The slowly released and heavily redacted Epstein files have begun to make their impact on the world stage.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew of the British Royal Family, who was prominently featured in the files appearing in numerous photos, emails and more, was arrested Feb. 19. He is charged with “misconduct in public office.” The arrest came at a time of unrelenting pressure on the government of Sir Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.
Starmer’s ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson resigned after revelations of his connections to Epstein became clearer. When Mandelson was appointed to his position, his connections to Epstein were known to the Prime Minister.
The pressure on Starmer has been building ever since his election victory in summer of 2024. His neoliberal policies have been unpopular outside of the party leadership. He’s facing a leadership challenge by Andy Burnham, someone on the soft left of Labour, and the party is down in third place in the polls.
Furthermore, there has been new evidence linking Epstein to foreign intelligence services, sparking debate on whether or not he was involved in espionage for any enemies or allies of the U.S. After contacting Professor Pablo Toral, he stated, “There is mounting evidence that JE was working for the intelligence community…of several countries, many of them allies of the U.S.”
Infamously, a picture of Epstein wearing an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) sweater has made the rounds online.
According to a poll conducted by University of Maryland in November 2025, notably before the latest patch of releases, 53% of Americans believe that Epstein did collaborate with foreign intelligence services.
Although the files have had a major impact internationally, the reaction domestically has been rather muted. I spoke to Professor Gregory Koutnik on the domestic impact of the files.
“In some ways, this has become much larger than the files, so that even if not a single other piece of material was released, I would think that they’re going to be continuing conversations.” He continued, “They’re gonna be about the power of elites, loosely or directly related to the Epstein files.”
From Feb. 26-27, the Clintons will be speaking about their connections to Epstein to a House committee. There isn’t much hope among the press about what will come out of this hearing. Prof. Koutnik said, “I’m skeptical as to whether they’re going to be revelations that would kind of fundamentally reorient the course of the story.”
On Tuesday, Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California, accused Republicans of covering up the files because President Trump is named “thousands of times.” He went onto say “There’s highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children.”
There are still hundreds of thousands of documents that have not been released by the Department of Justice.
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