatever they have there. I think that it's been done in order to limit the lawyer's visitation. Because they are torturing him every time, he actually asked me not to come anymore.

23:24The BBC has seen Israeli court documents from earlier this year outlining Mr. Marmorelli's claims. In a statement, the Israeli prison service again denied the allegations. Before I leave Sami al-Sai, who says he was raped by Israeli prison guards, he shows me photos of his six children on his phone. She likes the attention, yeah? He tells me the hardest moment in detention came when another prisoner's lawyer let him know that his wife, pregnant when he was arrested, had had the couple's baby girl. But he found out only almost a year after the child was born.

24:11He told me that your family is okay, your children are okay, and your wife gave birth to a girl and named her Yaafa. Automatically, I started crying because it was the first news I got from my family after 10 months.

24:30And now, Sami Al-Sai is crying again, wiping the tears from his eyes. His ordeal is over. The trauma is not. John Donison reporting from Jerusalem. It was very much a plan B. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky had hoped that the European Union would agree to lend his country perhaps close to$200 billion, using frozen Russian assets as collateral. Instead, as you heard on an earlier edition of this podcast, he's getting just over$100 billion to fight Russia's invasion and the Russian assets are not involved. Now, Mr Zelensky has thanked EU leaders and he did so just as Kiev claimed a new and perhaps controversial success on the battlefield, attacking and badly damaging a Russian oil tanker in the Mediterranean.