The U.S. Department of Justice released a new tranche of “Epstein files” on Friday, January 30, 2026, which includes a 2002 email exchange between Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as later messages involving Jeffrey Epstein and author Michael Wolff. The Justice Department stated that it published more than 3 million additional pages, plus videos and images, to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
In an announcement, the Justice Department said the January 30 release brought its production total to nearly 3.5 million pages under the Act, alongside thousands of videos and images.
In the 2002 exchange, Melania Trump (then using only her first name in the signature) wrote to Maxwell with the subject line “HI!” and opened with “Dear G!” She referenced a “NY mag” story about “JE,” added, “You look great in the picture,” and mentioned travel and Palm Beach before signing off, “Love, Melania.” The exhibit shown in the release is dated October 23, 2002.
Maxwell replied in a separate exhibit, greeting her as “Sweet pea,” thanking her for the message, and saying her plans had changed and she was returning to New York. Maxwell added she was leaving again on Friday and did not think she would have time to see her but would try to call.
The same DOJ release also includes an email chain from December 7, 2017, between Wolff and Epstein in which Epstein wrote that “some journalists” were “working a lead on a Melania boyfriend,” followed by Wolff responding, “If so, I’ll be sorry to have missed that!”
Another exhibit dated January 12, 2018, shows Epstein writing that a “Melania story” not coming out “could drive him over the edge,” in a message referencing Trump’s “shithole countries” comment and other remarks.
Epstein, a financier accused of running a long-running sex trafficking operation, died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial in New York. Maxwell was later convicted for her role in recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein.
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